Topics

1

Ask a Question / Move a specific actor

« on: April 16, 2024, 07:07:08 pm »

When clicking on one actor, I want to move another specific actor that may or may not be the last created actor and has definitely not been collided with. Is there some reason we're not allowed to select which actor to act on but may only act on the Last Created, Last Collided, or Self? Like can someone explain why Choose Actor is not an option?

How do I move a specifically chosen actor that's not last created nor last collided with?

Thanks for any help!

2

Ask a Question / Trying to fade my logo in but I got an error

« on: April 16, 2024, 09:36:49 am »

I'm sure I'm doing this wrong, so can someone help me understand my mistake? I'm trying to create a loading screen (scene) that fades my logo in, then out in a switch to the scene where my actual app code is.

3

Ask a Question / Can we save and retrieve data to/from local JSON files?

« on: February 03, 2023, 03:00:33 am »

I'm quite versed in JSON files thanks to some other coding language and I'd love to use it in Stencyl to save and retrieve data related to my Stencyl app. Is it possible, and how would I do that? I did a search and most topics related to this were from 2015. I wanted to know if there were any updated ways to achieve this.

4

Ask a Question / Why was text decided to be treated as art assets?

« on: November 11, 2021, 10:58:14 pm »

Can anyone on dev or who may know, explain why text was chosen to be treated as art assets? I know the 'Pedia says it's to make loading text faster or more consistent but that doesn't sit right with me. I'm trying to decide what size text I want on screen for my intended purpose and I'm having to go in and edit and re-edit the font size inside the font directly. It's nuts, honestly. Like the Stencyl devs are trying to actively discourage us from using too much text in our finished works. WHY?!

Stencyl, Y U do dis?

5

Ask a Question / How to register single click to cause code to run?

« on: November 09, 2021, 01:43:42 am »

The below code is on a When Drawing event.

I'm trying to make it so when you click my +1 actor button, it runs the code (Checks to see if capsules exists and if not, sets capsules to 1. Otherwise if capsules exists, set capsules to current-value-of-capsules +1.) When I set it to Mouse Was Pressed On Self, nothing happens. The number doesn't show at all. If I set it to Mouse Is Down On, the number shows and runs up the count for as long as I click and hold the actor. I just need to register a single click to cause a single +1 to be added to the value of capsules. What am I doing wrong?

6

Ask a Question / Any length actor with beginning, tileable middle, and end art.

« on: October 30, 2021, 03:34:09 am »

I want to create buttons than can be any length/width. They would have the beginning or leftmost part of the button or beginning cap, a middle that can be repeated to create the length/width, then the rightmost part of the button as an end cap. Is that currently possible and if so, how would I do that?

Like: (| and = and |) to make (|========|).

7

Ask a Question / Drawing Text - How to specify when to draw?

« on: October 30, 2021, 02:59:27 am »

I don't understand the "When drawing" feature whatsoever. How do I cause text to appear when my game loads or when I click on an actor? "When drawing" can't be called inside of a "When created" block and that makes no sense and feels dumb. How do I do this? I spent an hour scouring the Stencylpedia and anything else I could find, so I definitely made an effort to learn this by myself but I simply can't.

Please help? If you want to know what I'm trying to achieve, I want to save and load my game progress, and when the game is first opened and the saved data is loaded, I want to pop up a success message if it succeeds or an error message if it fails. How do I do that?

8

Paid Work / Need some code pieces written for text input [CLOSED]

« on: December 24, 2017, 12:46:11 am »

UPDATE: It looks like what I'm trying to do is just too difficult/bothersome for Stencyl, so I'm going to try using another code base to build this. Thanks to all those who contacted me. You did some beautiful work and truly are the professionals you say you are.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Since nobody is willing to help me understand this for free, I'm offering to pay someone to write the code bits for me. They must not be copyrighted in anyway and can be freely distributed in any way I see fit.

