Lou Bagel's Forum Posts

  • I wasn't annoyed by the full screen - it was probably just a coincidence but here's what I meant by that: As soon as the page loaded and I saw the full screen button I went to full screen. Then I couldn't tell if it was loading or if it was stuck. So after pressing buttons and clicking around didn't do anything I exited full screen and it went to the next part (the map I think). So I went back to full screen but then I couldn't tell if the map thing was an intro or if it was looped and I was supposed to choose something. I exited full screen again and started clicking around like a mad man and the skip intro prompt popped up and I accidentally clicked it.

    I've used some programs, games, etc that seemed to get stuck in full screen mode sometimes so that is why my instinct was to exit full screen - but it could have just been a coincidence on the timing.

    I will try it again later and maybe I'll reach the top . . .

  • Hey, I like it! It was intriguing - nice concept.

    I had no clue what was going on at first but I like that - I don't like it that a lot of games nowadays lay out everything for you. I didn't make it to the top - I'm not in a patient mood right now so maybe I'll try again later.

    One thing I would mention was the loading or intro - not sure which it was - but I couldn't tell if it was loading or I was supposed to do something. I had to exit full screen and click around. If it was just loading you might want to put a bar or percentage up so people know - I almost left and didn't play. I hit skip intro on accident because I was trying to already clicking around trying to get to the game.

    Thanks!

  • Don't get fooled by the first impression, it gets tricky! Haha, don't have the patience right now to try and beat it, maybe later.

    Good job!

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  • How large are your sprites being drawn? Mobile GPU's -- especially older ones -- tend to have low fillrates, which can be maxed out by drawing even just a handful of large sprites(note that I mean the size at which they're drawn to the screen, not texture dimensions). Also, which version of the iPad are you testing on? It's quite possible that it's simply too old.

    It is ipad mini, I think the first one that came out about 3-4 years ago. That had crossed my mind that it just isn't advanced enough. My dad tried it out on his old ipad and old Mac and didn't work hardly at all, but those are older than mine.

    I do have three large sprites - one the main background and the other two as background switches at the end - around 1000x600. I just read that it might help to divide the large images up into squares - so two 640x640 sprites? Would that really help much? Will it be beneficial to not have the two at the end on the layout and have an event create them? Or will that not help as they aren't being rendered until on screen?

    The other sprites are all under 300x300 sized. Does that answer your question?

  • Hello,

    I would still consider myself at the beginner stages of C2 and most of the projects I have been working on have been very small. Therefore I have not required much use of the debugger and haven't spent much time optimizing.

    I recently exported a project and seems to run good on computer and my iphone6, but when I pulled it up on my ipad was not running smoothly. I have spent most of my day today trying to optimize and make it run more efficiently, reading everything I could find on Construct website (Tips for Performance, Optimisation: Don't waste your time, pages on the debugger, Ashley's blog posts, searched forums, etc.). Most everything I read made sense and seemed helpful but I spent time implementing nothing I have done seemed to increase the fps when debugging. Some of the changes seemed to even make it slower.

    Anyway, I just seemed a little confused on what to focus on and what to try next. The performance stats don't mean much to me as I don't have much experience to compare them to. I know the goal is 60 fps, mine have spent most of the time between 10-24. I haven't read anything on average CPU utilisation. I have read to try and keep image memory under 100mb and Objects under 1000, so this seems fairly small project compared to those numbers.

    I reduced objects from just over 100 to in the 60s by removing unnecessary ones and creating a tilemap for repetitive ones.

    I removed all of my collision check events by using compare X or Compare Y events.

    This project does use physics but besides the immovable objects (mainly the floor) there are only 8 physics objects. I have tried destroying some in the debugger but does not increase the fps.

    7 physics objects are hinged together with joints, I'm sure that takes some cpu, but not sure what can be done to make it reduce it in that aspect. Would it help if I tried to get all of the objects masses close to each other?

    The next thing I was going to try is to reduce as many image sizes for sprites that I can (a lot of it is pixel drawn so reduction of quality not a concern). But I didn't know if that would help fps at all, just the download size.

    This is a left to right game. The other thought was instead of having everything laid out would be to make events to create everything at certain points. Like I said I am still beginning and that is one of the next things I want to look into - instead of laying everything out in the layout figuring out how more complicated games are built. But as nothing off screen in this game is really moving or active I doubt that would help as they are all 'asleep' and not being rendered.

    Sorry for the long post but wanted to give as much information as possible so anyone wanting to help may be able to spot a problem area.

    Here are some stats copied from beginning of debugger:

    Performance

    Frames per second 11 (90.9 ms/frame)

    Est. CPU utilisation 47.1%

    Est. image memory 16.8 mb

    Renderer webgl

    Object count 64

    Collision checks/sec 0 (~0/tick)

    Poly checks/sec 0 (~0/tick)

    Moved cell/sec 0 (~0/tick)

    Cell count 0

    Moved render cell/sec 0 (~0/tick)

    Render cell count 0

    The stats at the bottom of the project read:

    Approx download 3.8mb memory use 21.2mb Events 51

  • Question about reducing image size:

    If I loaded a larger image than necessary for a sprite, if I just look at the sprite size in the properties bar then open up the image, resize to match the sprite size (then have to change the sprite size back to original as automatically reduces it), will this reduce the filesize? Or will the original higher quality image be retained?

    If quickness is your deciding factor this seems to be the way to go, but wanted to verify this first so I don't mislead others.

