Remembering collected items and/or enemies killed

I am developing a metroidvania-styled game, and looking for an efficient way to track collected items, and enemies killed.

One time collectibles are easy to handle since you only collect them once, thereby you can have a flag determining whether it has been collected or not. However, remembering a repeating collectible that occurs in large quantities across the game is another matter. If a level/area is containing 256 coins, and you collect 86 of them, then leave the frame; when you return to this frame, how do you account for the correct 86 coins collected, and prevent them from reappearing at their respective positions? The same dilemma also applies to previously killed enemies.

I am assuming an array is the answer here, but I have been unable to make it work properly.

If anyone has an effective solution to this, I would be very thankful for sharing it.

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

I made an example that uses an objects Fixed value with an Array recently. It should work with Enemies as well with a few small changes. Let me know if it helps. Check out the attachment from this post.

https://community.clickteam.com/threads/107357-Loading-Destroying-an-active-on-frame-restart

This looks very viable! Thank you very much!

I should be able to store frame value in an Y dimension instead of saving an .array file for each frame, right? Also, is there a way to delete the .array file without the File object? The file object is incompatible with iOS and other platforms.

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

You could store other information in the Y dimension, but I think Fixed Values are only unique to each frame. You could clear the array and then save it again as a workaround until you find a way to delete the file on iOS.

Since Fixed Values are only unique to each frame. Adding the frame to the Y dimension when an object is collected/destroyed would work if you want to only use one array. I made an updated example that includes 3 frames to demonstrate.

Fantastic! This is a great solution!

I have only one concern; as the X dimension is extended by one for each object collected, won't this bloat the array file? If the game has a total of 4000+ coins throughout, on top of 100 frames, for example.

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

I made a test were I added 1200 to the x dimension. The array file was only 10 KB. I did not experience any slow down but it depends on your hardware. You could make multiple arrays and fastloops per object, for example coins.array, enemies.array, etc. instead of one big array or split them up by frame#.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doverseer

You could make multiple arrays and fastloops per object, for example coins.array, enemies.array, etc. instead of one big array or split them up by frame#.

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In the case of using a range of multiple arrays; is there a way to embed the .array files into the application? I find having multiple array files as well as ini's to be chaotic for the user, and susceptible to being tampered with.

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

Yes, just add them to the Binary Data Files tab in the Data Elements editor, they'll be included in the EXE. No need to change anything in the events (= still use Apppath$ + "arrayname" for example), and then you can redistribute your EXE alone without these files.

Neat! That's very handy! Does this apply for .ini's as well? Also, when I select the files I want to embed; should I extract them from a specific folder directory?

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

This applies to all Clickteam objects except sub-application. Probably some non-Clickteam objects support it too, I'll check. So yes for INI.

You do not need to extract the files if the object supports embedded files.

1. Usual case (INI, Array, List Box, Active Picture, etc), the object supports loading files directly from the EXE => the file won't be extracted when the object needs it, it will load it directly from the EXE.

2. More rare case, the object supports embedded files but needs the file to be external => Fusion will extract the file when the object needs it, to a temp folder. This is the case for video objects (Direct Show, Active Direct Show, etc).

In cases 1 or 2 you don't need to do anything.

3. The object does not support embedded files => in this case you can extract the file yourself to a temporary file. You can use an action in the Special object to extract the file and retrieve the temp pathname, and an action to delete the file when you don't need it anymore (otherwise it's automatically deleted when the app ends).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yves

This applies to all Clickteam objects except sub-application. Probably some non-Clickteam objects support it too, I'll check. So yes for INI.

You do not need to extract the files if the object supports embedded files.

1. Usual case (INI, Array, List Box, Active Picture, etc), the object supports loading files directly from the EXE => the file won't be extracted when the object needs it, it will load it directly from the EXE.

2. More rare case, the object supports embedded files but needs the file to be external => Fusion will extract the file when the object needs it, to a temp folder. This is the case for video objects (Direct Show, Active Direct Show, etc).

In cases 1 or 2 you don't need to do anything.

3. The object does not support embedded files => in this case you can extract the file yourself to a temporary file. You can use an action in the Special object to extract the file and retrieve the temp pathname, and an action to delete the file when you don't need it anymore (otherwise it's automatically deleted when the app ends).

