My experience with tilesets, platformer, CPU Usage, etc...

dapion

I started with a platformer a few weeks ago.
GS Version 1.25.85

To the initial situation, I work in the iPhone 6 landscape mode.
Here I have Screen Width of (Width 5888px - 7360px / Height 828px - 1242px)
My Tilesets consists 40 modules with a size of 64x64px

After creating the first two, three levels, I've already noticed that the FPS was pretty much on the limit.
I can not say exactly how many individual blocks I used in the levels, but now I know it was too many.

I have summarized the individual blocks.
So I had tiles of about 128x128 or 320x64 and bigger.
After designing the levels with the new tiles, the memory and CPU usage have dropped.
Unfortunately, this was not enough for a good FPS performance.

Furthermore, I have reduced all my images to the size of the actual actor size in the game.
Here again the FPS has risen.

I also had many timers in the Actors.
As I've noticed, they pull a lot of performance, I tried the timers to deal with other behaviors.

Meanwhile, I am very satisfied with the performance ... it's playable:-)

(58-60FPS) before 35-40FPS
CPU usage at about 32....before 36-40

I also have to say that only one actor (playing character) works with a lot of code.
All other actors have in 3-4 Behavior.

Maybe I could help the one or the other here.

At this point I would like to say something to GS.

Yes, currently the GS software includes a few bugs, but ...
For my part, I am really happy to belong to the GS Community for years and be able to work with GS.
I think GS is a great tool that still has a lot of potential.

In the sense...
Daniel

jamie_c

That looks nice, any game play videos to be seen?

dapion

Thanks...
No, not yet. Working on it an hope I can show more after the weekend.

Toque

Looks interesting. Hope it’s finished soon.

dapion

Hey,
I'm glad that my game is approved and available for download in both stores, Apple and Google.

Who likes, can test it for free.

PS: Many thanks to @Armelline who actively supported me in terms of iAP and gave me helpful tips and great support!

iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lenis-adventure/id1353393186?ls=1&mt=8

Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.dapion.lenisadventure

pHghost

Hey, I’m mostly having fun playing the game!

That said, I feel there are a couple problems. Hope you are open to suggestions!

1) I’m often seeing slowdowns and low FPS. I’m running the game on an iPhone 7 Plus, which should have enough power for a platformer game. I think you need to optimise the game a bit more.

2) Bullets you shoot are destroyed as soon as they touch the edge of the screen, while you see them, just “pop!” and they are gone. That means if there is an enemy just off the edge of the scene that you know of, if you shoot that direction, the enemy won’t get killed and the bullet will be wasted. Sometimes you shoot at an enemy and it just leaves the screen, so again the bullet is wasted. It gives the game a slightly unprofessional feel. I get that you are probably destroying them to manage memory, but if that is case, you can set the distance from the hero at which hey get destroyed to at least double what it is at the moment, without issues.

3) You can collect crystals multiple times in the same level. So, if I played level 1 fifty times, I would have 50 crystals. I’m not sure what happens when you collect all the crystals back, as I haven’t reached that point yet, but I’m not sure this is how it should work. The ghost stole a set amount of crystals and probably placed only one in each level, so you shouldn’t get a second crystal if you replay a leve where the crystal has been collected already.

4) in some places, the level design is quite bad, with platforms almost unreachable because of low ceilings. I’m not sure if this is a mistake, or if it is so on purpose to make the game ‘harder,’ but let me just say: it’s not challenging. It’s just not fun.

5) The character sometimes gets stuck; doesn’t move or jump. I think this is because of the known GS bug which causes buttons close to the edge to not be responsive.

6) What are points for? Firstly, they keep going up even if you die, so actually, if you die a lot and replay levels, you get a lot more points. That means that more points doesn’t necessarily mean you are playing well. But secondly, what can be done with the points? I didn’t see any leaderboards anywhere, so the points end up feeling meaningless.

With a tiny bit more work and an update, a lovely game!

pHghost

Oh yeah:

7) At the start of the level, the background usually jumps and skips. Probably something in the parallax logic.

dapion

Hey, that makes me happy.
At the same time I can tell you that you are right in all your points.
Thank you for taking so much time to rate my game ... that´s great!

1. I don't like the performance myself. I tried in advance to improve, in vain, but I just can't find exactly the issue.

2. The next update fixes the problem with the bullets.

3. The jewels are so wanted. Ultimately, the number of jewels is not crucial.

4. I've heard that from some testers. I will work on these posts again. On the other hand, more difficulty is much better for me:-)

5. Yes, I have already noticed. But it really depends on the positioning of the buttons. It's better on tablets than on smartphones.

6. I am still thinking about what I do with the points. Sure, Gamecenter is an idea. I would like to have them displayed on Android in Leaderboards. But that does not work with GS.

7. And here you are right too. The Parallax Background still gives me a bit of trouble in the start scene. Will try to change it in the next update.

PS: I only just wanted to publish in the last few weeks. Do you know that? You are working on a project, and at some point the time comes when you just want to see how it is in the crowd. At the end, there was a lack of motivation

Thanks @pHghost

pHghost

@dapion said:
On the other hand, more difficulty is much better for me:-)

There is challenging -- if it is really hard, but fun, and that is not a problem. Flappy Bird was like that. It as tough as nails. But you could learn and get better at it. With some of these spots, I'm not having fun. And guess what -- one of the main reasons I play games is because they are fun.

In any case, looking forward to the updates!

dapion

There is challenging -- if it is really hard, but fun, and that is not a problem. Flappy Bird was like that. It as tough as nails. But you could learn and get better at it. With some of these spots, I'm not having fun. And guess what -- one of the main reasons I play games is because they are fun.

In any case, looking forward to the updates!

That's true. I'm about to prepare the update.
Take a closer look at the individual levels / platforms to make it not too difficult.
The problem with the bullets I've just implemented.
Where I really have problems with, is the performance.
There are always places where the game does not run smoothly. I'm still looking for the mistake ...

I think the update will be released in the next few days.

PS:
Do you know how to control the startup volume?
I have just added a slider for the volume.
The volume is controlled with a load / save attribute.
Works great in the game, but after each restart of the app, the volume sets for 1.2 seconds to Max.

pHghost

Three more things I noticed:

a) The fish cannot be shot. It’s not consistent with other enemies. It would make sense if they were spikes moving up and down, or the saws, but if it is a living creature, it should be possible to shoot it.

b) I would recommend using custom collisions. Quite often you die, even though visually you haven’t touched the enemy/trap. This is most visible with the spikes.

c) When killed, quite often some of the enemies are “doubled up” for a frame, the second copy being slightly off position, too. This is easiest to see if you shoot a bee. It will be briefly doubled before falling to the ground.

Regarding startup volume:

How are you controlling it now? You should set (load) the value first thing in the first scene you load.

Feel free to PM me screenshots of the volume logic and the scrolling background logic and I’ll have a look if I can figure out what is going on.

I think the most annoying platforms so far have been in level 1-6. The first one is just after the checkpoint. The second one (which I still haven’t managed to reach) is right after, where the treasure chest with the gem is. What makes the first one especially annoying design-wise is that if you die later in the level, you spawn at the checkpoint and have to try 5 times to jump across again. Argh. And this comes from a player who three-starred the whole of League of Evil and the majority of League of Evil 2. So asking as it is fun, I don’t mind jumping again and again and again.