I need to learn how to create text input fields and how to use them. I DO NOT LEARN BY ADVICE. I LEARN BY SEEING. I am offering to pay a person to write some example code that I can then use as I see fit.

Let's say someone has a list of things they wish to count, like below:

Thing A: # +
Thing B: # +
Thing C: # +

# = How many Things of type Letter, such as Thing A has 4 of it.
+ = A button they tap or click that creates an input field they can type a number into.

How do I make it so for example,  I can tap on Thing B's + button and an input field pops up. If Thing B has 0 things of that type, then it saves the input as the number typed in. If Thing B already has a few things of that type, then it takes the current number of things and adds my new inputted value to it to give me a new total amount of things of that type. Example:

Thing A:    0 + <--- User clicks + button, input field pops up, they type 6, and 6 is saved
Thing B:    3 +
Thing C: 10 +

List now looks like:

Thing A:    6 +
Thing B:    3 +
Thing C: 10 +

and

Thing A:    0 +
Thing B:    3 + <--- User clicks + button, input field pops up, they type 3, 3 is added to original value, saved as 6
Thing C: 10 +

List now looks like:

Thing A:    0 +
Thing B:    6 +
Thing C: 10 +

I then need code that can read the values for Thing A, Thing B, and Thing C and print them on screen as example:

Thing A:    0 +
Thing B:    3 +
Thing C: 10 +

I need this code to be as simple and straight forward as possible. It needs to be usable in any game/app just by customizing the list names (Thing A, Thing B, etc.) and whatnot. I need to be allowed to show this code to anyone for any reason. I will gladly credit the creator of this code in any code I use it for.

Someone please be willing to take this job and tell me how much you'd like me to pay you for this code and we'll go from there.

Thank you.

9

Ask a Question / Why aren't fonts global? What about behaviours?

« on: December 22, 2017, 10:17:47 pm »

I downloaded a font to use in one app I'm making. I then started a second app and when I went to choose a font, it said I have no fonts. Where is that other font I downloaded and why can't all games access a singular font list and use any of the fonts within? If it's a matter of the game needing the font published directly within it, why not have code that reads from the global font list and adds a copy into the game at publish?

Also, I downloaded someone else's behaviour code for the one app. I want to use it again in another app. Why must I download it again? This will bloat the hell out of Stencyl in time if I make enough games/apps.

Am I doing it wrong? Is there a way to set global fonts and behaviours and have each game/app draw from that?

10

Ask a Question / Text fields/input - Setting and displaying [ CLOSED ]

« on: December 22, 2017, 01:03:01 am »

I've spent over an hour trying to figure this out and it would take too **** long to link to every article or link I checked to prove I'm not some lame ass newbie not willing to do research. I'm trying to set a text field and then be able to display it as text on screen. How do I do this? I'm just about ready to scrap Stencyl and post the most negative reviews I can about it so nobody else has to deal with this as I just can't wrap my head around this.

I grabbed TextField3_3_Upgrade and I still don't understand how to use the damned thing. I created an actor, attached TextField to the actor, then attempted to test the scene and it crashed. What am I not understanding?

11

Ask a Question / Tutorial blocks don't exist?

« on: December 21, 2017, 11:46:47 pm »

Take a look at this page of Stencylpedia. http://www.stencyl.com/blocks/

You'll notice this code block:



In there you'll see a [set userInput to] block as well as a [userInput] block. I can't find these anywhere to use them. Have they been deprecated and are no longer available? What's the best way to accept and set user input now?

12

Ask a Question / Keeping data lists long term using only Stencyl and no database software

« on: December 19, 2017, 08:48:13 am »

I want to make an app that tracks the amount and types of objects a person can own of a particular thing so hobbyists can keep up with their collection. Can Stencyl manage that info within the app well enough or do I really need to pass this info to a database program of some sort? It's nothing huge like keeping track of Magic the Gathering cards but it IS sizeable in its scope and will need to size up as more and more of the things in question are released.

