Universal Builds - Question

Slayre77

Hi guys, I still dont fully understand universal builds, so are these statements true ?
1. All rules concerning X and Y positions must be written in relation to scene size / camera size
2. I have to manually configure camera position and origin for each device ( iPad , iPhone 5 and 6, what about the earlier iPhones?)
3. I only need ONE project that can be published to all platforms

p.s. Why is there an IAP behaviour in my GS even though im not Pro, I thought it was a Pro feature??

THanks in advance!

ookami007

There are mulitple ways to handle "universal builds". I suggest checking out any of the great tutorials on making universal builds work on different resolutions and aspect ratios. It's not terribly difficult, but you DO need to plan for it. Unless you're using the stretch option - which I don't recommend - every game will need to be tweaked.

CaptFinn

Ive always felt that if the center of the scene was 0/0 it would make universal so much easier.that way the center of each device would be the same. This way you dont have to do all that x/y math and shifting, based on each device. But I guess Im just thinking to far out of the box.

bjandthekatz

iAp features are included in the regular behaviors because you can publish to some platforms with these features, like Amazon, for free.

colander

Read the instructions in my signature it explains what you have to do to build once and publish to all.

BBEnk

@FINNBOGG said:

Ive always felt that if the center of the scene was 0/0 it would make universal so much easier.that way the center of each device would be the same. This way you dont have to do all that x/y math and shifting, based on each device. But I guess Im just thinking to far out of the box.

You described LetterBox which GameSalad already has.

Slayre77

Hey guys, Ive done more research on this topic - Half of it I don't understand, and from what I do, the methods used for universal builds only work for scrolling games. Mine doesn't scroll in any direction, so now I'm puzzled on how to scale down everything to the right size - this also means that the gameplay is different on devices with different aspect ratios, even if I scale everything down correctly, right?

colander

You can do scrolling and non scrolling games with GS. With overscan think of the aspect ratio and magnification. I explain it in detail in the instruction in my signature. There are a few ways to do UB's I only deal with overscan because it is the most versatile. I can make any game and publish it on all platforms GS supports.

Slayre77

Ok, thanks @colander, I'll need to get my head around all that info. So just to double check, now my background is 768x1024, ill need to make it bigger to be able to scale down to fit different ARs. Thus on some devices more of the background shows than others?

colander

Looking at the platforms GS can publish to iPad is at one end of the aspect ratio spectrum and iPhone 6 is at the other end. When you publish to iPhone 6 it will fill the screen until the two sides are at the edge of the screen which means the top and bottom are of the screen and out of the viewable area. You need to design your game so no game play takes place in these areas. You can see this at work in Preview.

You will need to put some code in the HUD actors to auto rearrange them for the different aspect ratios. You will need to consider their size and positions when designing your HUD so they move and fit the different aspect ratios. Once you have developed this you can use the same method for all future games.

BBEnk

@Slayre77 You can also check out my Universal Build thread it really very simple to use.

http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/72589/universal-builds-for-ios-and-android-and-anything-else-using-ipad-build-and-stretch-no-distortion/p1

Slayre77

@colander , in other words, you are asking me to buy your template? The instructions don't actually tell me what to do to make my game universal
@BBEnk , there are 2 differences between the example in your forum post and the game I'm working on - mine is in Portrait orientation and its a non-scroller! Does this mean I don't need SceneMin, SceneMax and SceneSize, as well as flipping the newCamSize attributes so I get an offset for Y instead?

BBEnk

@Slayre77 said:
colander , in other words, you are asking me to buy your template? The instructions don't actually tell me what to do to make my game universal
BBEnk , there are 2 differences between the example in your forum post and the game I'm working on - mine is in Portrait orientation and its a non-scroller! Does this mean I don't need SceneMin, SceneMax and SceneSize, as well as flipping the newCamSize attributes so I get an offset for Y instead?

For starters you will want camSize and offSet that will get everything working or should, also my universal will work with any game type scroller or not. there is a portrait video in my thread page 3 I think and demo you D/L.

and yes you can ignore SceneMin and SceneMax I used them for something special but I explain what in another video I don't remember which one I think Universal Build #2.

Slayre77

Ok @BBEnk !! Thanks so much for the help

colander

Yes the instructions go with the template also in my signature. The instructions below are abbreviated the bit left out only deals with how to use the template. I referred you to them as an explaination of UB's and what you as a developer need to do to create them.

The hud is the big problem with UB's. If you have a lot of hud actors you will need to develope code to move and resize them so they look good and are usable on all devices.

Once you understand the problem which my abbreviated instructions explain you can develope it yourself, find free solutions or buy a solution up to you which one you choose.