    Also, with the image export options, if choosing to reduce quality (jpeg and lower the quality rating) will that not be seen until export? That seems like a lot of hassle to play with that number and export each time to see if the quality loss is acceptable.

    Sorry about asking questions and not giving any definite answers but thought on topic and may be helpful for the discussion.

    Thanks

  • you could simply have a sprite on the main character like a zone of influence and when the enemy overlaps with it, it triggers the action

    That sounds easy to setup and would probably work out well. Although I will probably not go that route as I am trying to optimize by reducing unnecessary objects/sprites. I know this is only one more sprite but from what I've read I think the test for overlapping is more to process than test of distance previously mentioned.

    I always appreciate different ways to solve problems though so thanks for the comment.

  • Thank you mudmask and StormHo

    no need for foreach. if you put if dist (x1,y1,x2,y2) it will calculate towards each instance of enemy. and jump will trigger when <100 dist. if you want it to trigger once - add trigger once.

    From my understanding, and the posts above, this would cause the action to apply to all instances, therefore the ones not within the distance would all jump when one gets close.

  • Whoops, I can't post URLs . . .

    I guess PM me for the URL?

  • There's something I threw together tonight - this is the concept I was looking for, not exactly realistic but the physics making the part hit move

  • I am not using families in this case but I only have one type of enemy (so unnecessary, correct?)

    I thought if I use the system condition compare two values that it would not select any instances for the action? Or will the instance from the for each carry through?

    Sorry for the nooB questions, but understanding these basics will help me greatly moving forward.

    Also, does for each run every tick?

    Thanks,

    Chris

  • That makes perfect sense for measuring the distance between the two but what would the event be?

    If (dist(x1,y1,x2,y2) < 100)

    I have to use an event through the enemies selection so it will only select the applicable instances - I don't see how I can use that.

    I guess I could create an instance variable, set it to 100, and then compare instance variable to dist(x1,y1,x2,y2).

    Thank you, I wasn't aware of that. But I still feel like there should be a way without an instance variable. I like Construct but have had much frustration on the simplest things like this.

  • Hello,

    I feel like I should be able to figure this out, so sorry, but my brain is just not figuring it out at the moment.

    Simply put: enemies are moving towards your character and when get close do a different action (jump at them), so am trying to compare X but am just not getting it:

    So would think could use Enemy compare X so it would only select the instances of the enemy that are close, lets say withing 100 pixels so it would be if abs(Enemy-Character) < 100.

    But I have to use the comparison Enemy <,>, etc. and it is not hitting me what to do as Enemy.X < Character.x +100 does not work as enemies are coming from both sides.

    I am about to just add LOS to enemy out of frustration, could use an instance variable also, but thought there would be a simpler equation as a solution.

    Thanks,

    Chris

  • My two cents:

    Fake it!

    A lot can be done with animations, maybe using something like brashmonkey spriter to do the bulk and only creating the ragdoll (or just parts) at certain times on impact..

    Full physics body movement is nearly impossible to get right..

    Initially thought this wasn't going to be helpful but point taken. I doubt I will be able to get a realistic fluid walking motion with using forces and impulses.

    For the sake of practice and learning I want to see how far I can take physics though.

    Has anyone played with using platform behavior and then upon impact disabling platform behavior and enabling physics? Not my first choice but as LittleStain said, I might have to fake it!

    Thanks for the input LittleStain

  • Hello,

    I am thinking about making a human with physics behavior and how to make it realistically respond. Imagine a street fighter type game - character you control can punch and kick and respond realistically when getting struck - and like a ragdoll when getting struck with significant force (like an explosion).

    I have not started on this yet, I know it is typical to attach a project when asking for help, but don't be a hater - I am not asking for anyone to do all the work for me just thoughts from those that have used physics and their experiences - not complete solutions. I feel like this will take a lot of trial and error so even a small tip could save hours of testing.

    First of all, I was thinking...

    Animations:

    With reading in the manual about physics behavior not responding well to non-physics behavior, I would think that creating animations for punching and kicking (with arm/leg protruding) would not respond well with the physics behavior as it would be a sudden change in the sprites collision polygon (any experiences with this). If true, should all animations be excluded to keep physics engine from behaving unrealistically? Or will it have no effect if the collision polygon is unchanged?

    If animations are out then the only other option I could think of is...

    Joints:

    Create a sprite for each body part(head, torso, then left, right, upper and lower legs and arms) and connect them with a joint. Then if a force/impact is applied to the fist going away from torso hopefully arm will straighten out and objects struck will react realistically.

    This would also give the ragdoll effect when getting struck but leads to the issue of...

    Rotation:

    I don't want to prevent rotation or else when struck it wouldn't seem realistic - also so can get knocked over if hit hard enough - but don't want the character teetering back and forth like he's completely inebriated (maybe when health is low). Not sure how to handle this but thought to try:

    -make legs (lower or both lower/calf and upper/thigh) not rotate-able

    -preventing rotation and then enabling upon collision

    -giving lower legs high density and putting origin at feet (to try and weigh him down)

    Like I said - not looking for "solutions" as this is complex - just thoughts and experiences from physics users. I am looking to give this a try as soon as I get some free time.

    Thanks in advance for any responses,

    Chris

    FYI - I have read the manual on physics, looked at the physics templates (including rag doll), and searched the forums. I haven't come across anything like this.