Aria of Destiny(Tenative) - Platformer *WIP, seriously*

G'day. This little project is something I'm planning to do for my Multimedia major, and right now, I'm using my time to get a proper feel for Construct and get a platforming engine in general done. Let me give you an overview of what I have right now, and what I have currently planned.

<img src="http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/6867/firstscreenshotwu2.png">

As you can see, it's a platformer fan-game (the fan-game part is mostly because I'm no artist), I'm going for a Metroidvania style. What has been implemented at the moment:

• Multiple characters - Julius Belmont, Ashe, Sonic (though the system used to implement this may not be so sound, Ashe and Sonic don't have full animations since I'm leaving that till later)
• Crouching (Albiet not exactly that good, and Sonic's crouching doesn't animate fully)
• Sliding for Julius (Doesn't work that well, animation-wise)
• Attacking for Julius (the method I've used... Isn't working too well, and there's something stopping him from attacking most of the time, Ashe and Sonic will be easy as heck to do, though)
• Movement between rooms (doesn't actually work beyond the first room due to a certain variable not changing at times)
• Sonic Rush Adventure-style cutscene (though it forces you to alternate between left and right clicks, I haven't figured out how to do it otherwise)

And there's supposed to be a pause feature, but that doesn't work either.

Intended features:

• More characters (Wario and Rayman come to mind)
• Enemies (Anything that doesn't need multiple parts, unless there's a method for that)
• Interactive NPCs
• HP, MP, upgrades and all that jazz

It's not much, and I've kinda hit a brick wall with the room changes, and I seriously need to re-do Julius' attack, but... Of course, this is early days, I'm new to Construct, but what the heck, I can always ask you guys for advice when I need it, eh?

.cap file for "version 0.01"

Edit: Oh, bugger! Controls!

Move: Left and right arrows

Jump: Shift

Crouch: Down arrow

Slide (Julius): Down+Space

Attack (Julius): Control Left (Don't expect this to work without much messing around)

Cutscene controls: Alternate between left and right clicks

I finally got the game to play, for some reason it stalls at the dialogue scene and I thought it was just freezing or something.

Like I mentioned in your Help thread, the Per Pixel collision on your animated sprite causes problems. You can hang off the edge of a platform by his arm, for instance.

It will also cause problems at walls. Since your sprite is animated, it doesn't have a constant width. If you run into a wall on one frame, the next frame might intersect with the wall because it's wider than the previous frame. If it does that, your sprite will pop to the top of the wall due to the way the push-out function works on the platform behavior (it's designed to always push out of the ground if it's stuck).

Even if you changed the collision type to Bounding Box, you could still run into this problem. It's best for platforming objects to use a separate collision box sprite that has only one frame so it never changes size. Put the Platform behavior onto this box sprite, and take it off of your animated sprite. Then set the position of your animated sprite to the box every tick.

You don't need to worry about this so much with other kinds of games really, just platformers. If you're doing a top-down space shooter, for instance. But it's still a good idea to use this method whenever you have objects that need to come into contact with solid objects like walls or platforms.

As for the movement, Belmont is way too fast. You should slow him down a lot.

Yeah, I have noticed the collision thing, and the box thing definitely makes sense, I'll make use of it. Thanks. Would a container be ideal for this?

Also, how do you make use of sub-animations in events? I don't want to have to use "*Character*Move" and names like that constantly.

You don't really need a container for your player because there's only going to be one player. Containers are for muliple multi-part objects. For instance, if you had several enemy sprites with several separate enemy hitboxes.

As for sub-animations, I really don't know. I've never even tried them out, I have no idea how they work. As far as I know, I've never had any need for them.

Oh, okay. Oh, well, not being able to categorize the animations is a minor inconvenience.

Also, I neglected to mention this, but the cutscene doesn't stall. Just first left click on the dialogue box and then right click, and repeat. Just in case you haven't figured it out yet. For some odd reason, one button simply skips to the end. Probably the same thing that caused the pause problem.

Edit: You know what I just realised? The fact that I didn't put in so many animations into Ashe and Sonic is a freaking LIFESAVER. It's easier to copy over the animations.

Yeah, now that you know how to fix your button presses you should make the dialogue thing use just one mouse button. Or better yet, a key, preferably the Enter key or the main action key for the game (in this case, Shift). It's a good idea design-wise to make it so you don't have to touch the mouse unless there are actual mouse controls in-game.

Well, all the characters have been knocked into one sprite, the box has been added, and... The second room makes it change to Julius and fall straight through. Also, for some reason, standing animation while jumping when not moving and crouching in midair.

