I need a beta tester (or two)

No, Vrav. I just wish we had an easy way of outputting debug information from runtime.

O_O That's a good idea.

I like the idea of a dev console.

[quote:21962nhz]In many indie games I try, there is some odd visual bug no one else receives.

Try updating your graphics drivers, even if it's an onboard chip. In some of the testing I've done on older machines, games have been unplayable due to display glitches caused by having old drivers. Updating the drivers made it all work perfectly.

Yes, but they are the December 2007 drivers from Nvidia's site. I just reinstalled them the other day. Pretty sure they're the most recent, and correct.

Frequently I prefer modded/optimized drivers, though... I bet, if I put some of those in, things would run more smoothly. Switching between them at times, though, likely has bugged something in the OS, or, something.

Can you give us specs on your graphics hw?

Attacking while jumping hurts both the enemy and the sprite.

I know what you mean, this mainly has to do with how the hammer colliders are set up. It's being tweaked.

Movement feels almost imperceptibly off somehow. As if it's a whole frame or two out of sync with my key presses. This causes issues when jumping close the the edges of platforms, often ignoring the jump while the character is still a good two pixels before falling.

The phenomenon you're experiencing is known (rather wordily) as "ambiguity due to imperceptible state changes." Which basically means exactly what you're describing. There's an article describing the phenomenon on Cowboy Programming:

http://cowboyprogramming.com/2007/01/02 ... g-buttons/

I think changing the player's max speed and slowing the acceleration slightly will help it out a bit. I might put in a 1 tick grace period for jumping off of platforms if it's still a problem.

Due to instant acceleration of the movement, small adjustments to the player's position are impossible.

I know, as I said the speed and such is being tweaked.

As previously mentioned, custom controls should be a priority as soon as Construct allows for it. What I've done in the past, however, is use INI files to reference custom control schemes back in MMF. Don't know if it's possible with Construct.

I'm not aware of any good method. Custom controls are on Ashley's to-do list though.

--

What I like..

Graphics are tight, colorful, and fun to interact with.

Lego platforms work perfectly for me.

Solid, locked frame rate, even on this p.o.s. laptop.

EDIT: Particle effects are very cool, too.

Thanks

I cannot reproduce the bugs Vrav pointed out, no matter how hard I try.

In many indie games I try, there is some odd visual bug no one else receives. Perhaps the card is shot. Or, like... from another planet.

Okay, I'm beginning to relax a little now. It's starting to look like you just have a "special" computer, Vrav. Hopefully that's the case. Still sucks that it's buggy for you, though.

I'll just go forward with what I have now. I'm on a deadline! Monday at Midnight! Ugh, I still have to make music

If anyone else wants to, feel free to post your results on the graphics glitch problem.

Everything fine here. Nice work!

Oh, by the way, you compose also?

EDIT: I didn't notice it before, but I'm getting the jumpy pixels also (when scrolling)!

EDIT2: Having a further look, I think I can explain the issue. The tiled background, the one that is going 'outside' the frame shakes, and any sprite it overlaps will 'shake' also. It is quite hard to explain the phenomen, but that is how I see the bug.

Everything fine here. Nice work!

Oh, by the way, you compose also?

Eh, not really. I just mess around with Fruity Loops a bit.

EDIT: I didn't notice it before, but I'm getting the jumpy pixels also (when scrolling)!

EDIT2: Having a further look, I think I can explain the issue. The tiled background, the one that is going 'outside' the frame shakes, and any sprite it overlaps will 'shake' also. It is quite hard to explain the phenomen, but that is how I see the bug.

ARGH

I really don't know what to do about it. If I use sprites instead of a tiled background, then when it scrolls you can see the seam between each one.

Maybe it's just because it's a really big image? It does take up the whole screen vertically.

Can you give us specs on your graphics hw?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/ ... isplay.png

Regarding framerates, it is completely matched to the refresh rate of the monitor. 85Hz is the max for my current resolution, but... lowering it to 800x600 and enabling 150Hz refresh rate, the game plays super fast at 150 frames per second. So yeah, seems in need of that mysterious TIME DELTA that I have asked about in other threads, but no one has ever explained... ahah.

If you program a constant, 60 would be probably be neat. Or 40 to make it easier. What framerate does your computer get, deadeye? It... would be nice if Construct had some sort of customizable, built-in 'max framerate' feature. Unless it already does?

It stays around 60 when I run the debugger. I don't know how to tell otherwise.

The phenomenon you're experiencing is known (rather wordily) as "ambiguity due to imperceptible state changes." Which basically means exactly what you're describing. There's an article describing the phenomenon on Cowboy Programming:

http://cowboyprogramming.com/2007/01/02 ... g-buttons/

That is an EXCELLENT article and parent site, there. I'll be adding that to my daily bookmarks.

That is an EXCELLENT article and parent site, there. I'll be adding that to my daily bookmarks.

There's a good article on blob physics on there too. (And it's reproducible in Construct )

I'm going to write a Wiki article on Timedeltas soon, because it's important. DON'T fix the framerate - please! Games look so much nicer when they're V-Synced and all horrible and teary when you use fixed. This does mean you have to use Timedeltas though, because everyone's display rate is different, so your game runs at different tickrates.

'FPS in caption' is a quick way to see your tickrate, and switch framerate mode to Unlimited for bulletproof timedelta testing. If you move over the whole layout instantly when you just gently tap a control, you probably need to use timedeltas (unlimited should work the same as vsynced if your timedeltas work).

That sounds great, Ashley.

I'm going to write a Wiki article on Timedeltas soon, because it's important.

I look forward to it.

'FPS in caption' is a quick way to see your tickrate...

I was about to tear my hair out and yell "YEAH, GREAT, BUT WHERE IS IT?!?" when suddenly, there it was. I have never seen that checkbox before today. For some reason my eyes just glaze right over it.

And yeah, it's still about 60. Though I get 350 on unlimited, and it's so fast the hammer animation doesn't even finish so I can't smash anything. Kinda funny, though.