What do you think is acceptable? Scene loading times

supafly129supafly129 Member Posts: 454
edited March 2015 in Working with GS (Mac)

Just curious what you guys think is a reasonable amount of seconds for a player to wait before a scene loads. I'm in the process of creating an actor-heavy physics puzzler, and I have it coded so that each level within a world loads instantly, but the actual worlds/scenes take about 10 seconds to load (i.e. Home Screen --> Level and vice versa = 10 seconds, but you can play dozens of levels in a row with no wait after scene loads).

I was considering making the entire game on one scene...the only issue is that it would double the initial loading time when you first start the game (making it about 20 seconds), and using a short timer to spawn all the actors at once on the scene doesn't seem to help much either. I of course want the most ideal user experience but not sure which would be best.

Comments

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    In my opinion, anything over 6 seconds should be dealt with. I guess it depends on the project though. If you have an interesting loading screen, it might not seem as long.

  • tatiangtatiang Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 11,949

    Scroll to the bottom for data about how long users are willing to wait while an app loads (hint: it's a lot less than 10 seconds):

    http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/12/users-have-low-tolerance-for-buggy-apps-only-16-will-try-a-failing-app-more-than-twice/

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  • LovejoyLovejoy Member Posts: 2,078

    For startup loading time i would say no more than 5 seconds. As for scene changes, that should be almost instant but i would guess no more than 2-3 seconds.

    Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una

  • supafly129supafly129 Member Posts: 454

    @Braydon_SFX @tatiang @Lovejoy Thanks for the input! I guess it does depend on the app (and whether or not it's paid likely affects retention). For instance I just tested Plants vs. Zombies 2 and startup took 15 seconds to load, whereas each level takes 3-5 seconds.

  • LovejoyLovejoy Member Posts: 2,078
    edited March 2015

    @supafly129 said:
    Braydon_SFX tatiang Lovejoy Thanks for the input! I guess it does depend on the app (and whether or not it's paid likely affects retention). For instance I just tested Plants vs. Zombies 2 and startup took 15 seconds to load, whereas each level takes 3-5 seconds.

    A company's reputation and standing also affects how much people are willing to take. You are more inclined to wait an extra few seconds for a big name company than for an indie dev.

    Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una

  • NimbleBugNimbleBug Member Posts: 483

    Braydon_SFX Dallas, TexasPosts: 7,246Member, PRO, Bowlboy Sidekick
    5:57AM

    In my opinion, anything over 6 seconds should be dealt with. I guess it depends on the project though. If you have an interesting loading screen, it might not seem as long.

    @Braydon_SFX how to add loading screen,only loading wheel option is there ?

  • LovejoyLovejoy Member Posts: 2,078

    @NimbleBug said:

    Braydon_SFX how to add loading screen,only loading wheel option is there ?

    Having an actor whose alpha turns to 1 right before scene changes. Example:

    And in the publishing set a transparent image for the loading wheel so it can't be scene.

    Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una

  • NimbleBugNimbleBug Member Posts: 483

    @Lovejoy Thank u so much ,so if i have button
    i have to mention on touch " change scene" and "change alpha to 1 of loading image" ?
    can i add funny animation to loading screen , i am doing kids app they can't wait more then 2 Seconds :)

  • LovejoyLovejoy Member Posts: 2,078

    @NimbleBug said:
    Lovejoy Thank u so much ,so if i have button
    i have to mention on touch " change scene" and "change alpha to 1 of loading image" ?

    yes, so pretty much when you touch to the next scene make color.alpha to 1.

    @NimbleBug said:
    can i add funny animation to loading screen , i am doing kids app they can't wait more then 2 Seconds :)

    If you add a small animation it would have to be in the beginning of the next scene since the game pauses while loading. So for example you click to go to next scene, image alpha to 1 right before scene change. On the next scene you set your animation in the beginning and then set its alpha to 0 or destroy the animation actor.

    Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una

  • NimbleBugNimbleBug Member Posts: 483

    @Lovejoy thank u i will try that :)

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