TL;DR Can I do this purely within Stencyl, no external DB required, and maintain the data accurately throughout app usage with no corruption or degradation of data?

Stencyl Widget App

Widgets

• 10 Red Widgets
• 5    Orange Widgets
• 0    Yellow Widgets
• 22 Green Widgets
• 9    Blue Widgets
• 0    Indigo Widgets
• --   Violet Widgets [COMING SOON]

13

Ask a Question / Items database: Can you make collectible and tradable items between players?

« on: December 30, 2016, 06:44:38 am »

I've already got an idea how to make collectible items but can you make them tradable between player accounts using only Stencyl code or would that need calls to a backend database that would track and execute all of that and then pass the results back to Stencyl for parsing?

I guess that would include how to make interactive accounts as well, where users get issued account names and passwords. Is that beyond Stencyl's capabilities as mentioned above?

I'm just trying to figure out what Stencyl CAN do and what must be done OUTSIDE of Stencyl and parsed in.

Thanks for any ideas!

14

Ask a Question / Clicking on one actor triggers custom behaviour to effect another actor, how?

« on: March 11, 2015, 03:38:54 am »

I'm trying to create a button that when you click it, takes a generic grey actor and tints it a specific colour. I thought since I'm making multiple colour buttons, it would be better to make a custom "tint" behaviour that can be applied to every button used and will then change the tint of whatever is being targeted.

To save layer space, I'd like to make these colour buttons tell what layer I'm trying to change and act accordingly so I don't need bunches of buttons on bunches of layers. I can create just one button grouping that can act on any/all layers. Such as, if I'm presently on the "eyes" layer and click the red colour button, change the colour only of the eyes to the specified red, nothing else. If I switch to the "skin" layer and click the blue colour button, change only the colour of the skin to the specified blue, nothing else. Etc. There will be a button to move to and log what layer we've moved to so that the colour buttons can read (get) what the current layer is.

How do I go about this?

15

Ask a Question / Layer stacking and accessing iOS/Android photos app

« on: January 10, 2015, 10:18:36 pm »

I'm wondering if it's natively possible or someone has figured out two things.

1. Is it possible to stack layers on an actor so you can have a "dressable" actor? Let's say you're making a fantasy RPG like Final Fantasy and when the actor goes shopping at an armour shop, you want to be able to have the actor"wear" items directly on itself with the use of layering, so that you don't have to think up every outfit combo your actor could have and have to design an animation with it dressed that way. E.g. Your actor has the phoenix breast plate but wants to wear velvet pants and a horned viking helmet instead of the entire phoenix set suit of armour. You don't need to create an animation of him in the full phoenix suit, in the phoenix suit minus the helmet, phoenix suit with helmet but minus the leggings, in phoenix helmet, leggings, but minus the breastplate, with breastplate but minus the helmet and leggings, you see how awful this could become.

Instead, you can tell the game that there are four "clothing locations", head, torso/arms, legs, feet, and make items with a location attribute that matches, so that if the actor buys a phoenix helmet, the game knows that it's a head object and should be layered in a head-based location on the actor shape. Same for the disco jacket he bought, the yoga pants, and the jester shoes with curly toes and jingly bells.

If I seem to be overstating things, I'm just trying to be clear. The easiest way to describe what I'm trying to achieve is a "paper doll" effect. How can I do this cleanly?

2. Also, I'd like the game to be able to take pictures of the game scene for the player and save them to the photo gallery/app native to the phone. Jetpack Joyride lets you take pics when your actor crashes spectacularly and you want a record of it. Is there a way to take and save pictures, and can you define the area that gets taken? If not, would you need to make the thing you want photographed to take up the whole screen if it can only take whole screen pictures? In short, can I take and save pictures to the phone from scenes within my game and what is the most powerful way to do it, and if there are limitations, what are those so I can do the best photo taking that's currently possible?

aTdHvAaNnKcSe! (Let's see who can guess the visual pun there. =) )