Is GameSalad right for me?

palmer560

Greetings!
I currently have a game idea that in principe is fairly straight forward. It involves controlling animations (that I make in Daz3D and export as image series) frame by frame. I want the player to be able to control these animations' advancement/transversement by pressing and dragging the mouse in appropriate axis. E.g. clicking and dragging to the left on an open newspaper would turn the page (an animation that might consist of 50 png files). I've tried doing this in actionscript-3 but the math and programming required is simply beyond me. Preferably, I would also like to export the project to an swf file, or at least something that will run directly in a browser. Would this be possible using GameSalad? What would be the difficult level involved?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post!

ThoPel

@palmer560 said:
I would also like to export the project to an swf file

Not possible!

@palmer560 said:
at least something that will run directly in a browser

HTML5 exports are hosted online on arcade.gamesalad.com. When you mean with "directly" something linke offline in your browser or on your own webserver: No.

@palmer560 said:
but the math and programming required is simply beyond me.

Mathematical formulas remain mathematical formulas in GameSalad In my opinion GameSalad is no coding engine (typing source code), but the understanding of a developer is still needed.

palmer560

Thanks for the reply. But is it possible to relate the mouse X/Y position to a certain frame within the animation?

ThoPel

@palmer560 said:
Is it possible to relate the mouse X/Y position to a certain frame within the animation?

Something like that. It is not directly possible to interact with the animation-behavior. But you could connect the mouse X/Y position with your images.

tmann

@Socks has some great solutions for animation as the current behaviour is pretty wonky still (I think)

Socks

@palmer560 said:
I currently have a game idea that in principe is fairly straight forward. It involves controlling animations (that I make in Daz3D and export as image series) frame by frame. I want the player to be able to control these animations' advancement/transversement by pressing and dragging the mouse in appropriate axis. E.g. clicking and dragging to the left on an open newspaper would turn the page (an animation that might consist of 50 png files). I've tried doing this in actionscript-3 but the math and programming required is simply beyond me.

The maths / code for something like a newspaper opening (playing back 50 png files from Daz3D) is pretty straightforward.

In plain English / non-code speak you would simply tell the actor (the object that contains your png images) to change which image it is displaying depending on the position of your finger / touch.

Socks

@palmer560 said:
Thanks for the reply. But is it possible to relate the mouse X/Y position to a certain frame within the animation?

Yes ! That's exactly how you would do it, simply put it would work like this . . . .

Constrain self.image to game.Mouse.Position.X

. . . this would tell the actor (the thing the images are applied to) to track its image to the current mouse position (on the x axis), as the value of game.Mouse.Position.X goes up and down (as you drag your finger back and forth) the image on the actor will change accordingly.

(this is an over simplified version, but gives you the basic concept).

Armelline

@ThoPel said:
HTML5 exports are hosted online on arcade.gamesalad.com

It's worth noting though that GameSalad have explicitly stated on the forums before that true HTML5 export is high on their priority list, so it's not really a matter of if but when. I'd not dismiss GameSalad based on HTML export limitations.

jamie_c

GameSalad have explicitly stated on the forums before that true HTML5 export is high on their priority list, so it's not really a matter of if but when. I'd not dismiss GameSalad based on HTML export limitations.

Agreed

ThoPel

@Armelline said:
on their priority list

@CodeWizard An official priority list would be a dream - the rest is just rumors and interpretations.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@Armelline said:

I haven't tested it yet but @jonmulcahy mentioned to me they removed the redirect from Tizen. If this is true then you can publish straight HTML 5 using Tizen SDK.

jonmulcahy

@Lost_Oasis_Games said:
I haven't tested it yet but jonmulcahy mentioned to me they removed the redirect from Tizen. If this is true then you can publish straight HTML 5 using Tizen SDK.

I did some digging, and unfortunatly it's still a no go. @gingagaming said last year:

It doesnt have a redirect anymore. They have changed it to hang with a loading wheel instead. Basicly Tizen HTML5 files dont work when uploaded direct to a server.

and I confirmed it, the loading wheel just sits there.

hopefully soon!

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Yep me too. I'm not sure what the deal is because older projects used to work in the browser on the desktop. I don't get what is the big deal. stop blocking us already!!!!!!

Lovejoy

@Lost_Oasis_Games said:
Yep me too. I'm not sure what the deal is because older projects used to work in the browser on the desktop. I don't get what is the big deal. stop blocking us already!!!!!!

Totally agree, so I'm just figured id quote this for non believers to see.

kolabo

@Armelline said:
GameSalad have explicitly stated on the forums before that true HTML5 export is high on their priority list, so it's not really a matter of if but when. I'd not dismiss GameSalad based on HTML export limitations.

This has been the case for a long, long time, and I've been waiting for this for years (since 2010). So my word of advice is don't count on it happening soon. If true HTML 5 is high on your personal priority list then go with an sdk that delivers HTML5 today.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

@Lovejoy said:
Totally agree, so I'm just figured id quote this for non believers to see.

I still have an old project on my storage drive for puck it that works in the browser.