Objects acting weird in the virtual frame

[Monokkel]

I've been having quite a bit of problems in the game I'm making concerning how active objects act when they are outside of the visible frame, but still inside the virtual frame (the game scrolls after the player character).

The game is a wizard rpg/shmup, and one instance of this problem is an enemy with a rotating shield made out of several rocks. The rocks use the simple elipse movement, and are set to follow the enemy. This works well as long as the enemy is within the visual frame, but if the enemy moves outside the visual frame and returns, the rocks in the shield are no longer equal distance from each other, but clumped together seemingly at random.

Another instance is with magic missiles, which are vector movement objects fired from the main character. When they are outside the visual frame I'm having trouble making events destroying them, causing a huge buildup of in-game objects.

If I somehow could make the game treat objects in the virtual frame the same as the one in the visual both of these problems would disappear. If someone has a solution or workaround for this problem I would be very grateful. If not, any help with my two specific problems would be appreciated.

[mobichan]

Try changing "Inactive if too far from window" on each active object to "Never" instead of the default Automatic. It is under the runtime properties tab of the active object. If Automatic is set, the objects will be disabled when they get too far from the window's edge.

[Monokkel]

Thanks, mobichan! That seems to have solved at least my first problem, and I suspect that with a bit of tweaking it will fix my second problem as well.

[Monokkel]

That would work. But wouldn't it make sense to not allow characters to escape off the screen?

I agree that this can be annoying, but in this game, that will probably not be a problem. The camera is mostly centered at the player character, with the player having some limited control over the visible frame as well, so situations like the ones you describe will probably be rare or nonexistent.

I'm still interested in the intelligent design elements, though. Are they some sort of specific game-creation element, and in that case what can it be used for, or are you simply urging me to design my game intelligently?

[Monokkel]

I am saying that you need to consider the end user for practicality and user-friendly as well as just a whole lot of "wow".

Certainly. In this particular case mobichan's solution will work nicely, but what you are saying is of course always important to keep in mind.

[mobichan]

@ OldLongDragon: that is entirely a design choice. But I wouldn't say it was a bad choice in the case of Final Fight (for instance). That is something you need to cope with as a player. It was an element that made the game what it was (an arcade game that was designed to make money off the player).

@ Monokkel: You could have code that checks to see if your player's missiles are out of frame and then destroy them. You could also make 4 active objects that work as a frame for your window and test if your missile is positioned past them.