idea - "capturing" attributes as we type

bazookaBen

currently, this is how we assign an attribute:

- click on the grey box
- menu pops up
- we select the attribute

all using the mouse, which takes a lot of time.

eg: we'd do everything above to reach game.unlockedWorld, and assign it a value of 1

I suggest the devs make an alternative - game designer just types in "game.unlockedWorld" in the box, and GS automatically reads and understands it (giving it the purple highlight).

MotherHoose

right … love the zen! @gyroscope …
and newbies would hate having to declare an attribute's type as well as name
and try to remember them in their actorEditor

the method of implementing attributes in GS doesn't take time …
so much as save us time and frustration when our projects become more complex

@tataing … typos can wreck real havoc projects in other engines

I personally like to have long clear explicit names for my GS attributes
(in the build they are just the initial id#)
remember looking at one of FireMapleGame's project:
-"Please slide left" … was one of his attribute's name
and that certainly would eliminate a lot of hassle in referencing it while coding!

MH

JohnPapiomitis

The problem with that is you can have multiple attributes with the same name, the difference is the id thats assigned in the xml.

tatiang

But why not restrict attribute names so that there are no duplicates at the game, scene, or actor level (e.g. game.name and self.name are okay, but not game.name and game.name). I don't see a strong reason for having duplicate attributes (just seems confusing), but I definitely see a big advantage in being able to type in attributes. The down side is typos, but we all deal with that anyway.

gyroscope

Sometimes there is a choice of the type of attribute you can have: integer or real, for example, and there'd be no way for GSC to make that choice for you, if a type-in system was used.

Also, making the attributes in the lists as we do - self, scene, or game - it's easy to check out what's going on and where attributes "live".

And to have to repeatedly type in attributes rather than choose them via the Expression editor would be a real pain to me - and to many others, I'm certain.

Personally, the way of making and selecting attributes as has always been, is part of the "zen" of GameSalad Creator, as well as being a logical and easy way. It would be destructive to have any other system which would be inferior, in my opinion.

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it...."

----------------------------------------------
http://davidgriffinapps.co.uk/

calvin9403

What I would like is to have a window asking how many attributes you want to make at a time, that will save us a ton of time

tatiang

@tataing … typos can wreck real havoc projects in other engines

You'd be amazed how often my name is misspelled.

@gyroscope. I think the current attribute browser is great, I just could see room for an alternative (not a replacement). But I do trust that the developers are carefully evaluating the interface for improvements and will weigh such changes against their potential harm to the tool.