@tmann thanks for the info, its exactly the kind of feedback on the new collision shape stuff that I was looking for. I'll give it a play later today, and see how it all works for setting up the pinball table collision.
With regards to peoples flippers acting like glue, it can be a tricky one to work out. I think the figures I used for the ball and flipper, that I posted earlier were achieved through months of trial and error and continuous tweaking back when I did a pinball game 4 years ago. I dug out a version of the project and tested it on Creator 1.23.1 and the setup seemed to still work well, so its what I'm using on my new game.
Im not sure if other people are doing additional or different stuff with their ball and flippers, so it might/might not work for others... or it might just be difference of opinion of how things should feel. Not tested the settings with later versions of the engine or with custom collisions... so it may all fall apart once i do!
But yup.. making steady progress... thought of a theme, created logo/splash image and started working on table artwork and layout. Not sure if thats the best order to do things in, but Im an artist by tradition, so pretty pictures first, nice gameplay second...
I'm pretty disappointed in Gamesalad for doing a pinball jam when two new features that would be helpful, i.e custom collision and center of mass, aren't even working properly. Testing for these features was obviously not thorough enough. And what about custom fonts? Should we even expect to be able to use those at this point? It all just seems a bit poorly planned to me.
@Rainbros said:
I'm pretty disappointed in Gamesalad for doing a pinball jam when two new features that would be helpful, i.e custom collision and center of mass, aren't even working properly. Testing for these features was obviously not thorough enough. And what about custom fonts? Should we even expect to be able to use those at this point? It all just seems a bit poorly planned to me.
I just finished fixing the last known bug with custom fonts today, so you should be able to expect them to be released within the next week or two.
As for custom collisions, for the most part they seem to be working. The problem is actually with other behaviors such as Accelerate. It applies a force to the center of an object, so if the CoM is offset it can cause an unexpected rotation. And since we don't have the ability to apply an instantaneous acceleration (technically a force) to an object, you can get an object that appears to be moving at a reasonable rate, but that has so much force behind it it blasts through any collisions. We're going to be adding more ways to control these things soon, hopefully they'll come out at the same time as custom fonts.
As for custom collisions, for the most part they seem to be working. The problem is actually with other behaviors such as Accelerate. It applies a force to the center of an object, so if the CoM is offset it can cause an unexpected rotation. And since we don't have the ability to apply an instantaneous acceleration (technically a force) to an object, you can get an object that appears to be moving at a reasonable rate, but that has so much force behind it it blasts through any collisions. We're going to be adding more ways to control these things soon, hopefully they'll come out at the same time as custom fonts.
As for custom collisions, for the most part they seem to be working. The problem is actually with other behaviors such as Accelerate. It applies a force to the center of an object, so if the CoM is offset it can cause an unexpected rotation. And since we don't have the ability to apply an instantaneous acceleration (technically a force) to an object, you can get an object that appears to be moving at a reasonable rate, but that has so much force behind it it blasts through any collisions. We're going to be adding more ways to control these things soon, hopefully they'll come out at the same time as custom fonts.
A major issue, and the affected actor only has rotate and collide behaviors...?
Yes, I'm looking at that right now. Appears that the issue is a collision is somehow happening before all the actors have initialized.
dgackeyAustin, TXInactive, PRO, Chef EmeritusPosts: 699
@Rainbros said:
I'm pretty disappointed in Gamesalad for doing a pinball jam when two new features that would be helpful, i.e custom collision and center of mass, aren't even working properly.
This is kind of the point of the jam. The other being to end up with some cool games that we don't currently have a lot of .
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
Today I loaded up an old pinball game I was making, completely forgot about it, it was before version 13, anyways my pinball and flipper physics settings are perfect in it, all feels smooth and responsive with great flipper and ball speed, and supper collision, everything felt fast and responsive,
loading this up in the newest version, it was horrible!
I had a play with the physics shape editor and it does seem to do a pretty good job of creating a collision stencil of the entire table... so should be good for laying out table collision quickly instead of using loads of invisible square actors.
Saying that though, I think I've decided to stick with my version of my pinball using the standard collision shapes, purely as it works and feels right using creator 1.23.1 and I'm not liking the reports from people of how the current editor physics/collisions don't seem to work right, especially for pinball games.
