Jump Issue

JoshKahane

Hi

So I did get jumping to work, however my issue is now that I have added a second type of ground actor. The original actor is fine, my character can jump on it all he wants. However when I wanted another type of ground I just copied my original one and changed its graphic so it has the same properties but looks different. Now on my new actor, my character won't jump on it, even though they have the same properties. What shall I do?

JGary321

What do you mean it won't jump on it? Explain. Does it pass through it, does it bounce off? What happens?

Off the top of my head, without knowing any more info, I would say to make sure it has all the same rules as the original. Have you opened the copied actor & looked to make sure all rules were the same? More info will help us help you

CodeMonkey

I'm guessing the rule that checks if touching the ground, then canJump=true, does not have the condition for the new actor prototype.

JoshKahane

Hmm, Im just trying to think about how I did this again, haha. Well my ground actor dont have any rules, as before they didnt need them. But My character just stands there, doesnt bounce, fall, fly or anything, just does nothing when I press up.

I was quite confused as to how it all worked, so I think when I did get it working I ignored what I did to do so, haha. Not very helpful. I have a rule so that when my character collides with all the different ground types I have it is changes a boolean attribute i made for my character called touchingground to 0.

Then I have a new rule, the conditions being that touchingground is false and the key 'up' is down my character will then move upwards to 0.15 seconds at a speed of 300 and then I have a change attribute behavior on that rule changing touchingground to 1.

My character actor is movable, on a fixed rotation, and collidabe. My ground actors are all collidable and on a fixed rotation.

All of this is on my character actor. I have no rules or behaviors on my ground actors. Sounds very confusing, not sure how else to explain it. Hopefully you guys are smarter than me and figure this out. JUst say if there is anything else you need to know.

JoshKahane

Ok the above has probably just baffled you, Im not surprised, I just read it back and barely understood what I said. But I have found something out.

It seems that once the attribute becomes true, its stays true forever, hence being only able to jump once. How can I change this?

With it like the above, I have discovered, I can only jump once, then it stops me from jumping all together. But if I add a behavior in the Otherwise part of the rule telling it to change my touchingground attribute back to false I can jump all I want, but now my character flies if I keep pressing up. So I need to stop him from flying. How?

JGary321

Try making a new rule : when actor collides with ground change jump to false.

Should work in theory. Also take out the otherwise part.

JoshKahane

Ok got rid of the otherwise part, but in a rule how do I refer to another rule, so that I can change jump to false?

CodeMonkey

Okay. Maybe this wiki how to will help.

http://gamesalad.com/wiki/how_to_gsc_jump

JoshKahane

Problem CodeMonkey. In that Wiki page, I can't do what it says in the version of GameSalad I have. You must have a later version GameSalad, as even in the latest version downloadable to the public on your website, 0.4.5, I can't select The conditions shown, and so can't replicate the results. But great for adding that to the Wiki.

Anything we can do about this? I would appreciate your help, thanks.

CodeMonkey

Wait about a week.

Though I hope you learned something by trying to reproduce it.

JoshKahane

Yep, thanks CodeMonkey. Wait about a week, ooh, new beta version on its way? Still that can't be nearly as exciting as the iPhone Preview app thats coming! Tell us more CodeMonkey, haha.

butterbean

Yeah.... when is this iphone preview app coming?

JoshKahane

So a week is almost up. Whats happening? Haha. You don't have to make any promises or anything just shed a little light on whats going on. Its killing me. I keep hesitating as to wether I should keep making my game while there is possibly a new verion coming along soon.

CodeMonkey

If you can work on other aspects of your game, that could give you something to do. There are couple more issues we are working on with compatibility with old games. We don't want you to have to rebuild everything due to the great new changes that are coming.

You can also play around with the Interns' new games this week. http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=238

JoshKahane

Thanks CodeMonkey. Good to hear your working away. And great to hear your working on making sure thee is no compatibility issues with versions of the software so we don't have to rebuild parts. Thats what I was worried about, no longer though am I. Good link, quite fun and interesting to what they have got done. Thanks for clearing it up for me. Really appreciate it. Looking forward to the great new changes. Keep it up, and get it out asap, haha.

butterbean

Would any of these new changes happen to include a "save feature"?

Kamazar

Save Feature muy importante ;D On a slightly related note, say we save personal high scores, will GameSalad provide server space in the nearby future or something like that for global high scores? Or is that one of the things that's low on the priorities list compared to the other stuff that need fixing/adding?

JoshKahane

Ok its beginning to feel like a while now. And I have worked away at other aspects of my game, but don't want to go too far and find I have to re work things. There is by all means no pressure on you guys, as your working hard enough as it is i expect. However its killing me waiting for this update, and its the first I'm receiving as I only started using GS with this beta version, so any other hints as to when it will come?

