Messages

1

Fixed Bugs (3.x) / custom block oversight for the image instance type

« on: December 03, 2014, 08:34:51 pm »

Hi,

If you try to add an entry in a custom block's input field that is  of the "image instance" type,  when you click "ok" the entry isn't created and is ignored, as if nothing happened. 

That doesn't cause me any issue, since as a fix I'm going to use the "anything" type instead, but I wanted to point this out.

2

iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: tell me if you like it (game still in progress)

« on: November 26, 2014, 06:54:17 am »

Yeah, but the lethal power of red bricks is a bit wierd.  I get that ramming in a brick wall hurts, but stepping on one?  Not so much.

3

iPhone / iPad / Android / Re: tell me if you like it (game still in progress)

« on: November 25, 2014, 04:08:47 am »

Being kiled for landing OVER bricks is a bit wierd.

4

Ask a Question / Screen Resolution in a game for PC AND mobile

« on: November 22, 2014, 06:53:47 am »

Greetings,
I would like to make a game that runs on both pc and mobile.  I think I mostly understand how sprite scalling works on mobile.


However, I haven't seen any option to run your game at 2x or 4x when on pc.   Running a game at 1x on a PC makes the game too small for my tastes (unless you make the 1x version of the game quite big, making it too big for old phones).  Is there any solution for that or I would be better off making a PC version with higher resolution separate from the mobile version?


On a completely separate note, I am using the image api on this game.
AFAIK Images from the api don't scale  automatically like sprites, which isn't a big deal since I can manually detect  whenever the game is running in 1/1.5/2 or 4x and then use an image that is correctly scaled.
To do that however, I need to detect what is the screen resolution of the device my game is running on.  I haven't found a block to do that, is there any line of code I could use for this?


Thanks in advance.




EDIT:  I've found the answer myself for the first question, it was really easy.  You can change the x factor of the game for web/flash and windows just as easily as for mobile in the respective settings for the respective platforms.  I feel stupid for missing that!  However, my second question still remains.

5

Ask a Question / Re: What's the best way to make a switching button?

« on: November 18, 2014, 05:15:01 pm »

I think a bit more context would be helpful.

6

Chit-Chat / Re: Honk This Jam

« on: June 01, 2014, 11:47:50 am »

"Horrible game jam"  Doesn't really convey the spirit well, they could always make a mirror site called "screw this jam" to appease some people.

Edit: You had to change the topic title? XD

7

Journals / Re: Final Warrior - Remake - 8bit or Artsy?

« on: May 31, 2014, 08:13:06 am »

I personally prefer the artsy version much more too, but it sure will require more work to make the sprites.  You can always make the whole game with placeholder (easy to make) sprites first and get a spriter when the actual game programming/levels are done.

EDIT:  While the game already looks advanced, is it almost complete or there is still a lot to do?

8

Chit-Chat / Re: Making *fun* Games

« on: May 31, 2014, 08:02:32 am »

Extra Credits is for babies, it's aired on PBS Kids.

And so is Stencyl, it's included with happy meals.  Therefore they fit well together.
Real men code in Assembly language!
(That was sarcasm btw)

To be honest, I don't think I have anything of value to tell the op.
The word fun, althought subjective, seems agreed upon enough to be an useful describer that have a different meaning than "interesting" or "engaging".  Sure, if you ONLY strive to make a game fun it may end up a generic timewaster, but for most (not all) games, making a game at least kinda fun is still one factor you have to care about.

The thing is, "causal fun" and "hardcorish fun" are two different things.  While several games that only/mainly strive to be the latter have had great critical reviews, it doesn't seem to happen to the former that much.  (I can't think of a praised IPhone game that's also in the most popular/talked about)

9

News / Re: Stencyl 3.1 - Soft launched on May 14th, Updated May 23rd

« on: May 24, 2014, 06:39:21 am »

You could always make the old api "semi-hidden": only shows up in games that already use it.

10

Journals / Re: Replicator - Dev Journal

« on: May 24, 2014, 06:35:22 am »

Maybe your game doesn't use the mouse, but people may want to play your game and multitask at the same time :p  it doesn't have to be activated by default, you can always change it in a menu.

