Troubles with finished game.

Catapult2014 · February 2014

I've been working on my game for maybe a year now and it is all ready to go except for a bunch of little glitches and inconsistencies that I can't figure out. Am I just not saving it correctly? Uploading it wrong?

Here is a link to the website where the game is to be played: (if it doesn't work you can refresh the window and it should work)

The game should be accessible in the arcade. Look for "WTF! (What The Flip!)"

Here are the issues:

When I post the html 5 code into the website where I want people to play it the game is really low resolution, the border's of the game are inconsistent and I'm not a big fan of all the extra icons and logos at the bottom of the game. Is there a way to just imbed the game at a high resolution without all the extra icons and what not?

Sometimes the resolution is so low you can't even see some of the game elements like the lines.

In some browsers the background music plays, in other browsers only the sound effects work. (namely, in safari it seems to be working and in firefox the music doesn't seem to be working)

Is there a way to enlarge the embedded game? I couldn't figure it out, but it'd be really nice if there was.

The load time seems to take awhile for each level. The game is really simple, I'm not sure why the file is so large. Any ideas on how to decrease file size and make it run smoother?

Level 18 doesn't work on the website like it does in the programming and in the downloaded game. The circles all start shifted way left and just fall off the screen instead of starting in the middle of the screen and bouncing like they're supposed to.

There might be other issues after that level, but I can't get past that level in the embedded game to figure them out.

When the game is downloaded it only works on macs. I assume this is a pro account feature?

The downloaded game blinks and glitches when the target is hit, in further levels it starts blinking when other elements are hit.

Anyway, I know this is just a community forum and no one is paid or required to answer any of these questions, so I definitely definitely definitely appreciate any help that anyone can give.

If anything doesn't make sense let me know and I'll try to clarify.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Garren

quantumsheep · February 2014

Hi Garren,

I wish I had better news for you, and perhaps someone with more experience in this area could help you out!

For now here's a few comments on what you wrote:

Is there a way to just imbed the game at a high resolution without all the extra icons and what not?

I'm not sure about the resolution - I think the html5 stuff uses the 'legacy' screen resolution of 480x320, and can only display horizontal games.

As to the extra icons - I think they're here to stay.

Many have argued that at the very least, pro users should be able to remove any branding from the html5 stuff - but so far, no dice

In some browsers the background music plays, in other browsers only the sound effects work. (namely, in safari it seems to be working and in firefox the music doesn't seem to be working)

It may depend on the sound files you use - I'm not sure though. I've had one game made in html5, and the music worked fine in that (though I only tested in Safari).

You can play that here: http://arcade.gamesalad.com/game/27640

Is there a way to enlarge the embedded game? I couldn't figure it out, but it'd be really nice if there was.

I don't think so

The load time seems to take awhile for each level. The game is really simple, I'm not sure why the file is so large. Any ideas on how to decrease file size and make it run smoother?

Load times might be decreased slightly by looking through your actors and checking for the 'Preload art' checkbox - it's in an actors attributes (where the positioning and size stuff is). Use this if an actor isn't immediately visible on screen - it basically loads the game faster by not having to load *ALL* the art on startup.

One way of reducing the size of you game is to optimise your images. You can do that by using something like ImageOptim, which you can get for free here:

That might help!

Level 18 doesn't work on the website like it does in the programming and in the downloaded game. The circles all start shifted way left and just fall off the screen instead of starting in the middle of the screen and bouncing like they're supposed to.

There might be other issues after that level, but I can't get past that level in the embedded game to figure them out.

I'm afraid that the HTML5 engine doesn't work exactly as you'd expect it to. It just doesn't cope too well with stuff sometimes.

This is where I sound a bit mean, but testing on the target device all the way through development would have highlighted these issues, and at least given you time to work around them or replace them.

I know that's not a great thing to hear after the fact, but do keep it in mind for your next game!

An interesting thing to note about the game I linked to was that it was a direct conversion from the iOS version, but html5 couldn't handle the colour changes the original game had.

That particular feature had to be taken out, so it seems inevitable that you'll be making some compromises here and there with html5. Which is another good reason to test lots!

When the game is downloaded it only works on macs. I assume this is a pro account feature?

The downloaded game blinks and glitches when the target is hit, in further levels it starts blinking when other elements are hit.

I can't really comment on that, other than again to stress that testing on the target platform is key, right from the very start. Sorry!

Hope that helps a little,

QS =D

Catapult2014 · February 2014

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. There are a few things you mentioned that I'll definitely look into.

And you don't sound mean at all. What's frustrating is that I was very rigorous in testing the game as I went. Every level I completed I'd publish the game and check it out and make sure everything was working like it should and it always did. I had the game embedded on our temporary site for a couple months as we get ready for it to go live. Then there were just a couple little changes I had to make, like putting in the correct music instead of placeholder music. Once I had that done I republished like I always had and things started getting all out of sorts and I couldn't figure out what happened. I went through everything piece by piece and I can't figure out what is causing the problems.

Kind of frustrating, but I'll press on. Hopefully I'll be able to get the others things sorted out.

Thanks again for your help.

quantumsheep · February 2014

Hey, no problem, and sorry for assuming you hadn't tested - sounds like you did - a lot!

But hey, we have a potential culprit for what's causing the hassle - I'd focus on checking out that new music track.

How big is it compared to the placeholder track?
Is it in a different format?

That may help a bit, and good luck!

QS =D

Catapult2014 · March 2014

I'm slowly getting the bugs worked out on the HTML 5 version of my game, the only thing left that is really causing me problems is that the sound effects don't work. They used to work, and they work in the downloadable computer game version, but they don't work in the HTML 5 version. Any ideas?

Also, when the U hits the target in the downloadable computer game version, the level actors starts flashing and it doesn't go to the next level. Any ideas what might be causing this? Have you ever heard of that before?

Thanks,

Garren

The game is in the arcade, it's called "WTF (What The Flip)"

Troubles with finished game.

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