"The point I am trying to make is that there is more to just custom movement in a game - the whole, overall design/concept is pretty important!"
Really? Your first post looks like you're angry because we don't like the built in movement.
I think most of us understand the different areas of game making. We also know that a game with bad gameplay is rarely saved by it's storyline or design or whatever.
I am currently using a modified default platform movement for Captain of the Guard 2. At first, I had about 10-15 animations and the regular out-of-the box default movement going. These guys are right- it is buggy as all hell. My guy would constantly "hang" weird when next to an edge, unintentionally appear many pixels above where he should be when colliding with a wall on occasion, and also appear to be halfway stuck on some objects when he attacked. It wasn't good at all, even though (in my opinion of course) the graphics are well done, the story is interesting and amusing, and the presentation is pretty good.
So I took the advice of a few TDC members and tried to make my own custom movement- and the result was just awful. Not because the idea of a custom movement is a bad one, just that I suck at making a custom platform movement for what I needed for as complex of a hero that I had everything done for. I also tried the Advanced platform object, and didn't get too far with that either.
What I ended up doing that's working very well so far is I have a small square that constantly follows where the bottom of the hero's feet are. Then for the collision detection, I have it so that both the guy and the square have to be overlapping a backdrop in order to stop the guy from falling through. This has eliminated almost all of the bugs I had earlier when coupled with very skinny platform objects hidden into the scenery. He no longer gets stuck in the walls at all now, and falls as he should when he walks off a platform. (No more "hanging" out over the edge, defying gravity.
So my vote is that the default movement CAN indeed work, depending on what you do with it, and how your levels are set up for him to move around in.
--
"Del Duio has received 0 trophies. Click here to see them all."
"To be a true ninja you must first pick the most stealthy of our assorted combat suits. Might I suggest the bright neon orange?"
DXF Games, coming next: Hasslevania 2- This Space for Rent!
Moonbird if you are having trouble with this simple concept I will attempt to give an analogy to make it more clear;
Imagine the most impressive looking sports car EVER was released to the public but the company forgot to make an engine for it (so they quickly put a Skoda engine in to save time and money) Also the wheels are buckled and it cant actually turn corners either.
Would this car be a success?
n/a
Deleted User
4th May, 2006 at 01:05:53 -
id have to agree with everyone else, the default platform movement takes the quality of a game, and throws it out a window.
I find it very amusing when people "work around" the default platform movement and even compromise fundamental parts of their game design just to keep it in.
The ONLY time the default platform movement can be used is when a game has no obstacles to jump over or any ceilings, walls of any kind or enemies to jump on.
Hey Steve, I'm not sure if you meant me directly but I just wanted to say that no part of my gameplay had to be compromised at all. All I did was change the platform movement of the hero so that it works as it should within the context that already existed (i.e. the game's levels themselves).
If I had to completely re-do the whole thing to go around the default movement, then yeah, you'd have a point there. It's just not what I had to do in this case.
--
"Del Duio has received 0 trophies. Click here to see them all."
"To be a true ninja you must first pick the most stealthy of our assorted combat suits. Might I suggest the bright neon orange?"
DXF Games, coming next: Hasslevania 2- This Space for Rent!
Steve - you make a valid point - the problems people get so stressed about seem to be limited to TWO
1. Sticking to ceilings
2. Need for a run up when jumping a block (even though in real life you would actually need to do this) but then programmers would argue this isn't real life so why not let them just jump through the block - where do we stop??
My point initially was you CAN make a decent game using the default movement - and "older" people on this site could probably provide a list of games that used it it and they are bloody good games.
I agree you can be creative with the movement just as you can with the graphics and story but no way can you slag a game off just because it uses default movement.
(am I allowed to say period - again? with a touch of purple?)
to start press any key ...... where's the ANY KEY??
"2. Need for a run up when jumping a block (even though in real life you would actually need to do this) but then programmers would argue this isn't real life so why not let them just jump through the block - where do we stop??"
There is no problem with needing to "get a run up" to jump over block.
I had my doubts about how much you knew before, or if you are a fake account and this just confirms them. Have you even tested a default platform movement game before?
The problem is that if you continue to hold a direction AND try to jump over an obstacle the character will hit an invisible wall.
Im sure you can see why this would make any game completely useless. (as demonstrated brilliantly in the mario fangame on the front page)
EDIT: i'd just like to say that the default platform movement does not just give you "2 main problems" it causes a chain effect of countless problems when dealing with more complex code such as animation directions that need to be compared or changed at runtime (as the default engine will always force its direction). I could go on but im sleepy now (nerded myself out for the day I think) :\
Don't forget being able to cling to the side of the frame and being able to speed-climb ladders by holding shift. And the difficulty of keeping objects aligned with you because the default movement doesn't synchronize itself with the events in the event editor, so detectors lag behind it.
Also, a custom engine allows for much more customization, and it's a valuable learning experience in programming.
Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
5th May, 2006 at 08:28:30 -
"but no way can you slag a game off just because it uses default movement. "
Games that use default platform movement suck.
Expanding on what RapidFlash said, custom movements allow you to simply add special movement such as double jump, wall jumps, sliding, etc. all with ease. And if you think that the TWO problems which we are 'limited' to are not serious, then maybe you should think again.
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