11

News / Re: Stencyl 3.1 - Soft launched on May 14th, Updated May 23rd

« on: May 23, 2014, 04:04:25 pm »

Hey, I wanted to ask this:  (I must admit this is a very subjective suggestion)

While I feel most of the stencyl interface is pretty well organised, the way drawing blocks works (even before this extra API was introduced) seems a bit needlessly complex.  I understand that the newly released image API is a recent change and that there is more pressing stuff right now, but do you plan to make the drawing user interface in stencyl a bit simpler/more intuitive at some point in the future?

Personally I'd feel it would be best for image types (not instances) to be created from the dashboard like with object types instead of in code.  I think blocks like "blank image with width..." and "instance of (image)" should be added the prefix "new" to be clearer and prevent the kind of mistake your stencylpedia page on the image API warns against.  Also, now that there is the image api, the old tab for drawing blocks seem redundant(except for compatibility reasons).  Having 2 separate tabs to do a similar job can be confusing.


Also, while I have no experience using these things, the new hardware-accelerated shaders seems pretty rad

12

Journals / Re: Replicator - Dev Journal

« on: May 23, 2014, 03:31:31 pm »

In the end you are the one who have the final word to say, it's your game after all.

Some kind of clicking sound would do the trick for weapon switching.

I'd say as a very crude estimate that maybe 60% of games have wasd instead of/with  arrow keys.  The reason I THINK (don't take my word for it) isn't leftiness, but that since your mouse is at your right, it feels better using the mouse at your right and wasd at your left than having your two hands at the right of your body.  Ironically, arrows would be better for lefties.

Often, crouching lower your character to about 50% of its height (convenient for tile size reasons) but size your character is less cartoonish maybe a value of 60%-65% (crouch a bit less) would do (but the value can differ greatly depending of the game, this is a subjective thing not an objective one)

Thats not exactly what I meant about "turning", but it doesn't matter THAT much.  As for the tile flipping left/right, having the down button flipping you instead of flipping automatically could be a compromise, since it isn't in use in antigrav anyway.  Being able to switch gravity midair would be cool.

Oh and you are welcome

13

Journals / Re: Replicator - Dev Journal

« on: May 22, 2014, 05:01:23 pm »

The graphics are really nice.  the coding needs some work though.  The weapon switching sound isn't great.  The ennemies are pretty cool since they aren't too mindless, (when you are on the ground, in anti-grav they shoot forward even if you aren't there) but they can end up offscreen which is problematic. (since they can shoot you, but you can't!)
 
The turning would be somewhat better if instead of going at a constant angular speed, the cosmonaut accelerated/decelerated angularly.(If necessary with some way to completely "brake" the spinning so that you don't end up overcompensating when trying to stop spinning)  However, you don't want the accel tobe too slow either.

Maybe you could use box2d for when gravity is off and desactivate it and use simpler physics when on the ground.  Also, when in anti-grav, the "flipping" of the player from left or right is annoying and unnecessary anyway since you can always shoot in the opposite direction by turning head down.

Also, a couple more tiny animations (on the spaceman and projectiles) could add much more fluidity and visual polish.

The projectiles could have more spectacular sprites (especially with the new image api), and the option for wasd key movement.  The crouching doesn't lower you enoug hfor my personnal taste, It makes it a bit pointless.

The jet pack push you up when your head is down, which is pretty counter-intuitive.

If all the enemies are low health the current shooting is ok but if some aren't, the player is going to mash the fire button as fast as he can to destroy them with its rifle like with a gatling gun.

ps I understand several of my critcisms are due to the fact this is a work of progress and you haven't had the time to work on these things yet.

14

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Perdition

« on: February 14, 2013, 09:58:56 am »

The character design look quite a bit like Gyossait to me

EDIT: oh, you posted a spriting tutorial made by the guy that made this game, so it's not a coincidence

It do seems you put quite a bit of work into this game, pretty promising.

15

Game Ideas / Re: smash bros-ish game

« on: February 08, 2013, 06:52:49 pm »

Thanks Ambidextrous, but this particular issue had already been fixed.

It's fun to see someone having the same kind of opinion as me.  What Ozygiygas said is that while it could be feasible to modify the existing kit alot, it would work better to completely make one from scratch.  I will still solve your problem, but I only see this as a temporairy solution that will only lead you so far.

My purely personnal suggestion is for you to design your game first.  As in, think how you want it to be so you can tell with good precision how it will be, so we can know what your engine will need to do.