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Author Topic: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!  (Read 3877 times)

NeverCon

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Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« on: May 01, 2014, 05:02:53 AM »
Hi Guys

I finally started to work with Playmaker and as for right now setup my most important parts to play with first. A Camera, a Background, a Character and Platforms.

Goal is a 2D Jump N Run Platformer for iOS, Android & Windows Phone till I am getting used to Unity and Playmaker.

I bought yesterday from the Asset Store the Playmaker Platformer Starting Kit for 25 $ and opened it in a separate Unity Project on my 2nd Screen so I could learn some stuff as of how to setup the basics of my game. After 3-4 Hours looking at those FMS's and Variables I finished the day on 23:30pm very frustrated.

The only thing I got done during that time is having my Camera focusing on the Player but when I hit play, the background kinda squeezes together and also my player. I could fix somehow that my player is NOT being squeezed into the Camera Picture but not my Background. Then I stopped after being exhausted.

Also my Background is a high Quality Vector Graphic done in Illustrator. Everywhere it looks clean and sharp but in Unity it looks like pixellated on edges, why is that? Must be a Setting from my Picture?

I am clearly setting my Goals maybe to high and wanna achieve to much in a short time. Having to learn how Unity works, how Playmaker works, never touched ground in C# is extremely soul breaking!
My goal is to release my game by the end of the Year and now I'am asking for your help. I always achieved my Goals and I will achieve this as well!

Would anyone please help me? I am asking for even a Remote Session via Teamviewer for example and that we could talk to each other for 2-3 or even 4 Hours to help me getting along in Playmaker and even Unity.

If I have someone that actually shows me how something works and how easy it actually can be, I am getting a much better hang of it, working with my own Tools and Setup rather then with something primitive.

If you require I pay you a certain amount of $ as well for the time. It does not need to be straight 2-4 Hours for a day but it could if it is possible.
I learn the best and quickest when someone shows me how something works.

What I have/provide:

- Background (For real Use in my Game)
- Character (For testing Purposes)
- Platforms (For testing Purposes)
- Project Setup and my textures
- Hierarchy Setup (Could be tweaked and adjusted if there is a better or simpler  way)

What I want to achieve (Primary Goal):

- Character Setup (Getting him Ready to be used)
- Character Movement and jumping around (Automatic bounce while  walking/running and also in idle mode, if possible)
- Platforms moving up and down or left and right, or even sideways.
- Platforms which dissapear and reapear in a certain timeframe.
- Camera following my Character
- Camera moving only! within my background as it has to act as a level.
- Integration of Enemys or Obstacles (with the Cartoon FX Pack if possible)
- Creation of a Start & Finish of a level or how it works
- Spawn, Respawn
- Level Loading Principle


* Questions I will want to clarify the possibility of integration with some of the following assets (I do not have them yet) into Playmaker (Objective to your Knowledge and if you know them or how I could implement them, Secondary Goal) :

Mad Level Manager (With Playmaker Integration)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/10070

Cartoon FX Pack (For "Enemy" or "Obstacles" integration)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/4010

2D Toolkit & UI Extension (For my Menu System, has Playmaker Integration)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/15814

Virtual Control Suite
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/3636

For you to consider:

- I live in Switzerland (TimeZone!)
- I speak fluent English
- My whole System runs in English. OS, Photoshop, Illustrator, Unity, everything.
- * If you know some assets from the Secondary Part which I listed and have worked with it, and you want to teach me how to use them, no problem! Make me a "Package" which consist of the Primary and Secondary List.
- If it could take longer then 3-4 Hours or so, let me know. Make a Deal and I accept or decline it.
- If you could give me tipps to which book to buy or how to learn the C# language in its best most efficient way for Programming in Unity you welcomed as well :)

That is it for now. PM me or post here. Anyone else is free to post here as well with help or Tipps.
I doing this mostly just to get myself geared up quicker rather then searching for the right tutorials.

Best Regards
NC

NeverCon

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2014, 01:09:31 AM »
Hi Guys

Just a Question since I have not received yet an Answer.
am I posting in the right forum?

Kinda dissapointing that no one seems interested  to help.

:-\

Breadman

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2014, 02:46:55 AM »
Hey NeverCon,

As someone who posts here often (almost exclusively) for help, I can confirm that it can take a while to get a response sometimes. I know for me, my questions become very specific and sometimes people don't have an immediate answer. Sometimes, my topic will have a hundred views and no replies, and it's not because people don't want to help, but because they read it and don't have anything to add to the conversation. This is in fact the proper forum for all PlayMaker errors/issues/questions!

