Thank you everyone (especially Deadeye); working with your advice I now have a working prototype � any suggestions on refactoring this into functions? I am a little thrown off by how functions work and could use some examples (wiki did not really clarify things for me)

Functions are best used if you are performing the same set of actions over and over again (as in multiple times per tick), or if you're constantly typing out the same bit of complicated math or something. They're also handy if you want to perform an action after a specific amount of time ("Call function after delay," which is what I generally use them for. I find that they're most handy in this manner).

It might help if you said exactly what you needed functions for. Just saying "I want to use functions" is kind of ambiguous. Everyone's event making style is different, so I really don't use functions all that often because I don't need to.

I have seen �detectors� mentioned here on the forums several times, could someone explain how they work briefly? My understanding is that they are objects added to a container � for use as path finding aids (checks for overlapping terrain etc) they are what I want to be using correct

Generally speaking, detectors are pretty much obsolete, because you can use "Overlapping at offset," which means you can detect collisions and whatnot outside the normal bounds of the sprite area. When you check for overlap at an offset, it basically shifts the entire sprite temporarily by however many pixels you indicate, checks for collision, then puts the sprite right back where it was.

I say "generally" speaking because there are still times when you may need specially shaped or specifically placed detectors, depending on what it is you want to detect and how you want to detect it. For instance, if you want a platforming enemy to jump over small objects, but not large objects, then the easiest way to do that would be to place a thin "head detector" at the top of the sprite that sticks out beyond the left and right edges, then do something like so:

+ Always
    -> DetectorHead: Set position to (Enemy.X, Enemy.Top)

+ Enemy is overlapping Ground at offset (2, 0)
+ OR
+ Enemy is overlapping Ground at offset (-2, 0)
    + NOT DetectorHead is overlapping Ground
        -> Jump
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Please

My sprite has platform behavior, and the jump was set to the shift key. When I run the game and press shift, it doesn't move upward. I don't need it to be standing on something solid first do I? Will it move upward when gravity is zero?

Yes, the platforming object needs to be standing on something in order to jump. Unless you jump with an action.

I don't think System Compare puts objects in the SOL.

If you're doing this in 0.98.9 then it doesn't matter because the Project tab structure is changed in the newer versions, and to add a new layout you need to right click the layout folder.

That strange pictogram language is "Chronological" view. There's a button for it in the Event Sheet ribbon. The other view that you're used to is "List" view.

if you mean the event editor objects list, then you can organize them by type.

click on the object, then there is a field called "category" in the properties bar. which allows you to group objects by named categories.

This is for Construct v0.98.9. This is the old way.

In the projects tab on the right, right click the "Objects" folder and click "Add object folder". You can then drag the objects from the "Default" folder to your new one.

This is for Construct v0.99.3. This is the new way.

And I'm trying to get my character to jump, but it wouldn't. The lesson 2 on the platform school tutorial has jumping, but I can't figure out what he did to enable jumping. Where did he set jumping? because I can't find it in the event sheet.

You jump by pressing the jump key. It's built in to the Platform Behavior. Are you sure you assigned Platform Behavior to your sprite (in the Sprite Properties bar)? If so then check what your Jump key is set to by looking at the controls in Application Properties.

It unavailable in 0.98.9, but it's fixed in 0.99.3.

cheers

which one you rekon is better?

Beyond Oasis is better.

But then again I've never finished either one (though I have started both of them several times).

That's so cool

I remember when you first started on this, glad to see it's all come together finally. Congrats

Is there any way of doing a for loop in reverse i.e for x =10 to 0.I have tried but can't get it to work.

It doesn't work

In the past I made a request to add a "step" feature to loops like in BASIC so you could do something like this:

For "X" = 10 to 1 step -1

(counts backward by 1)

or

For "X" = 25 to 50 step 5

(counts forward by 5)

etc.

Also the loops only take intergers so you wouldn't be able to go from 10 to 0.1 anyway.