Can I load only certain levels to limit the game size?
Synergy
Member Posts: 16
I have ~90 levels, but really only 9 different templates. In total, there are approx 250 audio files (approx. 45 KB each) to use in the game and a bunch of graphics. I have been told to "be careful with the size of the game though with that many levels and sound files." I don't know what having a large game size would harm, except, of course, take up too much space on their device.
I am looking for a solution. A single player will only EVER have access to 9 levels. I am wondering if this could allow me to limit the game size -- perhaps limit what they need to download. Each other set of 9 levels will have different graphics and sound files, but will be the same otherwise. The player's access will be determined by their registration/access code.
Do you have a good idea about how to follow the game size best practices (whatever those are) with so many audio files and graphics?
Best Answer
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Hopscotch Posts: 2,782
As @Kevinw026 alludes to, you should always be mindful of asset and overall game size. However, there are many many ways to optimize and streamline a game. This is the nature of development.
From your description, having 9 graphically unique scenes and about 12MB of sounds is no where NEAR what is considered a large game. Don't worry about separate content for different players.
With a bit of planning you can build an easily maintainable game where the ca. 90 levels are generically driven by a single scene. Go for it.
Answers
From what I have heard and been warned myself is overload of files(big game) will hurt the performance on how your game plays....not just storage amount, but a bigger game may not run smoothly on most devices....I suggest looking into using tables to set up your levels, you could basically have all 90 levels on 1 scene, its too hard for me to explain because its a process but here are some tutorial vids i have watched to help me learn this.
theres tons of more and its really simply after doing it a few times, just google it is best advice.
@Kevinw026 , Thanks for pulling up the series of specific videos to address my question...very helpful.
It looks like I am destined to have a problem, simply based on the nature of my game...not as bad as it would have been without your direction though.
@Hopscotch , Thanks for the encouragement. I am writing up a thorough story board of the game scenes, logic, and tables before I turn it over to AppFormative for some help of the logistics. I glad to learn that my vision is realistic.