Huge layout vs several layouts

With all the rendering and processing optimizations that have been implemented fairly recently. I wonder if the answer to this question has changed.

I understand that now there would be no problem with having a really huge layout, since the game won't even think about whats not involved on the viewport. Whereas before every inch of the layout counted. You could also use groups for each area of your huge layout and disable those for the areas you're not in.

So, what do you guys think, If you where to make a pc game with a "A link to the past" type world map. Would you dare to put everything on a single layout now?

(although I remember that alttp had an overworld that wasn't that big in reality, and then it had a lot of smaller, separate areas =P)

With rendering/collision cells and "recreate initial instances" to manage objects in zones, I don't see why not. My main concern is the initial loading of the layout...you're talking like...a 30mb layout file at least.

We need more control over the way our layouts are saved and loaded :T Ideally one giant layout like this would be broken down to a grid and saved as separate files, dynamically loaded/unloaded as you progress.

The blog on how render cells work has some tips on how to design an efficient large layout.

Ok, so huge layouts are viable now, like i though.

but i have a big question now. Since to make the most of rendering and collision cells, objects on those layers should not have any behaviors, events involving them, or more than 1 frame. However, when you are making a huge level, a lot of the assets are actually things you must interact with (floors, walls, platforms, etc). And those need to have at least 1 behavior on them. so, in practical terms, how would you setup the layout, to really take advantage of the cells?

My guess would be to have the "visuals" of the level on a render-cell-appropriate layer, and then make an invisible layers that handles collisions with tiles that have the behaviors on them. That seems to be the way to go... but is it?

I started working on a game that uses a large layout, but am stalled by a parallax issue. So it could be worth waiting for it to be fixed if parallax is feature you're going to be using a lot.

Large layouts have never really been the issue. The problem is in how many different assets you are using. Once an asset is loaded that asset never leaves memory.

So unless your using 16x16 graphics there is still no way to support massive visually diversified world. And re-setting an area does not support this memory issue.

I have been experimenting with large layouts recently. My 14 year old son wants to make a 2d minecraft-like game. So, we have been playing around with auto-generating terrain. We are using a large tilemap object that is 1000 blocks wide and 64 blocks tall (tiles are 32x32). It has the solid behavior - so anything you can build, you can walk on. There is another tilemap behind the main one (without the solid behavior) so that when you dig into the ground you don't see the background, and then there is another tilemap in front that hides what is in the ground unless you are close to it, or leave torches to illuminate the area.

I am very happy with performance on computers, but mobile is terrible. Generating the terrain is really fast! Our tile set doesn't have very much variety yet, but we are planning to add diversity by expanding it to represent different biomes.

You can dig blocks out of the ground, but you can't build on top of the ground yet. Press A and D to walk, W to jump (Space bar for ridiculous jump). Hold Shift down to speed walk. Left mouse button to attack, right mouse button to dig. Press T to leave a torch.

Press F to teleport to the left side of the map, G to go to the middle of the map, H to go to the right side of map.

Press ESC to re-generate the terrain. (Most of the graphics are just for testing purposes)

Try it out at: http://www.rieperts.com/games/Goblin/index.html

Hey AllanR nice 2D minecraft game but a little co-gamemaker advice for mobile purposes. Try to disable collision of all objects while not on-screen or not being illuminated or etc. and disabling behaviors or movements of anything outside the screen and make an event that will enable back the collisions, movements and behaviors of the objects as soon as it is on-screen. You will see greater improvement of your FPS dramatically if you try this. If you are still not aware.