Mainly, where can I find out when the new version has arrived. Where can I check?

CodeMonkey

When the new version is released, when you open GameSalad Creator, it will tell you that there is a new version for download. (if you are connected to the internet).

You shouldn't need to rework most things, if any at all, with your old games. So you can keep adding to your game.

JoshKahane

Hooray! The news version has arrived, haha. I can now reside in peace until I find out the next version is coming soon, haha.

Well I seem to be in a pickle with this jump thing still. I am concentrating on your first method in this wiki: http://gamesalad.com/wiki/how_to_gsc_jump

I can't seem to replicate what you have done. Copying and following everything it says so it fits my own game and I cant do it. Any help? Sorry Im not very specific, I just cant get it to work. Also in the equation for the ground actor (in the wiki as shown) what do the /2 mean?

CodeMonkey

/2 means that attribute divided by 2.(half).

But I took out the complex one. I was assuming non-rotated platforms, and now that I think of it that first set of complex logic wouldn't work. You can just go with the easy one. Its better anyways if you want to make a donkey kong clone.

EDIT: Easy one has more detail. This should work a lot easier.

JoshKahane

Good to see you have made things more understandable on the Wiki. I have followed it and done exactly whats necessary and my character just wont jump. No ideas why. You have any ideas? Any mistakes I could have easily made?

harrio

what's cookin,

hey k, i know the feeling of frustration when things don't work. if you post a pic of your rule setup it might help someone here figure out what is going on.

just a thought. codemonkey and others helped me a lot by looking at my 'code' and giving me suggestions.

JoshKahane

Cool thanks Hario will do so in a minute, I'll just take one o two.

JoshKahane

Here are two images showing the main rules of my character actor:

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/7726/picture1s.png
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7428/picture2lrh.png

I have followed what it says in the wiki, although Im not sure if something else I have would effect it or not. I have also the made the collision group, called 'Ground Actors' as you can see. In this I have put all my different types of ground actors. So that my character can jump on any ground. I only have different types so that I can give them different visuals.

The only thing I left out from the wiki tutorial is the buffer actor, as it seems to only act as something to stop you from bouncing when hitting the underneath. However My character will never be able to anyway, so I don't think its necessary. Although I did try with it anyway and it still did not work.

The only rules my ground actors have it automatically since the update in the beta, they have collide rules with a couple of actors, such as the character. I left them there as they were there automatically anyway. They are also non-movable and are on a fixed rotation.

Thanks thats all, if you need to know anything else to help me let me know. Other than that, I hope you can help me. I just don;'t have a clue to how this isn't working, haha. Thanks.

CodeMonkey

Updated the wiki to clear up confusion. But basically, use Acceleration behavior for your movement and not the Move behavior. The Move behavior does not play well with other behaviors except for other Move behaviors with additive movement selected.

Also added this wiki how-to: http://gamesalad.com/wiki/how_to_know_which_movement_to_use

JoshKahane

Thanks CodeMonkey, your doing your best I can see. But I still don't know why I can't jump. I tried changing my run left and run right rules to use acceleration instead of the move behavior, but now my character just slides around, doesn't move as naturally along the ground and also my main issue. My character still won't leave the ground.

JoshKahane

Ok I find out my problem. My gravity for the scene is way to high, haha. What would you recommend having it at? My issue is, even though I have lowered my gravity (meaning I can jump now) whenever I run and then jump during running, I only do like a tiny hop of the ground, whereas if I jump while static I go high. Whats this about? Really need to sort that.

harrio

what's cookin,

hey k, glad you found your problem...good catch. i could not see your gravity settings in the pics you posted.

for the jumping, you can experiment with the gravity settings and with the running distance. if you run a short distance and jump, do you go higher than if you run a further distance? also, check out the platformer template and see if it behaves the same way as yours. if not, compare the two to find ways to change yours.

and codemonkey is right about the move behavior. it is a very finnicky beast, that i myself am trying to tame at this very moment.

i'm glad you posted the fix because some others might need to understand that in debugging a problem you can't stay fixed on what is not working, because the problem may be elsewhere. giving yourself a broader understanding of how all the interfaces in gs work will go miles in helping to find and fix problems. the documentation and the wiki are your friends.

stay motivated, another problem is around the corner...take my word for it...lol

JoshKahane

I can't get my head around it. But so that I keep normal left and right movement with the 'Move' behavior, is there a way of getting it so that when you press 'up' while 'left' or 'right' is held down, it changes the 'Move' behavior to 'Accelerate', then after wards it changes back to the 'Move' behavior?

Or is there a way to just stop my character sliding around and move at a constant speed without accelerating with the accelerate behavior?

JoshKahane

So is it possible to disable a rule when a certain thing happens? (in this vase, when left/right button is being held as up is pressed). Otherwise what else can I do?