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[Melly]

Using tilesets is the fastest, for sure. But only for static content. If you have, say, a wall that breaks, best to set up an object for it.

If the game was simple, and only had one or two "block" objects, like Mighty Jill Off or something, I'd say just use objects. But for something with different depths, edges, corners, grasses, and terrains or whatever, I'd suggest creating it as a background, hitting the tileset check box, and doing it that way. You can change the depth that you place tiles in the room editor.

Ah yes, I just discovered this tileset thing.  INTERESTING.  Game Maker seems nifty... but this bottom left pixel thing will drive me to drink. 

The two ways I know to fix the stupid bottom left pixel crap is either alpha masks or giving your sprite a single extra line below it.

[GregWS]

Wanna explain the alpha mask thing?  (Second one is a method I've used; can't say I like it).

[___]

In regards to making some sort of platforming engine...

There are some pre-existing variables it seems, hspeed vspeed gravity etc... is it commonplace to use these variables or to create the whole movement engine yourself?

[GregWS]

Depends on the type of engine.  Is the character like Mario, with more "skating" movement, or super precise like Mega Man?

Even with that said, I tend to create my own variables for stuff like this, simply because I know exactly what's going on with all of them.  I have used the built in ones before though; I think I usually used gravity (it's been awhile since I've done a lot of this).

[___]

Back to the surfaces thing, I seem to have strange problems with them.  I tried the screen scaling thing, but what happens is that I get a doubled screen size that looks nice, but transparency for all the objects doesn't work for some reason.  It's similar to what was happening to me trying to play Skullpogo... is this because of some hardware issue with my vidya card or something?  :I

[andy wolff]

How do you make it scroll? Do you just use Follow Object in the Views tab of a room?

@chevyray: That method is rather more complex than it needs to be, imo. I do something more like this when I need to smoothly follow something:

var ob; ob=whatever_ob //replace whatever_ob with the instance you want to follow
view_xview=merge_number(view_xview,ob.x-view_wview/2,.1)
view_yview=merge_number(view_yview,ob.x-view_hview/2,.1)

//merge_number(num1,num2,merge amount)
return (argument0+((argument1-argument0)*argument2))

@xerus: yeah, it could be some sort of hardware thing, probably.

[ChevyRay]

In regards to making some sort of platforming engine...

There are some pre-existing variables it seems, hspeed vspeed gravity etc... is it commonplace to use these variables or to create the whole movement engine yourself?

I just like to create my own. When you use GM's system, it has default collision handling and other things that happen under the curtains, and simply so I can keep track of all that's going on, I use my own variables.

Back to the surfaces thing, I seem to have strange problems with them.  I tried the screen scaling thing, but what happens is that I get a doubled screen size that looks nice, but transparency for all the objects doesn't work for some reason.  It's similar to what was happening to me trying to play Skullpogo... is this because of some hardware issue with my vidya card or something?  :I

Yes, almost certainly is directly related to your video card

@Andy: yeah, mine definitely wasn't the most apt approach. I lack the correct kind of thinking to come up with these sorts of formulae often, though, so my solutions tend to be pretty... elementary? Elegant?

As long as they work. I don't usually have much problems as far as speed is concerned in my games, so it's not too bad. I'm mostly just concerned with making the game do what I want to do and feel good to play

[muku]

Back to the surfaces thing, I seem to have strange problems with them.  I tried the screen scaling thing, but what happens is that I get a doubled screen size that looks nice, but transparency for all the objects doesn't work for some reason.  It's similar to what was happening to me trying to play Skullpogo... is this because of some hardware issue with my vidya card or something?  :I

Yes, almost certainly is directly related to your video card

Or the driver. Have you tried updating the driver?

[___]

Yes, as I posted in the skullpogo thread (I thought I posted here too but guess not.) I updated my drivers which happened to be updated October 15th, and it seems like the surfaces issue is solved.

So now when I try this surfaces thing, my FPS is cut in half.  I set my room speed to 60, and when running the surface thing to a scale of 2, it goes to 30.  : (

NEVERMIND I AM DUMB.

FURTHERMORE:  Drivers update did not fix my surfaces problem.  It turns out if my monitor changes resolution then goes back to my desktop, surfaces are boned until I restart my computer.  Argh.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

That's not a video card issue. Surfaces are reset when you change resolution, no matter what video card or computer you're using. That's just what happens. To avoid that, you have to reset the surfaces (create them again) after changing resolution.

[___]

That's not a video card issue. Surfaces are reset when you change resolution, no matter what video card or computer you're using. That's just what happens. To avoid that, you have to reset the surfaces (create them again) after changing resolution.

Huh?  So .... running a game and closing it doesn't destroy the surface?  Once my resolution changes, any game maker game that uses surfaces is fucked until I reboot.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

No, what I mean is, let's say a game creates a surface, and then the game (or the user, by alt-tabbing out) changes the resolution. That surface is then filled with junk, it's useless.

You can code a game so that it checks for that, and accounts for it, using surface_exists() etc., and it's fairly easy to do so, but many games don't do that, so to be safe it's not a good idea to alt-tab out of GM games that use dedicated resolutions.

[___]

No no no, see, theres no alt tabbing going on at all here.  This is whats happening.

1. Play a game maker game with surfaces (skull pogo for example.)

2. After that, play another game (maybe a game maker game, maybe a 3d game that changes the resolution and goes full screen.)

3.  All surfaces in any game maker game I now play are fucked.

4.  Reboot

[Matt Thorson]

Sounds like another graphics card problem.

Honestly, the random graphics card incompatibilities are the single biggest flaw with GM, and the only reason I've thought of using something else.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Well, random graphics cards problems are not unique to GM, every game has them, even mainstream commercial games. They just have more money for testing than YoYo has, but it's a problem with PC gaming in general.

[GregWS]

Well, random graphics cards problems are not unique to GM, every game has them, even mainstream commercial games. They just have more money for testing than YoYo has, but it's a problem with PC gaming in general.

Well, we don't know exactly what YoYo is doing.  I think it's safe to say that when it was Overmars' one man show (ahh, the good old days...) he didn't have the money, or time, for a lot of widespread testing.  In YoYo's case though, I'd be quite annoyed if I found out that they weren't doing some widespread testing.  Now that GM's got a company behind it, compatibility is something that should be addressed, and addressed fast (I also think it's not unreasonable to ask for a noticeably improved GM 8 by the end of 09'; no, I don't want GM to become like AutoCAD or Photoshop, but new versions should be released semi-frequently).

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

It's still not a very large company. As far as I can tell they employ around five people, and don't even have anyone specifically dedicated to customer support, and only one of them is a programmer. So I don't think that just because they're a company that they're doing extensive testing on many video cards.

[GregWS]

It's still not a very large company. As far as I can tell they employ around five people, and don't even have anyone specifically dedicated to customer support, and only one of them is a programmer. So I don't think that just because they're a company that they're doing extensive testing on many video cards.

Fair enough, but I still think that as they grow that should become a priority.

[JasonPickering]

I have a question about the platforming engine chevyray put up. I finally got it all switched over and coded to use regular keyboard inputs, but one thing I can not get for the life of me is how you get the collision blocks to be invisble.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

If you're asking how to draw invisible objects, just uncheck the 'visible' checkbox. Alternatively, create a draw event, but put nothing in it.