Photics - Cool Tip #1 - Smoother scene loading

PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
edited November -1 in Working with GS (Mac)
The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook was updated today. While going through my emails for promo codes, I was asked an interesting question. The question was basically something like... is it possible to create a custom loading scene for GameSalad?

Unless you're one of the original Pro subscribers, with the $1999 per year subscription still active, you can't add custom splash screens. As for customizing the scene loading, that's not possible... or is it?

While you can't add a progress bar or customize that spinning icon, you can make scene transitions smoother. Here's how...

Create an actor that covers the entire screen. Make it alpha zero, so that it is hidden. Then, just before the change scene behavior is used, change the actor's alpha color to 1. That will be the frozen image on the screen while the next scene loads.

I often use a similar technique for my scene transitions. I simply fade the screen to black, while fading out the music. This can be accomplished with the interpolate behavior. By changing the color of the fade actor, along with fading out the music, the scene changes aren't so harsh.

Useful information like this can be found in The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook.

Comments

  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    that's a great tip. I'm doing something similar in my next iPad game. the scene changes take just as long but SEEM faster.
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    jonmulcahy said:
    that's a great tip. I'm doing something similar in my next iPad game. the scene changes take just as long but SEEM faster.

    Yeah, exactly. While the overall process is longer with the fades, it just feels nicer... and surprisingly faster. But while working on BOT, I realized that there is a way to speed up scene transitions — with the Pause Behavior.

    If you have the memory and power to spare, overlaying a scene with the pause behavior seems to speed up the loading times — especially when switching back to the original scene. I used this for the equipment shop and it was really smooth — Fade & quick loading!
  • PIXOMUSEPIXOMUSE Member Posts: 101
    Would love to get a copy, but I fear it's a little expensive. I'm sure it's worth it for the content, but for that price I would expect an actual physical book, any chance of dropping the price a little in the future or you planning any special cheaper promotions in the future that I could look forward to ?
  • QbAnYtOQbAnYtO Member Posts: 523
    i did something similiar to that for my intro on my game... awesome technique :p
  • simo103simo103 Member, PRO Posts: 1,331
    great tip .. Photics thanks. I have a slight variation in the game I'm doing .... I have a full screen image with a few instructions on what the gamer will face in the next scene (the parts that are different from the level they just created). So the gamer is hopefully occupied whilst the loading takes place. I also have 'the next scene will auto load' so they are not worried about looking around or clicking stuff.
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    PIXOMUSE said:
    Would love to get a copy, but I fear it's a little expensive. I'm sure it's worth it for the content, but for that price I would expect an actual physical book, any chance of dropping the price a little in the future or you planning any special cheaper promotions in the future that I could look forward to ?

    I'm planning a Folding@home contest that should be announced later today. The prize is a promo code for The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook.
  • PIXOMUSEPIXOMUSE Member Posts: 101
    :/, oh well, that's me out then if it's a GameSalad comp., I've managed to hold onto my cash for another month with news that the new Macbook Pro range is coming early March, my GS dev. doesn't start until then, although I'm looking forward to it ! :)
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    I did the same thing in cafe rush for scene changes. However instead of adding a change scene after the fade to black, I added a move camera origin. Therefore the game could be all made as just one scene. Advantage being that scene changes took only as long as the fade in and fade out were.

    In fact if I wanted I could have had a custom loading screen (kinda poinltess though when there is no loading going on).
  • design219design219 Member Posts: 2,273
    For Nesen Probe I have a metal plate that fades in and out for scene transitions. It works great and looks good.

    Speaking of which, I have a few codes for Nesen Probe still if anyone would like one. :-)
  • SparkyidrSparkyidr Member Posts: 2,033
    On a related note

    I sometimes have a "Loading" image, hidden offscreen that I interpolate onto the screen just before loading.

    That looks pretty slick sometimes too.

    I've been toying with the idea of also... making a note of where the spinner is onscreen, and design a loading screen that incorporates it. Stick a little box around where it is, and some colours or something.
    So it makes it look incorporated into your game design.
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