A workaround suggestion for qualifiers & global events

[Danny]

Hey Roseweave,

You can code behaviours into every type of object, literally. It's a relatively simple process to do, I can try and whip something up in an MFA for you to look at but it'll be sometime before Sunday or on Sunday if nobody beats me to it.

Alternatively, if you go down to the File Archive section here there is a 'widget' section, all widgets are behaviour coded so you'll be able to see all the code inside that object and just drag it to a new frame and it'll instantly work there too!

[Roseweave]

It's not the behaviours I'm worried about, it was the suggestion regarding using alterable strings instead of groups, and picking objects by that.

[Roseweave]

Ideally, if you plan to develop a HUGE game that could consist of many frames you should be gearing your development towards a 'one-frame' engine. This way you get complete control, can input/output variables/commands/additional settings all into one frame.

This way, any updates that are needed to the game engine are only needed for one frame and one frame only, not 265+ frames or whatever your game may hold.

Alternatively, if you don't wish to pursue the 'one-frame' scenario, then you should make use of global events and behaviours. You can code up all the behaviours for that object and just drag n drop it into every frame it's required, no additional coding! Again, if you want to work with 'groups' of objects, then just integrate the ForEach object in with the behaviours and start grouping your objects together using IDs(Alterable Value) or a 'String' to define which group it belongs to.

Does anyone have an MFA example of this.

I've tried and I can't get it to work.

Basically say what I want to do is this. I have two groups of objects. One is a bullet and the other is an enemy. I want the same thing to happen when a bullet hits an enemy. I need to test for a collision, and I Can't see a way of doing this with the Foreach object. I always have to pick an existing object.

Are there any tutorials on how to do this?

[Nifflas]

Roseweave, it mainly seems to be you who desperately need this feature. Because I've worked in a single frame since Knytt, this is unimportant for me. I desperately want other features instead that would help me (better HWA friendly support for importing sprite sheets at runtime, sample-accurate synchronization of samples (to do advanced music games), objects that can be grouped into hierarchies (so that I finally have to stop iterating so much to link stuff together), and the standards; more than 26 alterable values, sub-events, else, and better control over instances (scale, angle, values) and so on.

Each of us has a completely different list on what's important. MMF2 is not built to support what you want nicely. Any solution will be:

*1 An unstable hack (because MMF2 isn't designed to be extended this way)
*2 Have to be implemented separately for every runtime (because MMF2 wasn't designed to be cross-platfrom from the beginning)
*3 Take time from MMF3 (in which implementing features like this will be way less time consuming)

Again, I want the same thing as you, but as I've said so many times, hacking all this into MMF2 is the wrong way to go. Scirra made the right call when they officially stated they'll not work on Construct 1 any more and start fresh with Construct 2. They was able to quickly create a much more stable and expandable product that can grow in the future. If CT suddenly start hacking all (and I admit they're important) features that everybody here wants (we all have different needs, your request is just one), they'll have to take that time from somewhere else (MMF3) and the fresh start that MMF needs - just as Construct did - will be delayed further. This is very bad for competing with Unity, Game Maker and Construct.

[Roseweave]

I honestly see no problem with the workaround I suggested and it would not take any reasonable amount of time for anything. Again, if copy and pasting works, there should be a way to do this automatically/internally. I do not see what is so hard to understand about this. It is impossible for there to be any issues that do not already arise from the normal process of copy/paste.

[oasuke]

Because I've worked in a single frame since Knytt,

Same. Every since I started using a single frame I never looked back. I can't even imagine how someone can make a game using 20+ frames relying on behaviors(which has a bunch of quirks as is) and such. Instead of being vague, here is exactly why I don't use behaviors;

1) You have to import every object you want to reference into the behavior
2) When you reference an imported object's alt. values, it uses the generic "alterable value A-Z" name instead.
3) When you exit out the behavior editor, you can't undo/redo a mistake..(Why has nobody addressed that yet?)
4) You have no control over what behavior routine is executed first since it depends on which object was created first.
5) If something goes wrong, you have to dig through potentially 1000's of other object behaviors to debug.

Those are the main quirks that set me off. In my opinion it's only useful for widgets and small snippets of code. I don't see any problem with using a level editor. It's easy, reliable and has so many other benefits. What if you were working on a project with a group of people and they didn't have MMF? Do you expect them to all buy it just to do some level design? Then there's the problem of just handing out your source code. Instead, you can just give them your editor/(if you used Tiled, the .tmx file), and they can easily design the level without those problems. It's also helpful for just keeping your game more modular.

Even with good qualifer suggestions, I doubt you'll see it added overnight or within a few months. Yes it'll be in MMF3, but I personally don't want to wait an undefined amount of time until it's released

[ChrisStreet]

I don't see why I should have to pay for new software to put it back in, it doesn't make me very confidence that MMF3 will be worth purchasing in it's own right.

When MMF3 is released there will surely be a 30-day demo for you to try - then you can make your decision based on your experience with the demo.

[Roseweave]

Does anyone have an MFA example of this.

I've tried and I can't get it to work.

Basically say what I want to do is this. I have two groups of objects. One is a bullet and the other is an enemy. I want the same thing to happen when a bullet hits an enemy. I need to test for a collision, and I Can't see a way of doing this with the Foreach object. I always have to pick an existing object.

Are there any tutorials on how to do this?

Bumping as I still want to see this.