DimensionWarped

Stop fretting over frivolous details. Besides, sometimes expository details about stories are misleading anyway. There's no use getting wound up over them.

Greetings MMF fans. I recently picked up CF2.5 because I was excited about a new feature for doing much of the stuff I've been exploring in this thread. Today I've just finished some rudimentary performance tests. The test is pretty simplistic in nature. Every frame, a loop is ran on every object in the simulation twenty times. The event itself just sets the currently selected object's x position to a random value... hopefully that particular action choice doesn't impact performance too signifcantly. The two methods I tested were the following: Iterating over Arrays of fixed values (works in MMF2 and CF2.5) For Each Object loops (CF2.5 only) Performance comparison is simple enough, we just see how the frame rates fall under certain numbers of objects. Iterating over array of fixed values: MMF2 performance - falls to 30 fps (50%) at 1450 objects. Falls to 15 fps (25%) at 2100 objects. CF2.5 performance - falls to 30 fps (50%) at 1450 objects. Falls to 15 fps (25%) at 2100 objects. OK, so this test suggests a couple things. First, Performance since performance is the same, it doesn't look like CF2.5's generally faster loops are providing a whole lot of gains in here. The performance appears to be falling off slightly faster than linearly... I would guess O(n * Log(n)) because finding the object by fixed value might involve a binary search against the full object array. Iterating using CF2.5 for each object loops: CF2.5 performance - falls to 30 fps (50%) at 18000 objects. Can't check 25% performance since the object ceiling is 20000 for reference sake, I'm still able to hit 60 fps (100%) with 9000-9200 objects before frame rates take even a single fps dive, so this suggests that the relationship is closer to linear. Also, I guess it's worth noting my processor is an i74770k running at stock clockrate since this is a processor bound operation... still, the actual ratios should be about the same on any processor. So yeah, that's a shitload of difference and it works better with larger object counts too. I'm currently considering writing some more interesting tech demos, possibly something that demonstrates nested for each object loops, but right now my focus is elsewhere. But I'm going to go ahead and recommend CF2.5 to anyone still working in MMF2 on this basis alone. Attached are the mfa files for each test as well as executables in a zip for running the tests in case you don't have cf2.5... though without debug information, it's hard to tell how many objects you have. Press '+' to add objects to the simulation. cf25_iterator_test.mfa mmf2_iterator_test.mfa mmf2cf25_iterator_tests.zip

I think you need to wait on Construct 2 to reach a little more maturity before trying to do a Worlds/more generic 360 engine port. They only just recently added tilemaps (which should help with some of the heinous performance problems) and those still don't support collision that goes beyond whether or not a whole tile is solid. And honestly I'm not sure if it's ever going to be any kind of ideal option at this point.

... The background doesn't change itself obviously. If you want the time to be able to change in realtime, you are going to have to poll for the time again and set everything up again. Right now I'm focusing entirely on getting it set up without making any attempt to clean it out and replace it as the time updates. Here is a basic (very basic) example. You can figure out how to evolve it from there. For instance, you could crossfade two backdrops using alpha levels based on how far between the time is from the starting levels of a given time. You could also add continual polling and reset the backdrops whenever the time changes. There are lots of ways you could improve this example to make something more organic. system_time_sets_background.mfa

Well, you could always fork it. I mean, .mfa isn't exactly a format that is conducive to forking, but it's not impossible. All the patches would have to be ported by hand. IMO, we need to do some performance comparisons. If the performance is just leaps and bounds better than before, it might be worthwhile to start focusing on 2.5 releases. It's not like Delta is getting super-frequent releases anymore anyway. I also have a feeling that the status of what people are able to *ahem* obtain easily will be changing shortly, largely as a consequence of the humble bundle sale.

Why should the player's time zone matter if you can just get the hour (the hour they have set on their clock that is) from the system clock in the first place? This is a very simple problem. Figure out the hour using the calender or date/time object. Create the actives based on the hour. Make sure they are positioned correctly. Done. I'll whip up a tutorial when I get home if you haven't solved this by then.

Oh, well that's good news then. I might just buy a couple extras purely so that we can have a few to give to people down the road. Even once the introductory rate for the upgrade price wears off, it's still just another 10 dollars (from 40 to 50) to upgrade from regular MMF2 after all.

This one right here is something that has been needed for a long time. I believe someone said in the SFGHQ skype chat yesterday that Humble Bundle serials are excluded from upgrade pricing. EDIT: On the other hand, i'm seeing conflicting reports from different sources.

Well, semi-new anyway. It's a new take on an old favorite.

Dami has long since moved on, so it's unlikely that vanilla Worlds will ever be ported to a new version of... CF or whatever. I don't think any amount of physics will help with basic Sonic movement stuff though. It's Not exactly modeled on realworld physics to start with. If it works in the new product without any changes, I don't see why anyone would need to do any kind of porting project.

What you'll probably be wanting is to divide the water parallax into horizontal strips and apply automatic horizontal shifting per frame to them (it's one of the instance variables for parallax objects). The pieces closer to the foreground obviously should have more shifting than the pieces in the background. You'll also almost certainly want the actual parallax effect as well, and again, you want larger values in the foreground pieces than in the background pieces. It's really more about fine tuning than anything else. I have a very similar parallax background in the Madcap Grotto Zone project that I released open source. You could try to copy the ideas from there. http://www.sonicfangameshq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7925

We only ever made one build of Sonic Nexus in the Worlds engine, and that was the Pristine Palisade demo. The clouds during the second boss section weren't actually parallax at all, they were just emitted using an emitter that shifted randomly on the side of the screen. I don't suppose you could throw in a picture explaining what you want?