So not sure my game will bring anything useful to the challenge in terms of helping GS with the collision stuff...!
@jay2dx doesn't state anything about which version of GS we have to use in the rules. But they did mention it being a good way to help iron out bugs in the new collision stuff.
But if there's game breaking issues with the latest version (new collision shapes/physics) then what choice is there? were more than able to build a working pinball game with older version of the software, and using standard collision shapes...
I'm carrying on with old version, and if the rules are updated to require the game is built using the latest version, then I'll just not submit my work for the challenge if the issues haven't been fixed. Luckily a new pinball game is something I've been wanting to create for some time, and is going to be the base for a much larger project, so the work won't be wasted, and the jam has been a good catalyst to get me started on it....
Yeah this is why I ducked out of this, my time was being wasted with the collision stuff and my actors acting like glue! Collision in the new version seems fine for my platformer game as its not as fast as pinball! Oh well I'll join in the next Jam hopefully, and save my pinball game I've been working on for a later time
All I can say is those bug fixes (and custom fonts) better be coming soon.
dgackeyAustin, TXInactive, PRO, Chef EmeritusPosts: 699
@Chunkypixels there's no explicit requirement that you use the latest version of GS, but we did think it a useful way to help iterate on the new stuff there.
Having said that, @stevej has added some cool stuff to the physics attributes as a result of this feedback that may help with Pinball games, and if everyone wants to extend the jam such that folks can grab the new build with those attributes and have time to use them, I'm certainly fine with that too!
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
If theres engine physics and collision shape improvements ready to go, then it might be a good thing to extend the jam so that people can try them out.
@Armelline said:
That crouton really slots nicely into the visual style of your game!
Yes I got lucky with being able to use some assets I already had. Instead of a spring ball launch I use the faceoff at the top. One you hit the target the goal opens for 20 seconds and if the ball goes in the goal it spawns another ball. And yes the tunnel does work.
@Chunkypixels said:
An update on the situation is definitely due... its only a couple of days til the jam is meant to end, and its still a bit all over the place... :*
I can't speak for a date extension for the jam, but we've fixed the CoM/custom collision bug. We're hoping to get a new release out soon, but there's a (unrelated) nasty crash we need to track down first.
ForumNinjaKey Master, Head Chef, Member, PROPosts: 554
I just extended the Game Jam to end on February 8th now for you guys
Comments
I feel like the only person with good flippers... I'll pull them out of my game and throw a demo up later if I don't forget.
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
@tmann thanks for the info, its exactly the kind of feedback on the new collision shape stuff that I was looking for. I'll give it a play later today, and see how it all works for setting up the pinball table collision.
With regards to peoples flippers acting like glue, it can be a tricky one to work out. I think the figures I used for the ball and flipper, that I posted earlier were achieved through months of trial and error and continuous tweaking back when I did a pinball game 4 years ago. I dug out a version of the project and tested it on Creator 1.23.1 and the setup seemed to still work well, so its what I'm using on my new game.
Im not sure if other people are doing additional or different stuff with their ball and flippers, so it might/might not work for others... or it might just be difference of opinion of how things should feel. Not tested the settings with later versions of the engine or with custom collisions... so it may all fall apart once i do!
But yup.. making steady progress... thought of a theme, created logo/splash image and started working on table artwork and layout. Not sure if thats the best order to do things in, but Im an artist by tradition, so pretty pictures first, nice gameplay second...
I'm pretty disappointed in Gamesalad for doing a pinball jam when two new features that would be helpful, i.e custom collision and center of mass, aren't even working properly. Testing for these features was obviously not thorough enough. And what about custom fonts? Should we even expect to be able to use those at this point? It all just seems a bit poorly planned to me.
I just finished fixing the last known bug with custom fonts today, so you should be able to expect them to be released within the next week or two.
As for custom collisions, for the most part they seem to be working. The problem is actually with other behaviors such as Accelerate. It applies a force to the center of an object, so if the CoM is offset it can cause an unexpected rotation. And since we don't have the ability to apply an instantaneous acceleration (technically a force) to an object, you can get an object that appears to be moving at a reasonable rate, but that has so much force behind it it blasts through any collisions. We're going to be adding more ways to control these things soon, hopefully they'll come out at the same time as custom fonts.