Here are some ideas I can offer based on what I do know, regarding your questions. I'm still very new to PlayMaker so I hope these at least get you thinking about possible solutions if they aren't solutions themselves:

1) Is your background a static image? If so, find the image file (not the material, but the image itself) in your project window (mine are all under assets > materials > textures), and select it. In the inspector, change its "type" to GUI and set its "max resolution" to the proper size (based on screen size and/or texture size).

This should also fix the blurriness you're describing with the image - by default Unity assumes your textures are being applied to 3D shapes, which isn't always true.

2) I think another challenge you're facing, apart from tackling an ambitious project, is that you're using a good amount of addons and plugins. There's nothing wrong with that of course, but it means you need to take the time to learn how these plugins interact with Playmaker (if at all) while you're also still trying to learn the Playmaker basics itself. Patience is key. personally, I'd see how far I can get with just Playmaker itself, and then add the add-ons one at a time, waiting until I understand it before adding the next one. I get overwhelmed easily so this strategy would work for me - you only know what will work for you! :)

Stick with it, ONE problem at a time buddy! Remember you will encounter LOTS of problems, it's part of the process. Write them down, specific issues, one at a time, and try to work through them. Ask questions here for ones that you can't find a solution for. A separate post for each non-related issue will help!

3) In regards to tackling all of the issues that arise as a new developer, live chatting/screen sharing with someone would be great, but don't be disappointed if this doesn't happen. Trust me, I was where you're at just a few months ago. 50% of the time, I ended up fiddling with the issue while I waited for a reply on the forums, and ended up fixing it before anyone had replied. It's a tough job to start something new like game developing, but it's worth the struggle! It's a lot of knowledge to digest - remember to take it one tiny piece at a time.

If you're feeling frustrated or need some general development tips, you're more than welcome to send me a PM here. I'm not experienced enough to tackle complicated Playmaker issues yet, but I might be able to help you work through some workflow and organizational stuff :D

Lastly, remember, "well begun is half done"!





NeverCon

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2014, 08:47:47 AM »
Hi Breadman

How's it going ? Long time no speech ;)

Well Jean told me to ask questions on the Playmaker Forum and so I am here asking for help but the response so far is rather dissapointing.

My biggest hope would be that Jean since he is Swiss as well, may be able to help me if I get no response from someone else willing to help.
Of course I won't stop fiddling around but that is all precious time that is being lost in my Eyes.
Since I am 1 Person developing a game which is for a single person an ambitious project, yet not really hard to realize, I need to rely from external help to get me going for now.

I remember back in 1999 when I first started working with 3DS Max, it took me a good year to get going, I even did Unreal Maps and put them on the Web and the People loved it. I created full Star Wars Spaceships , Planets, Galaxys, Death Star and recreated the 20th Century Fox intro in 3D and made a quick 3 Minute Star Wars Movie with the full intro and stuff, even my Teachers were impressed by the Level of Detail I put into my work...but my Parents back then wanted me to stop doing what I was doing as I would not earn enough money if I wanna become a Game Designer. This is now 10 Years ago.
I had such a fast pace since I knew my Programs I was working with.

Now I need a Kickstart with the Help of People who know their Program, cause when I talk to someone and he shows me something how it works I pick it up much much quicker.

Some People learn by watching Tutorials, some by writting down stuff and reading, some by being teached from a teacher or friend.
My Advantage is that I don't need to write stuff down to remember how something works, cause with my drive of motivation to make FINALLY my first game, I pick it up very fast and evolve with it.

My Goal to release the game by the latest at the end of this year, ain't impossible. I have EVERYTHING in my head but I don't know the right knowledge yet to make it come true.

I am still thinking if I should learn the C# Language first before going ahead, but I can't! Cause I do it on the fly.

I try to stick with 1 Problem at a time but in case of Playmaker I can't cause I know that those are simple problems, lol and could easily be fixed by someone who knows the Application, Plugin, Asset, whatever.

It would make click,click,click in my head when I see how easy it will be to solve my requirements.

Yes my Background is a Static Image. I will try your Tipps out tonight.

Lets see who will further response here :)

Regards
NC

jeanfabre

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2014, 10:26:11 AM »
Hey,

 don't worry, I just have a big stack of pending threads to process first :) and on top of that it's bank holiday over here...


 Bye,

 Jean

NeverCon

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2014, 10:46:15 AM »
Hi Jean

I am not quite sure what you want to try to tell me with your Answer, lol.

Does it mean that you would try to help me with my "Issues" soon?

Regards
NC

jeanfabre

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2014, 12:05:25 PM »
yep :) I'll get back to this thread easlry next week and help.