I gave you 1 rep to compensate for the fact that you are one of the many people I set to 0 instead of the default level of 1. Yeaaaaaah... it turns out that 0 rep means 0 reputation power too. I'll be adding 1 to everyone who I see at 0 for the next little while.

Also of note, Overbound and I have stolen all of your chaos emeralds! MWAHAHAHA. But seriously, we've restarted reputation from... well, it was supposed to be 1, but in my zealousness to get shit done it's 0 for most people who have actually posted anything ever.

I've always felt that between Shadow and Heroes that Heroes is the sloppier of the two games. But I'm not about to dredge that argument back up, so I'll just throw a greemote out there.

So I completed another world's worth of levels today and my opinion of the game is dropping in some respects. I think everyone who has read some reviews will be aware of the physics being off, but it's a deeper problem than that and it really begins to reveal itself when precision becomes a focus and the ability to understand how your character works becomes necessary. One of the biggest problems of the game is that the rules just aren't consistent and there is sort of an active attempt to punish the player for using the run button. I'm just going to cover one particular instance because I found it truly frustrating, but while running on ice, Sonic starts going into a skating animation similar to Mario Galaxy (or just Shadow the Hedgehog). The slipperyness of the ice is itself awkward and you really don't have the efficacy of control that Mario Galaxy had while on ice (which is odd since Sonic feels like he moves a bit slower on ice in this game than Mario does in Galaxy). But the real kicker is that while in this motion and you jump, Sonic will do a sort of Ntuple salchow jump and during this jump you will completely lose air control as well as the ability to double jump and it's just plain infuriating when you have a need to use your double jump or make a minor adjustment for this ability to just suddenly be locked away for no reason. This sort of problem pertains to a lot of the normal jumping stuff as well. Why should the character unspin simply because he double jumped? Why is the ground spinning motion not something that can attack enemies instead of just a strangely derpy way of moving around? Why is it that when I do my bounce attack that Sonic can no longer use homing attacks? The game is plagued with these instances where controls that seem like they should be available to you are just yanked away without reason and it feels very unfair at times. Couple that with physics that just continually deliver a different effect than what feels like should happen and the game gets very frustrating when the action piles on. I'll give it a while longer to see if stockholm syndrome can set in and I get used to the strange mechanics, but right now I'm thinking my review is going to be in the lower half of the spectrum. There are some things about this game that I really adore (the game has a great variety of gimmicks and enemies even if they are sometimes implemented less than full-assedly, not to mention it provides more classic Sonic throwbacks than you can shake a stick at) and the visuals really shine when they shine, but the problems are glowing brighter right now.

I received this in the mail today. I know it's been less than super-well received by the media, but I'll probably be giving my own feedback a little later on. EDIT: My first impression is that it's an adequate platform game that may not actually deliver on the Sonic premise, but is otherwise perfectly fun and enjoyable. So far I've fought against a pencil thin Cajun fruitcake, the stereotypical fat tornado, and an elderly fruit ninja... none of the bosses were especially interesting. Some of the regular enemies have been fairly fun throwbacks and some of them are actually provide more than a platform to throw homing attacks at. The game is very visually clean and you really don't know how much you impact the 60fps motion has until you've given it a try... overall I'd say it looks far nicer than Generations did on PS3, though I never played it on PC, so I don't know how that would have looked at 60fps. Overall I'm enjoying it so far though. Challenge is a bit of a mixed bag. I ended up stopping tonight on a somewhat annoying snowball gimmick with things that push you off... always to your death of course. The biggest complaint I think anyone can really levy against the game though is that it just isn't much of a Sonic game. It's more generic platformer... probably more reminiscent of the early Crash Bandicoot games than anything else in particular. One thing I do find a little exception with is that rings are almost pointless without extra lives and with nothing (at least nothing I've noticed) to accumulate and spend them on.

Proof that I've been inactive for too long. Alright, that's something of a wake-up call. The topic has screens now, so it lives, but there is one post in here... a post of a type which I want to put a little insight into... Logos are fine and dandy and all, but they aren't really worth discussing... I'm sure when you wrote this that it was the only thing there that really had any kind of visual presence, and you have an interest in being 'constructive', but let's be realistic here, logos are just dressing and they aren't particularly important dressing. Really, those are the kinds of things that we should just be more or less ignoring in the forums except in passing. This is the second project thread in a row I've read where somehow a logo became the topic of discussion and it's just the kind of thing that makes me groan a little.

Of course it's intentional blandness. It's not like the levels in Sonic Colors were as flat looking as in Lost World. That said, they did mention that they made the choice out of a desire to keep a constant 60fps, so it's really a little of both.

Thuggles is pretty scary yeah?

It'd be very hypocritical for any of us on the admin staff to demote someone who usually does everything they are supposed to on account of one instance of drama.

I'm much more keen on saying "LOL, pirated version of MMF2, extensions don't load properly(including the base ones), game doesn't work."

Alright, so this topic is pretty much pointless. Here's what we've learned everyone. We don't need to have a topic every time Apple rolls out a new phone. This is a predictable annual event and talking about products like this only brings peoples' bickering fanboy spirits into full view of everyone. Stuff like this really just has no place here. This has been discussed more before the phone even came out than the Wii U had been over a month after the fact. That's sad.

What build of MMF2 are you using?

*briefly considers the possibility of Mr. Potatobadger being a viral marketer*