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Newcomers AppGameKit Corner / A few questions about agk, tier 1, apps, etc

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theUsual
8
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Joined: 13th Jul 2015
Location: Norway
Posted: 17th Jul 2015 01:36
I've got a few small questions, and felt it would be unnecessary to make a new thread for all of them.

1. When my app is loading on Android, it first shows a grey screen, for a millisecond, then it shows the previous window (the app menu in my case) for a millisecond, before it instantly show the loaded app. I am loading graphics as early as possible and doing a sync() right after it, but I still get the flickering. Is there something I can do to prevent that? How would this affect the loading if my app took 4-5 seconds to load?

2. When using my app on a Sony Xperia Z2, I can see the sofkeys (back, home, menu) at the bottom of the screen. I think I set my app to be fullscreen, but I don't remember how, or where. Is there a way to get it to be "full"-fullscreen, where the softkeys are hidden, and only visible when swiping the finger from one of the sides?

3. When using AppGameKit 2 Player to broadcast my portrait only app, while AppGameKit 2 Player is in landspace view, wierd things happens. Is this a known bug?

4. There is a lot of commands to delete different objects like sprites and sounds. Is there a command to delete variables too? For instance, huge arrays that only will use memory when not used.

5. If I want to move from a menu to another, and make the new menu slide into view, while the previous menu slides out of view. Is there a built in function to do this, or do I have to make it myself?

Lots of questions here, hope that's okay.

Daniel
Maghnus
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Joined: 12th Jul 2015
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Posted: 17th Jul 2015 06:04
I really don't know about the others, but as for Q4, I don't think you can delete variables. They probably follow scope, like most languages. In other words, a variable defined with a for/next loop will be freed from memory when the loop ends. If you're worried about arrays specifically, set them to length 0 when you're done. I think I also saw someone say there is no NULL in Tier 1, so you can't technically erase the values of other variables.

Also, while I can't answer Q1, I can share that I don't experience that, and don't do any special syncing.
Funnell7
12
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Joined: 8th Sep 2011
Location: UK, England
Posted: 17th Jul 2015 11:02 Edited at: 17th Jul 2015 11:07
Quote: "Lots of questions here, hope that's okay."


Of course This is a great community, you'll always find someone willing to help...

1 - Not had that issue myself. It sounds as though you may be doing a couple unnecessary Syncs? Do you have an example which illustrates this?

2 - This is called 'Immersive Mode' not something which is officially supported by AppGameKit Tier 1 (I say officially, as I'm not sure if its possible by manually editing the AndroidManifest file or some other hack)...

3 - There are no bugs with orientation that I am aware of. What weird things do you see? Be sure to use SetOrientationAllowed() to restrict the view to either Portrait or Landscape (unless of course your app supports both).

4 - As mentioned by Maghnus, you can reset the length to 0 for arrays.

5 - One option is to use the Tween commands in AppGameKit to move all of the menu items. However, a simpler method (IMO) is to load all of your menus in world co-ordinates, and then just pan the view over the desired menu (SetViewOffset). Take a look at my app 'Happy Chick - Platform Game'. This has a menu system much like you are referring too.

Using AppGameKit V2 Tier 1
theUsual
8
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Joined: 13th Jul 2015
Location: Norway
Posted: 17th Jul 2015 13:00
1. You can take a look at what I mean by downloading my app 777: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cardan.a777 The app loads very quickly and I'm going right to the game without any form of splash screen as it's not necessary. This behaviour does not exist when broadcasting through AppGameKit 2 Player.

2. I'll do some research and see what I can do. Will probably respond to my thread if I find a solution.

3. I am using SetOrientationAllowed() within my app, so it's portrait mode only. By wierd things I mean; the music is playing, the SetClearColor() is working, but there's no visible sprite nor text. Tapping around doesn't work either (as a sound would play if a hit a button). When I flip my phone back to portrait asthis wierdness is happening, I can see one sprite with the wrong size and position. The only way to fix it, is to stop the broadcast, flip the phone to portrait, and broadcast again.

4. Then i'll go with resetting all big and unused variables.

5. I looked at your app and saw what you ment. It's something like that I would like to achive. Got caught up in the gameplay too, liked it very much


So.. two new questions came to mind.

6. Which options do I have when making a big or complicated level when it comes to positioning and layout. Can I import a tilemap? I would rather not position every sprite manually within the code.

7. I have AppGameKit 2 through steam, and everytime I test my application, I get a steam popup, and all my friends get the standard "This person just started playing this game". Since I want to keep my friends, I usually make myself as offline in the steam chat. Any way around this?


Thanks for all the answers!
POUTROR
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Joined: 15th Jul 2015
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Posted: 18th Jul 2015 09:56
Q6 : I'm new to AppGameKit but I think you mean that you need to use the Placement Editor. http://www.appgamekit.com/documentation/utilities/1_placement_editor.htm

Q7 : when you have AGK2 running, go to your Steam settings and deactivate the Steam overlay. This fixed the popup for me, because I find it annoying. However, I do not know if your friends can see the notification or not.
theUsual
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Location: Norway
Posted: 18th Jul 2015 13:44
6. Thanks, didn't know about this one!

7. I'll try that
Maghnus
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Posted: 18th Jul 2015 19:09
Regarding Q7, there's actually another way to do it. Edit > Preferences > Build tab > uncheck "Use Steam Integration".
theUsual
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Joined: 13th Jul 2015
Location: Norway
Posted: 19th Jul 2015 01:01
7. Thanks Maghnus!

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