Posts by BossRighteous

I am starting to doubt it was patch related, now my mind is blown and I am wondering how many times I've been through this hahaha.

Oh boy.

So I just tried Sin(0 - 360) for fun and sure enough.

Can I just go on record as saying that it's a little frustrating to have software override 2000 year old math functions to use degrees instead of radians? I am tempted to submit a big report. At the very least there should be an additional set of degree based trig functions while maintaining the traditional ones.

I've used trig for many years, including in MMF and Fusion, but since the last patch I am getting really strange results from my trig functions.

Calculating simple phases of a unit circle using the trig functions should return a full range of -1 to 1 when using 0-2Pi.

Either Fusion is trying to do some shortcuts or the functions are broken. Can anyone help?

I've attached an example, with calculated and hard-coded Pi phases. Can anyone confirm the behavior as being universal since the last patch?

Thanks!

My results

Sin calculated | Sin hardcoded
Cos calculated | Cos hardcoded

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You can set the animation, direction, and frame number by 'use expression', and get the primary object's related properties as the set values. Is that what you mean?

There is a way to cross reference the current animation number, direction number, and frame number of an active. Sadly I don't have a character with a lot of animations and directions to reference for you. You can use Alterable Values and the debugger, or set up some counters. You can set those counter values to the Current Animation Value/ Direction Value/ Frame on load or button press or whatever is most convenient. You could probably even extend it to create a 'snapshot' key that calculates the 3 values and merges them into a string for you, but anyway.

If you know the numeric values of each you could store them in a string like so:
[animation][direction][frame]
[01][32][001]
"0132001"

Then during assignment you can assign each property by 'Use Expression'

--Grab first 2 digits, convert to number for animation sequence
Val(Mid$(AnimString, 0, 2 ) )

--Grab mid 2 digits, convert to number for animation direction
Val(Mid$(AnimString, 2, 2 ) )

--Grab last 3 digits, convert to number for animation frame
Val(Mid$(AnimString, 4, 3 ) )

It would be a pain to set up your input strings, but from there it should be doable in a single event. Just gotta make sure the strings are zero padded to maintain digit positions. The leading zeros will get dropped during the string->number conversion.

Hope that helps!

The easiest way without over complicating, is to test the Tank's position against the Mouse position. The Mouse is higher on screen than the tank, look to the mouse, if not, don't

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Are there any conditions in which Launch Counter is set, reduced or reset?

I am curious if some other assignment is getting in the way. Try also adding 1 to a new global value and check it's progress in the debug console to make sure the event is firing all the way (it should be)

Me too

A little trick I picked up in jQuery was to use a throw away object as a data proxy.

What I mean is, you can create a generic hidden object and use it's X/Y coordinates as percentage representations of your easing progress. This is done by easing to 100,100 each ease and changing the duration. You can then on each update set the appropriate objects scale or rotation to the x/y value of the proxy /100 so it's a proper percentage.

Each ease you reset the position of the proxy to 0,0 and when x or y of that object is <> 0 you can address the scale and angle. You can also set a flag on the objects you want bound to that tween. The obvious pitfall is you'd need a separate proxy for each object set with a different tweening time. The good news is the percentage can be multiplied in to about anything you'd need as long as you set the assignment equations right.

And really you could get crafty and create/destroy proxies on the fly as needed, so even though it's a weird work around it's pretty scalable.

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They way I would assume you are scripting the forklift may be way off. Could you post the mfa, or at least expand on the movements being used and the object types?

I got curious and ended up making a decent arcing system without a lot of extra code. It still bugs out with the switch between 0/32 and 32/0 but that's fixable. I just can't think very clearly this late

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Here is a really simple example.

To get it better you'd need to use vector based movements. You'd use a similar delay and afterward you would find the shortest distance between the current vector and the desired vector of the target and +/- incrementally based on the shortest loop around. If you want to take it that far let me know and I can help. You'd need a fast loop for that to keep all the instances straight. I don't want to default to a complex solution if the clean arcing isn't terribly important.

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You're right about the confusing different angle thing. I meant to just open up a thread for nontechnical discussion and I just started rambling. The forum focuses on answering questions so I wanted to make more of a discussion thread.

Thanks for the input! You raise some great points. I don't think clones are at all a waste. Todays clones could be tomorrows genres. I also don't have any misconceptions that my efforts will be well received, it just feels like a due diligence thing.

I didn't mean to ask for advice specifically, I more meant for people to recommend strategies they've used, or explain times they missed the mark. You can learn from other's mistakes and successes so I'd love to hear about one of your games and how you balanced the higher level design decisions like these

I don't see a lot of general discussion topics on these forums but I feel like one might be useful. Specifically I'd like to start a thread discussing what I have heard referred to as meta-game, and design and engagement strategies.

A diverse selection of apps and games have been made over the years with Fusion and it's predecessors. Years of collective planning and hopes and lessons have been experienced in this community and it's worth talking about more.