@stevej Did you see this?
http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/90559/weird-custom-collision-behavior#latest
A major issue, and the affected actor only has rotate and collide behaviors...?
Yes, I'm looking at that right now. Appears that the issue is a collision is somehow happening before all the actors have initialized.
This is kind of the point of the jam. The other being to end up with some cool games that we don't currently have a lot of .
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
I think the jam is a great idea actually GS TEAM so please don't be disheartened when people flame it!
We will see some fun stuff from it no doubt and its highlighting stuff in GS that can be fixed in time
Today I loaded up an old pinball game I was making, completely forgot about it, it was before version 13, anyways my pinball and flipper physics settings are perfect in it, all feels smooth and responsive with great flipper and ball speed, and supper collision, everything felt fast and responsive,
loading this up in the newest version, it was horrible!
Hmmm
I had a play with the physics shape editor and it does seem to do a pretty good job of creating a collision stencil of the entire table... so should be good for laying out table collision quickly instead of using loads of invisible square actors.
Saying that though, I think I've decided to stick with my version of my pinball using the standard collision shapes, purely as it works and feels right using creator 1.23.1 and I'm not liking the reports from people of how the current editor physics/collisions don't seem to work right, especially for pinball games.
So not sure my game will bring anything useful to the challenge in terms of helping GS with the collision stuff...!
I thought we had to use the latest gs version to enter!
Am I wrong?
@jay2dx doesn't state anything about which version of GS we have to use in the rules. But they did mention it being a good way to help iron out bugs in the new collision stuff.
But if there's game breaking issues with the latest version (new collision shapes/physics) then what choice is there? were more than able to build a working pinball game with older version of the software, and using standard collision shapes...
I'm carrying on with old version, and if the rules are updated to require the game is built using the latest version, then I'll just not submit my work for the challenge if the issues haven't been fixed. Luckily a new pinball game is something I've been wanting to create for some time, and is going to be the base for a much larger project, so the work won't be wasted, and the jam has been a good catalyst to get me started on it....
Yeah this is why I ducked out of this, my time was being wasted with the collision stuff and my actors acting like glue! Collision in the new version seems fine for my platformer game as its not as fast as pinball! Oh well I'll join in the next Jam hopefully, and save my pinball game I've been working on for a later time
All I can say is those bug fixes (and custom fonts) better be coming soon.
@Chunkypixels there's no explicit requirement that you use the latest version of GS, but we did think it a useful way to help iterate on the new stuff there.
Having said that, @stevej has added some cool stuff to the physics attributes as a result of this feedback that may help with Pinball games, and if everyone wants to extend the jam such that folks can grab the new build with those attributes and have time to use them, I'm certainly fine with that too!
Dan Magaha · COO · GameSalad, Inc · danm@gamesalad.com
Extending the jam sounds like an excellent idea!
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
I agree.
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
Yes, an extension would be great.
Yup, go for it...
If theres engine physics and collision shape improvements ready to go, then it might be a good thing to extend the jam so that people can try them out.
Yep extend away...
After like ten revisions I think I have the layout and action I like.
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
That crouton really slots nicely into the visual style of your game!
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
Yes I got lucky with being able to use some assets I already had. Instead of a spring ball launch I use the faceoff at the top. One you hit the target the goal opens for 20 seconds and if the ball goes in the goal it spawns another ball. And yes the tunnel does work.
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
So was an extension decided upon? I'm keen to enter but there's absolutely no way I'm going to get my game finished in 2 days
Contact me for custom work - Expert GS developer with 15 years of GS experience - Skype: armelline.support
An update on the situation is definitely due... its only a couple of days til the jam is meant to end, and its still a bit all over the place... :*
I can't speak for a date extension for the jam, but we've fixed the CoM/custom collision bug. We're hoping to get a new release out soon, but there's a (unrelated) nasty crash we need to track down first.
I just extended the Game Jam to end on February 8th now for you guys
BOOOOOOM nice one
I'm back in then
Thanks gs
good!