0.8.6 Collision detection seems worse

shaihalud

In my game "the cat rides the astrobus," one of the primary gameplay features is the ability to change an actor from being collide-able to not. Initially the idea was that when the color of the object changes from black to white, you can then pass through (aka black collides white doesn't). Gamesalad never handled this well to begin with- even though the object would change to being a non-collision object, if it was already colliding with the main actor during the change to white, it would still collide.

In 0.8.5 and previous versions:
This was dirtily remedied by also changing the actor size during color change, which effectively separated the main actor with a little bit of space so it would have to "re-collide" with the object, which would then register as being white and a non-collision object. If standing on or very close to the white object and changing it to a black object, during the size change it would push the main actor outside the bounds of the object.

In 0.8.6:
Even despite the size change fix, the object when white will often still collide if the actor was touching the object during the change. If the main actor then changed a white object while within the boundaries (dimensions) of the object, the main actor will not be pushed out (unlike 0.8.5). This unfortunately would require a few changes to get working back the way it should be, and those changes would either alter the look of the game or alter the (data and memory) footprint of the actors, both of which would be detrimental.

The lite version of the game (compiled under 0.8.5), is available here:
itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cat-rides-astrobus-lite/id370349297

ORBZ

oh geeze, this is exactly the kind of garbage that caused my game Polexia to die right after release 0.7.0

GS needs to preserve backwards compatibility and allow us to target a version to build against.

Well, once they reach 1.0.

But since we are paying customers they do need to do something about this.

quantumsheep

Totally agree.

I daren't go back to my earlier games as god knows what I'd have to do to make them work!

(especially with the pause functions - but then you all knew I was going to say that!)

People expect changes to make their lives easier and better. We get enough 'make your life worse' changes in real life!

Cheers,

QS

firemaplegames

All of my projects are behaving OK, with the exception of my platformer tutorial "sneak peek"...

http://gamesalad.com/game/play/41665

Which is now totally unplayable.
Hopefully it will get fixed automagically by the time I work on it again...

ck

I'm with QS and Orbz on this. I had a game ready to compile and submit on Friday, but couldn't because the servers were being updated. Now it just crashes constantly in the viewer and iPhone. I don't mind working with a beta, but I'm frustrated at paying to work with a beta. And I certainly couldn't expose a client to GS's vicissitudes.

Professionally, a warning is the least we should expect.

I'm wondering if GS is really saving me any time at all.

quantumsheep

ck said:
vicissitudes

Congrats! You win Quantum's "Word of the Day!" award

mrfunkleberry

I actually have the reserve situation. Hours before the update i posted for tips on making old games work (8.3+). Then the update came and ALL my games worked again. I can understand the frustrations for those who are adversely effected, this release is not the panacea (QS ), but i believe it's moving the right direction. I realise this of no comfort, but i just wanted to get my bid in for 'Word Of The Day'

ck

quantumsheep

mrfunkleberry said:
I actually have the reserve situation. Hours before the update i posted for tips on making old games work (8.3+). Then the update came and ALL my games worked again. I can understand the frustrations for those who are adversely effected, this release is not the panacea (QS ), but i believe it's moving the right direction. I realise this of no comfort, but i just wanted to get my bid in for 'Word Of The Day'

You're disqualified for spelling 'reverse' wrong...

And there can be only one! (word of the day).

Cheers!

QS

mrfunkleberry

damn it! curse my spelling. Any chance for 'Musspelling Wird of the Doy'?

>8[

ck

OK, not to go on and on, but...

GS seems really broken to me, but I'm not seeing other people having the problems I'm having.

My sound issues I've posted about to the point of wingeing.

So, I decided to start a new project, and just wait to update the old ones until GS is fixed.

iPad project: First, imported graphics, added a simple animation behaviour, tried it out but the preview froze. Restart GS.

Again: import graphics, animation behaviour, a couple of change attributes (that worked just fine in 0.8.5, thank you), and GS locks up completely. As I type, the fan on my MB is going 90 to nothing.

I'm going to reboot and walk the beach. I'm getting nowhere with GS since Friday night.

Grrrr. Where's the stability fix for the stability update?

alnkhailan

Anyone of you guys facing this WEIRD problem ? .. it just killed my App Development with a headshot right now

====

Since i've upgraded to 8.6, my Portrait App works fine with the GameSalad Creator Preview function.

However, when i create a Development version of my App and install it on my 16GB 3GS ... the game ALWAYS gets displayed LANDSCAPE on the THIRD SCENE in a view that is supposed to be PORTRAIT !!

I Do not understand how this would happen ... it Previews fine .. but when tested on the iPhone .. it changes orientation by itself to landscape althought i setup everything to be in Portrait ... !!

This is really disturbing me as I want to Submit this App ASAP.

I hope that you fix this issue ASAP .. or just return us back to 8.5.

Thanks

peachpellen

It is times like this I thank God that because I'm relatively poor, my internet is from time to time, speed limited.

As a result I have not currently downloaded the new GS - and to be honest I think I might just stick with good old 0.8.5 for a time yet.

Crazybreadman

There are problems every update. The best thing to do is send GS an email w/ your problems with as specific details as you can get or even send them the file to look at your logic. They are working on fixes and a patch will come quicker if we can help them find out what needs to be fixed. It's frustrating when it stops your app from progressing and you're trying to get it out yesterday. I've just decided to work on art and sound until we find out what they fix and what we need to fix on our end. Don't bash your heads against the wall though.

JackBQuick

I'm going to throw an idea out here for consideration on the chance that it might help someone:

With previous versions of GameSalad (i.e. those before 8.6), we may have used workarounds to accomplish the results we were looking for. Could it be these workarounds that are causing the problems now?

So, in other words:

- There was a behaviour that didn't work as expected in a previous version so we created a workaround.
- The 8.6 update fixed the behaviour that didn't work, so now it's the workaround that's causing the problem.

jonmulcahy

JackBQuick

That's exactly what happened when .8 (I think) came out. There were a TON of work arounds people had gotten used to, and when the functions worked again, everyone freaked out because their work arounds stopped working.

I've been adding levels to obliteration HD using .8.6 and i haven't had any problems so far.

ck

I can say directly that it's not the workarounds that are causing my problems. And this is fairly confirmed by GS, who have been looking at my game file and have not suggested this would be the issue (they're not sure, or not saying, what the issue might be).

Also, GS itself is locking up and crashing when I start something from scratch (in iPad, portrait, editing equations).

That doesn't rule out workarounds as an issue, but they wouldn't be the only (or most egregious) issue.