I feel like as important as it is to discuss How to make software, discussing Why is the bigger question.

For instance, in Planetside 2, a lot of thought went into the meta-game and balancing. At its root, the game is about shooting soldiers and capping bases. Beyond that though, the developers needed to drive battle-lines, motivations, group strategy, and continued engagement. These underlying systems that make the Goal based game feel rounded and rich are what make the meta-game.

Feel free to comment, leave feedback, and ask your own questions. Posting relevant articles and thoughts would also be useful. In addition to meta-game planning I think discussing trends and release strategies would all be topical.

I'll get things started.

Mobile apps seem to fall into 2 categories:
Pray and Spray - releasing clones and fad based games as quickly as possible so as to capture the trend with minimum time sink. If it fails you are out 2 weeks of dev time.
Time Invested - deeper games with multiple levels, DLC, social component etc.

What are some thoughts on these strategies? I personally am aiming for the deep engagement. It gets really daunting trying to finish the entire game before release, knowing it could tank with hundreds of hours lost in development. In the end I think it will be worth it though. Trying to come up with higher level motivations (badges, stars, etc) to keep people playing has been a fun challenge so far.

As a boilerplate I want to make a game that is rewarding for casual players by being beatable, but also rewarding for more serious players by having a par system, high scores, badges, and power-ups. This could lend itself to monetization as well.

Beyond the point-a to point-b what are some engagement strategies you have used or plan to use in the future.

It's an issue of the physics objects being too resistant vs the rope.

If you decrease the friction, density and gravity coefficient on the objects, and increase the density and elasticity of the rope, it will begin to pull as expected. I don't know of any quick ways to calculate thought, the units seem arbitrary at a glance so I don't know how it applies to Newtonian formulas of mass and m/s. Like in real life a rope only has a set amount of pull before it breaks. A string tied to 2 boulders will snap and freak out when the boulders move. A string tied to 2 balloons will not break, but might not pull like you'd hope. The key is matching the objects to the elastic/dampened strength of the rope.

Here is a basically working example.

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Sorry happygreenfrog, but I think his poor grammar is due to a non-english language barrier. English is structured pretty differently than a lot of other languages so it may seem like it's a lack of effort or clarity, but it's actually too literal and reads strangely. I don't know that this is the only issue but it reads as though English is not his primary language. I appreciate that he is trying to communicate in a language I use every day and try to extend some gratitude.

Seifeldin, I am sorry if I appeared not to accept the efforts you have gone to. I just meant to explain that it is customary to ask about problems within an existing project. This is for your benefit and ours, so that changes we make are practical and work within your system. There are a million ways to make the same game, so without having your base project to help with, we may fix things in a way that wouldn't work with your original plan. Understanding the experience level is also key so we don't use techniques that are beyond your understanding.

I encourage you to make as much progress as you can with the answers you have received. From there you will have a project file that may not work at all, but might be a good base to get better help from others. If you use Skype, feel free to add me, BossRighteous, and I would be happy to answer any questions. I started at age 15 as well and had some really great mentors. I'd love to try and help in any way possible. The help I got at your age shaped my whole career.

Sure, this is where you get into simplified vector systems. They can get fairly complicated, but this is a nice easy base.

To get a little theoretical, what is "2" in that equation? A number, obviously. Also, a convenient number that works most of the time.

What does 2 represent? A Speed or Velocity.

So in this case we can substitute the static number 2, with a variable Alterable Value.

You can define an unused Alterable Value in the object to represent xSpeed and set it to 2 as a default, or at the begining of the frame.

From there you would just modify any movements to +/- the xSpeed value from the current position. You can also modify the value of xSpeed as needed and things will automatically adjust.

You can set up a ySpeed if needed, or just use the same variable if it's a 4 way movement. It can also be expanded to increment by percentage of a maximum/minimum, etc.

It may be that the String Parser extension doesn't have full Unicode support? It appears to be unable to evaluate that specific character.

What movement are you using now, if any? The strategy will change a bit depending.

Thanks DaveC, I was trying to think of a tactful way to say that.

Seifeldin,
It's difficult to explain how to address multiple problems at once. It is also not very helpful to anyone. Helping with process and bug fixes can help get you out of ruts, that's what these forums are best with. Helping you think of things you hadn't thought of.

In this case there are so many fundamentals missing that it becomes difficult to help without making the game ourselves. And if we did that you may not learn the fundamentals that are so important. There will be problem after problem so it's important to not rush.

I'd recommend focusing on simpler projects until you get a good feel on start-to-finish planning and workflow. Even the simplest projects will create their own new problems you can think through and get better by solving. Eventually you will know how to make your dream game, and we will be here to help when your plan might confuse you or go differently than you had assumed.

Do you have any similar games that you can recommend? Maybe we can help you find better suited tutorials.