Layers

[jhonson]

Ok, so I'm working on my first project with layers, and I want to get a few things answered first.

1. do objects in one layer inteact with another? (i.e, if active collide with background then stop. will it still work if the active and background are on different layers?)

2. if an object from layer one shoots an object from layer two, is the bullet going to be on layer one or two?

thanks for your help.

[DavidN]

Objects on separate layers don't interact with each other. However, if you do want them to interact when they collide, you can either use an additional collision detection object on the layer of the second object that always sets itself to the position of the first, or you can check for "collisions" by looking at the objects' X and Y coordinates instead.

And I think that when an object is created using the Shoot/Launch an Object commands, it originates on the same layer as the object that shot it - the initial layer of the object in the frame editor doesn't matter. (Again, if this isn't what you need, I think that shot objects still respond to the Change Layer action in the Layer object.)

[uprize]

Yeh objects on different layers sohuld interact with eachother.
Be careful with layers as they can slow down your game quite a lot, especially in non HWA version.

[jhonson]

thanks, and how many do you suggest I limit myself to? I only have 3 so far.

[DavidN]

It depends on what you're doing with them. Massive levels with multiple scrolling coefficients will have problems, but I'm using about fifteen for individual windows on a menu screen and it doesn't cause any problems at all.

[uprize]

Yeh objects on different layers sohuld interact with eachother.

Whoops! That should say;
Yeh objects on different layers shouldn't interact with eachother.

[uprize]

It depends on what you're doing with them. Massive levels with multiple scrolling coefficients will have problems, but I'm using about fifteen for individual windows on a menu screen and it doesn't cause any problems at all.

15 layers? Wow I only ever use 1 layer. Am I crazy?

[Shawn]

It depends on what you're doing with them. Massive levels with multiple scrolling coefficients will have problems, but I'm using about fifteen for individual windows on a menu screen and it doesn't cause any problems at all.

15 layers? Wow I only ever use 1 layer. Am I crazy?

Layers work really well for menus and HUD's you want to display over the actual game itself. Don't have to mess with object orders and whatnot. It will always display on top if you have it on an upper layer.

[IncaSator]

If I have 1024*768 resolution in my game and about 7-9 layers on massive level (about 5*(1024*768)) - will it cause many lags and slowdown?

[DavidN]

I would probably use the HWA version for that - though you never know, if they don't have to scroll independently of each other it may work fine.