Also, despite my usage of the toggle trick, the cutscene goes straight to the end. Odd, that.

Version 0.02

I guess kind of unrelated to any technical discussion, but no matter how simplistic your art is, custom creation will always be better than a mish-mash of ripped graphics. If you look at games with very simplistic graphics like Within a Deep Forest, Seiklus or Jumper, they still carry a certain level of personality and charm that you can't achieve by stealing other people's work. I think if you are going to make a game I would rather you used original characters that were badly sketched out in MS Paint than randomly slap together some sprites from other games.

I agree, it's always best to make your own art, or find an artist to collaborate with. But if you're making a fangame, then it's a little more forgivable.

I'd also like to point out that the number of unfinished fangames outweighs the number of unfinished original games by several gazillion tons. I don't know why that is (well, I have a theory but I don't want to offend anyone). Hopefully that's not the case here, especially if this is for a class assignment.

Even so, you might consider making a smaller project for your first game. A smaller, tightly made, feature complete game would definitely get you a better grade than a mish-mashed, overly ambitious, buggy, unfinished one.

Well, having it as a fan-game was the intention... Also, there's a good reason why I'm spending my time now preparing the game engine. Anyway, I've fixed the cutscene... But now, the current problems:

• Julius only attacks in midair after messing around a lot, and even then, it doesn't seem his whip appears at all when he does.
• For some really, really odd reason, when the character goes into the second room, the sprite reverts back to Julius and suddenly falls through the floors. Really.
• Nobody seems to crouch fully unless you tap one of the arrow keys.

I'll have the .cap file uploaded as soon as I get the oppertunity.

I'll check out the new cap when you post it; I'm getting the dialogue freeze too.

Nice to see some Mega Man ZX Advent love! Ashe is pretty cool

Yeah it's all cool if you want to use ripped sprites, but I suppose the big problem here is the different styles. Julius is TINY (was that from a gba castlevania?) Ashe is all DS pretty and the sonic is fugly. lol

But I am curious to try this one out!

*I stole your car*

Add this game to your list: An Untitled Story.

http://www.mattmakesgames.com/showgame.php?id=13

The graphics are simple but cool. It's a very very good game (albeit a bit hard!)

your avatar makes me lol

What avi? XD

But still, the graphics are placeholders. My focus is on, primarilly, functionality.

Version 0.03

Basically, I'm trying to get Julius' attack to work properly, make characters actually look like they're jumping when jumping while not moving to the side, fix the odd ducking, and fix the problem involving the second room, which has me completely stumped. THEN I'll move on to things such as enemies, and stuff.

But for now, any suggestions and help would be lovely.

IIIIITTTTTTTTTTSSSSSSS BACK, BABY!

<img src="http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8025/ariatitlescreenscreendi5.png">

<img src="http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2047/ariascreen1ol4.png">

<img src="http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/200/ariascreen2ba8.png">

It's been a while since I've posted the status of this game, but it's been going swell! Some of you guys who have been helping me while we were hanging out in the chat, thanks to all of you - I have an official demo ready, and though Wario and Crono aren't playable in the demo, they're working perfectly.

The demo!

Here's the readme:

HOW TO PLAY:

This is a Metroidvania, a platforming game which only limits you to your character's abilities - exploration is not only possible, but reccomended!

AREAS:

• Forest
• Marble Zone
• Hideout

There is supposed to be the city of Phantastie in-between MZ and the Hideout, but that hasn't been done yet.

CONTROLS:

Movement: Arrow Keys

Jump: Shift

Attack: Control

Sub-attack: Control + Up

Fall through platforms: Down +Jump

Crouch: Down

Use portal/Save Point/Talk: Up

Cutscene progression: Shift

CHARACTERS:

Ashe - uses a pistol

Julius - uses a whip

Sonic - can jump into enemies to attack (control on its own is his sub-attack button)

Wario and Crono aren't playable in this demo.

KNOWN PROBLEMS (I'm not perfect, ya know.):

• Crash going Forest -> Marble Zone -> Forest -> Marble Zone
• Crash going from Hideout -> Marble Zone

How did you did the moving platforms? Are they on Sin Movement? Couse when i`nmm making them on sin movement my character start shakeing.

How about having the actual platform, which is invisible, in a container with some sin movement sprite (visible of course) and always set it to the same position?

One time I spawned with Julius Belmont inside the walls in the sonic level.

Btw press S on you become SONIC himself.

Ah, and I don't think Belmont should be moving while he's attacking with the whip.