What is the most images and animations you've fit in ONE scene?

ozboybrianozboybrian PRO Posts: 2,102
edited December 2011 in Working with GS (Mac)
I wanted to a single main scene game with lots of random animations... How have you guys faired with loads of big images?

Thanks

Comments

  • HoneyTribeStudiosHoneyTribeStudios Member Posts: 1,792
    Best thing to do is make an approx RAM budget and work within that.

    So launch a blank game on the viewer and note how much RAM it uses.
    Then make a few animations using your typical image size and typical number of frames.
    Launch the viewer again and note how much RAM those animations took up.
    Then decide if you want to work towards a 40mb RAM limit per scene (2nd gen devices) or 80-100mb limit (3rd gen)

    Then you know how many animations you can use in one scene.

    (You'll have to leave some space for game logic and sounds too)
    (GS say there is some auto RAM dumping going on now. But I can still crash a game due to RAM usage so personally I wouldn't rely on that working)

    We were going to have 2 playable characters in Ashley Ao. But after working out how many animations we could have we decided 1 character with loads of animations is better than 2 with half as many each.

    SIngle scene games may use up a lot of RAM for game logic too (assuming you have a lot of rules). Honey Tribe is one scene and takes up 40MB+ for game logic. Although about 10 of that is there in a blank project.
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  • DigiChainDigiChain Member, PRO Posts: 1,288
    I've been struggling with scenes containing lots of big images/actors.

    The problem for me hasn't been high RAM usage though (sits at about 40-45mb per scene), but big frame rate drops.

    In my case it seems I can get away with it because framerate isn't a big issue for my game (essentially its a flick-book adventure - images are either on or off) so I could even get away with as low as 12fps! (I've tested this its true before any one asks!).

    But yeah - definitely test it out. GS does seem to like multiple large actors musch at all!
  • ozboybrianozboybrian PRO Posts: 2,102
    Love the answers guys! I think I might aim for 3rd Gen Honey, I want my game to be great and if it really is then people will pay for it.

    I'm thinking 99cents on Phones and $2/3 on everything else.

    My game is all about spawning, so it might not be so bad : )
  • mynameisacemynameisace Hull, UKMember Posts: 2,484
    Spawning kills the engine buddy. I've never done a single spawn in Gamesalad since using it. One or two spawns are okay, but if you're constantly spawning, it'll drag the performance down.
    Ace
  • ozboybrianozboybrian PRO Posts: 2,102
    Oh wow? I honestly thought it was ok now as the game i'm making is DBA's tweaked template and they use to say the same thing :/
    In that case i'll get up random self positions changes instead of destroy. Thanks Ace!
  • mynameisacemynameisace Hull, UKMember Posts: 2,484
    It'll only be a problem after a while of playing, but you don't want your game to crash when someone is blasting through their high score. Your game is pretty heavy on the art too, so will probably affect your game more with the spawning.

    Ace
  • ozboybrianozboybrian PRO Posts: 2,102
    You're very right mate! It's an going game to, so the spawns will get extremely high.
    Working on it right now, among other things that aren't making sense :/ but I know i'll get it :D
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