Special collision shapes

Grolarbear

Hi All,
I was wondering if there was any way for me to create a custom collision shape around an actor. Whenever my actor collides with an enemy (Snake, Spider, Armadillo) he will start to die when he has barely touched it. Is the only way to get around this by adding a small collision box in the center or is there a way to specialize the way it collides?

Braydon_SFX

Currently gamesalad only supports circle and square collision shapes. Unfortunately its pretty limited.

CaptFinn

Graphene!! Graphene!! Graphene!! Cross my fingers

lycettebros

You can make an actor follow a collision box that is to your size that is about it. The actor can be either a circle or a square and it will make the circle exactly a perfect circle using the smallest distance of the object (length or width) for the diameter.

henri.goldsmann

Isn't it obvious that a POLYGON SHAPE COLISSION TOOL should be more than just a circle or rectangle? What if you have a wall in perspective? With a rectangle around it the actor will bounce off before hitting the wall. I see questions like this asked more than a year ago and it will aid game designers to be much more creative. If you can design this software, what is so difficult about making a poligon collission shape as in here: polygon collision https://www.codeandweb.com/physicseditor The whole point of gamesalad should be to MAKE IT EASY for designers to work with this.

Socks

@henri.goldsmann said:
. . . what is so difficult about making a poligon collision shape . . .

If it's so easy, why not simply tell the coders at GS how to do it ?

henri.goldsmann

I rather have them explain why it is so hard...

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@henri.goldsmann said:
I rather have them explain why it is so hard...

Read the Box2d manual and you'll understand what it's so hard.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@FINNBOGG said:
Graphene!! Graphene!! Graphene!! Cross my fingers

You don't even know anything about Graphene. There is currently no work going on with it at all.

henri.goldsmann

Box2D is a different program. I like to hear an explanation from GS. But assuming it is too hard to create this, and only scale is possible, why are there just a circle and rectangle? Here an idea...why not add many different shapes? Like a star, a perspective recangle, triangle and so on. This way you can already cover different parts of an object/actor etc. Does that make sense?

SEMA

For the triangle collision make it editable so you can re size it. Because I have some graphics that are larger than the actual image. Like a running animation

Armelline

@FINNBOGG said:
Graphene!! Graphene!! Graphene!! Cross my fingers

We'll see custom collision shapes in GameSalad before Graphene. At a meetup a few months back they noted that custom collision shapes can be built in other external apps, and they could potentially add the ability to import those shapes into Creator. The big hurdle in adding this to GameSalad isn't the shapes themselves (as others have noted) but is adding the necessary interface to allow you to make them. Offloading it to external programs sidesteps that issue. Perhaps even the one already suggested in this thread?

(Corona uses Box2D to, so it should be possible for GameSalad to support that app - there are other free alternatives, though.)

(I've championed custom fonts as my most wanted feature, but I actually think this is what GameSalad should be working on right now, above anything else including stability. It needs this feature to remain a viable contender.)

henri.goldsmann

Yes Sema, good point. I mean even an '8' shape would be good, with the top circle smaller. I mean, there are many shapes we can think of (submit, or perhaps be able to upload) that can be used by all creatives. It will give GS wings.

henri.goldsmann

@Armelline said:

It needs this feature to remain a viable contender.)

Excellent point, Armelline. Yes it would be great . Creating the shape yourself or Importing the shape from another app (like Physics Editor) into creator is definately the best option. But while we are waiting, having custom shapes would be a step forward and better than what's is available now.

In regards to the font, I believe there is a workaround. Have you tried creating your text in layer in PS and without background, save as PNG and then import into GS as an image?

Armelline

@henri.goldsmann said:
In regards to the font, I believe there is a workaround. Have you tried creating your text in layer in PS and without background, save as PNG and then import into GS as an image?

Yes, but this is a very, very unsatisfactory method for games where there's lots of text, especially when that text is not entirely predictable. I even went so far as to make a pseudo-custom font implementation that has been extremely handy for several projects.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@henri.goldsmann said:
Box2D is a different program. I like to hear an explanation from GS. But assuming it is too hard to create this, and only scale is possible, why are there just a circle and rectangle? Here an idea...why not add many different shapes? Like a star, a perspective recangle, triangle and so on. This way you can already cover different parts of an object/actor etc. Does that make sense?

Gamesalad uses Box2D for their physics engine. This would mean rewriting the relationship between shapes and their rigid bodies (actors). It also is going to depend on how they implemented their Ray casting as well. This could require a total rewrite of the physics system.

henri.goldsmann

Thanks! If this is true, even more reason to add more shapes!