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So if I understand you correctly; any user that launches my built application (.exe) won't have an .array file or .ini created and stored on their computer, regardless of what I do? I have an .array file located in my work folder, as well as an .ini file located in /AppData/Roaming/MMFApplications, but are these only created and stored by me running the .mfa for playtesting, or does it apply to the .exe as well? I have an own folder for .exe builds, and it seems the .exe creates an .array file in its directory too, in my case.

Sorry if I make this confusing, I appreciate your help.

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

Also, thank you very much @Doverseer for your examples! They provided me valuable insight!

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tobias_Edvardsen

So if I understand you correctly; any user that launches my built application (.exe) won't have an .array file or .ini created and stored on their computer, regardless of what I do? I have an .array file located in my work folder, as well as an .ini file located in /AppData/Roaming/MMFApplications, but are these only created and stored by me running the .mfa for playtesting, or does it apply to the .exe as well? I have an own folder for .exe builds, and it seems the .exe creates an .array file in its directory too, in my case.

Sorry if I make this confusing, I appreciate your help.

Best regards,
Tobias Edvardsen

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What I said above is for read-only files, i.e. files that you only read from your application. Those files can be embedded in the EXE via the Binary Data tab.

If you need to write to the file, then it has to be extracted to the user's machine (or simply created if you don't need to initialize it to default values), your app cannot write in its own EXE.

For example if your app embeds a default array that you want to extract to the user's appdata folder the first time your app is executed, you have to do something like this:

- test of the file already exists on the user machine (with a condition of the File object + expression that returns the pathname of the user's appdata/roaming folder)
- if the file doesn't exist, extract it with the Extract Binary File action, get its temp pathname with the BinFileTempName$ expression, copy it to your app sub-directory in appdata/roaming (with the File object) (and then delete it from the temp folder)
- make your array object load the file from appdata/roaming/etc.

For the INI object, in theory it's a bit simpler and you haven't to extract the file manually, it's done automatically the first time you write a value to the INI file.

Hopefully it's clear enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doverseer

I made an example that uses an objects Fixed value with an Array recently. It should work with Enemies as well with a few small changes. Let me know if it helps. Check out the attachment from this post.

https://community.clickteam.com/threads/107357-Loading-Destroying-an-active-on-frame-restart

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I used an array object as well. Basically you use the fixed value for your collectibles (I used a qualifier here) and when the guy picks one up that spot in an array object is updated to 1 (vs. 0 by default).
It works BUT I found that sometimes if you put two or more collectibles too close together sometimes it won't register they were both picked up. As long as they're not super super close together you should be OK though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yves

Yes, just add them to the Binary Data Files tab in the Data Elements editor, they'll be included in the EXE. No need to change anything in the events (= still use Apppath$ + "arrayname" for example), and then you can redistribute your EXE alone without these files.

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Whoah wait a minute! So for example if my game uses a list object which saves / loads to the main folder can I include that file in the data elements and then it won't actually be in that folder? I might be understanding you incorrectly though. :)

EDIT:
The main folder has- The .exe, an ini file for options, and an array and 2 listbox lists for the save game files.

These can all be embedded in the .exe? There's a part of the game where I use the file object to delete these when the player starts a new game. Would it still work if the above were embedded to the .exe?

Thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Del_Duio

Whoah wait a minute! So for example if my game uses a list object which saves / loads to the main folder can I include that file in the data elements and then it won't actually be in that folder? I might be understanding you incorrectly though. :)

EDIT:
The main folder has- The .exe, an ini file for options, and an array and 2 listbox lists for the save game files.

These can all be embedded in the .exe? There's a part of the game where I use the file object to delete these when the player starts a new game. Would it still work if the above were embedded to the .exe?

Thank you!

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Maybe just check my previous posts above? If those files are read-only, just include them to the Binary Data Files tab, they won't be extracted when the object loads them, they'll be loaded from the EXE. If you need to SAVE data to these files, then of course they'll have to be created and/or extracted to the user's disk.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yves

Maybe just check my previous posts above? If those files are read-only, just include them to the Binary Data Files tab, they won't be extracted when the object loads them, they'll be loaded from the EXE. If you need to SAVE data to these files, then of course they'll have to be created and/or extracted to the user's disk.

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No, they're not read-only unfortunately. Thanks, Yves!