Game with over 1000 images
klickink
Member Posts: 35
I am building a game with thousands of images, some large, most small. after adding 100 of my biggest images the game has reached 22mb and gives a warning to not publish to the arcade. I am only planing on publishing to iPhone and iPad in a Universal build, possibly OSX if it does well.
So
1 Should I worry about that warning?
2 What can I do to compress my game?
3 Can I use as many images as I would like to?
4 What are other technics to helping my game perform at top speeds/resolution/fps?
5 Is a game of this magnitude even possible with GS?
Thanks in advance!
*NOTE this is a RPG that I have already made up most of the art and written the story as well has hundreds of lines of dialog between 50 characters. So starting over and trying something else isn't really something I want to do.
Comments
I have a project with that many images if not more and as many as actors. Optimization is going to be needed for sure. Really performance with the current version of GS comes down to a per scene basis. Try to not go too crazy with large scenes, make sure your textures fit nicely into 128,256,512,1024,2048 width and height and utilize the space efficiently. Downscaling some textures can help, and if they utilize blend modes, it's barely noticable. Also determine target generations. I would exclude iPad gen 1 and iphone 4/4s completely if it becomes a burden. Writing optimal logic can take time to learn and is another factor in performance, large amounts of spawns tax earlier gen CPU's fairly hard, same with crazy complex math.
Best bet is to run it through xCode instruments often and determine where you're sitting performance wise.
Have you ever download a 22mb (or larger) game ?
Not much to be honest, perhaps
How many images would you like to use ?
That's far too broad of a question, I think you'd need to be more specific.
Yes, GameSalad can handle a 22mb game.
Then don't start over, certainly not because your hit the heady heights of 22mb !
That's like 15 Floppy disks... unless were talking about those fancy newfangled High density disks! No way anyone would be insane enough to make a game bigger.
Also, Gradiant images are a lot more memory intensive, If you have any that aren't necessary they can be replaced with solid fill, If you feel like you need to, but if it runs fine I would guess that your probably good.
I remember a time when 22mb was big news ! Nowadays I expect even my OS X desktop icons to be at least 50mb each.
Agreed, if it runs well don't sweat it.
P.S Gradiant images are only larger ('memory intensive') when on disk, when loaded into the RAM of an iOS device there is no difference between a - for example - 512 x 512 pixel gradient and a 512 x 512 pixel flat colour image.
@Socks thank you for your input, I wasn't really worried about a 22mb game. My largest GS project so far has only been around 17mb only playing around testing game salads abilities. Now that I feel confident in my knowledge to produce the game I really want to create I have spent every night for the past two months crafting a script/artwork for a game I could be proud of. When I hit 20mb a warning logo appeared at the bottom of the creator. With all the effort I have put into this game and seeing a warning sign before even finishing the outline of my game gave me a scare. My biggest question was how big of a game is possible with Gamesalad because it will no doubt be MUCH larger than 22mb. From the responses and other threads I have searched my mind is being put at ease.
However is there anything I should be worried about?
I plan on using anywhere between 1000-2000+ images and only 100 (of my largest files) are currently in the project file.
-I will be storing most of my attributes in tables
-A lot of collision (little if any spawning)
-40+ sceens (several fairly large scenes)
-Lots of animation (few frames though)
Games of 800mb - and more - have often topped the iOS App charts, for example FIFA 2014 is 1,200mb - didn't stop it getting to the number one slot, I think these days with fast broadband connections being commonplace you shouldn't worry too much about your game size.
In the short term (100 years or less) and in this order, engineered pandemics, nuclear war, natural pandemic, nuclear terrorism.
Depending on the size of the images, 2000 is no big deal, I have a couple of projects with almost 2000 images in.
Dude the failure of antibiotics is a way bigger worry than any of those. We don't need pandemics if even common illnesses can't be treated.
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
@Socks I have a 2 year old mac with 32g's of ram and after all of my images were added Gamesalad runs really slow and my game is hardly playable in the viewer. However it is mostly fine running on the simulator on my iPhone/iPad.
*I get apples wheel of death for 5-10 seconds every time I click on an actor/scene.
*The game lags in viewer/ less on device
My question never was could a game be made with 22mb (now 100mb) but could GS handle it. From your responses and other GS projects I have seen on the app store I know its possible.
But HOW do you run GS smoothly as well as the project itself when you have as much content as I do. Thank you for replying in the past and if you could address these issues great, but if all you can do is point me in the right direction it would help me out so much!
I'll be ok, I use only natural alternative medicines, I rub myself with squirrel !@#$% whilst chanting in ancient tongues and walking along a ley line just outside my house, and if that doesn't stop me from getting all these government fabricated so called "pandemics" my crystal pendant and orgone pyramid will do the trick.
Yes, GS can handle 22mb/100mb.
That's such a broad question, there are so many factors involved it would be nearly impossible to answer without knowing what the game is actually doing, an 800mb game could run perfectly smoothly whilst a 12mb game could bring GameSalad to its knees, it all depends on what the game is asking GS to do, a simple measure of file size doesn't tell us anything - we may as well be asking which would be a more interesting book, a 1,000 page book or a 140 page book. Hope that makes sense !
P.S - my iMac is late 2009 (so getting on for 5 years old) and has only 8GB RAM . . . and runs large projects just fine.
@klickink
I'll just quote that and let it sink in...
Running it through the previewer is not a good indicator of installed app on device performance, even the viewer on device isn't a perfect representation. Adhoc builds run through xcode instruments are going to give you timelined performance metrics that can be applied to real world end-user experience, those are your best bet.
Each device has different hardware, each one will handle it differently and will have different maximums it can push. Ram, Cpu, and Flash(HDD) performance is going to vary. File size is the least concern really.
So once more... run... it... through... instruments...
Once you know where and when your app lags, and can correlate that with the timelines you should get a better picture of why it's lagging and can make changes in that area.