Good news and bad news to report.
One of the recent levels I'd created was pushing the Active Object limit, and during testing I noticed that some objects failed to load. I pored over the code and optimized as much as I could; eventually I decided to look back at DavidN's tutorial once again, and discovered that Backdrops can be changed to the "Obstacle" type.
Originally, I hadn't understood the option to change the type of Backdrop (ladder, obstacle, etc.), so I sidestepped that issue by using Active Objects. Now, the limit of Active Objects is catching up to me, and I've needed to compensate. The difficulty I'm encountering is now related to the fact that I've replaced Active Objects with properly-defined Backdrops...My code needs to be altered, coding needs to exclude the backdrops but include the permeable platforms...It's all very frustrating and time-consuming.
One interesting aspect to this sloppy coding of mine is that I've discovered a "quicksand" effect which allows the player to slowly sink while overlapping a particular type of platform...But that's small comfort regarding my current dilemma.
I think I need to sit down with a note pad and simply plot out all the changes that need to be made, so that my code looks more like the example engine. Another option that I'm considering is simply stealing the entire engine, and replacing everything within with my own sprites and animations. I'd be more satisfied if I had developed the code myself, but now I think I'd be most pleased by simply putting this project to bed.
So the good news is that I've figured out how to use Backdrops properly; the bad news is that I want to replace my code accordingly, which takes time and diligence. Coupling this new wrinkle with the holidays and all the places I'll be visiting in the next couple days...Perhaps this won't be done by the New Year at all.
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