Bye,

 Jean

jeanfabre

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2014, 07:05:21 AM »
Hi,

 ok, here we go :)

First thing: avoid making long posts and fall into the 'tltr' category, it's difficult to get your head around several topics in one go, so cut down your issues into distincts and precise question, with a dedicated thread for each of your questions, you'll likely get more interest and responses.

now:

Texure importing is VERY important, your background is likely pixelated because it's compressed by unity by default, come back to your texture asset and reimport it uncompressed by selecting "truecolor" for the 'format' setting. AND if your texture is bigger then 1024, increase the size constraint too to get a pixel perfect rendition of that texture within Unity.

End of the year is a realistic target for a small game if you know what you are doing, indeed it may be too much to begin with, but I m ust say that this is the only way to learn, you have to push your learning bundaries and be prepared for the "frustration" and swing with it. Instead of felling frustrated, focux on that issue solely until it's fixed ( ask here, sk on Unity forum too, etc etc).

you may find an issue with creating a team if there is no gain or outcome for people joining your project. If you want this, you'll need to tease with drawings for example and an actual synopsis of what you want to achieve, the story line for example, not just the technical details of your game, that's almost not relevant to create a team, first you need to gather people that will enjoy your ideas, resourceing pur technical people is dangerous as they tend to not commit in the long term, so it's better to struggle together on technical questions if you are commited to the end goal instead of having half of a game done when everyone left because they found something more appealing technically. I speak from experience here, on both sides... :P


2d toolkit has PlayMaker support, but not fully. I am not sure the other assets you mention supports PlayMaker ( not aware of personally). So if you request support, make a separete thread for each asset and I'll them to trello for voting.

https://trello.com/b/1VSKPLcT/addons


I can personnally allocate a small amount time to help you, but my hourly rate for personal consulting is expensive, and on top of that I could clone myself 4 times to fullfill all the things I have to do per day... I could basically work round the clock and yet never see the end of it anyway... A good thing, yes, but also a problem somehow.... Nonetheless I'll be happy to allocate few hours to help you get up and running. So get back to me if towards the ewnd og the month no one stepped in to help you.

Bye,

 Jean

NeverCon

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2014, 03:26:39 PM »
Hello Jean

Thanks for your Reply. While you did not exactly help me with my Problems, I appreciate your Post.

I know that I could split my "Questions" into different Threads or posts but I want people to see that it is all linked together. For my logic I would get lost if 1 Person does several threads and posting different stuff that turns around the same goal or same project.

I will check with my Texture. I know that it is a very high resolution, it will be a small fix.
Besides I know that I can do it till the very latest to the end of 2014. It ain't a massive game, as I wanna build a basic and see how it turns out and what people think about it then develop it further.

Also I am not interested into creating a Team. I work on my own, I do everything by myself. I believe that I have some innovative Ideas for a game and a lot of my friends proved me right. I am on a time pressure to get as much knowledge as possible, in my right way of learning.

And what do you mean by Expensive? What is expensive for you ?
Can you make me a Price Deal ? I will try to get as much done as possible till the end of may as I have for each month a personal goal to achieve.

I am Swiss and so are you it seems. I wonder how much you want? But if you are Expensive then I expect you to be very good.

Let me know your Proposal.
Regards
NC

jeanfabre

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2014, 07:54:57 AM »
Hi,

-- pm sent re rates and availabilities.

 I am french actually, really close to the swiss border ( pays de gex, near Geneva), but I leave in Russia now.

-- Character. It's too vague to give any meaningfull help, please precise the type of character it is, what kind of moves and behavior it's expected to have, etc.

-- Camera work: There's one interesting topic here. Typically, it depends how you want the camera to follow the action. Is it following the player stricly, is it smoothed out, is it only moving when the player reaches the sides of the screen, etc etc. It's important to define what you mean by camera work. Is it a point and move, a first person, a third person view, 2d, 3d, ortho, perspective? All this affect the way we can solve and implement camera work. Typically, an example of a similar existingh helps narrowing down what you are after, can you give an example as a video link or something?

I know you are going for a 2D jum and run, but that's still too vague, it could be implemented in a very "innovative" way as you seem to say you have specific ideas. It's tricky I know cause you don't want to reveal too much likely.

 Have you studied the M2h examples I ported 100% to PlayMaker, it features a jumping game where I think it could fit most of your camera work logic or at least give you a head start on things.

https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W890

Study the other games too, as they will help you learn design patterns and look at implementations to extrapolate then on your own game.

Also, There are numerous samples on platforms, character behavior on this forum, have you had a look and studied some? maybe we can bounce of one of these sample and take it from there.

 Bye,

 Jean

NeverCon

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Re: Kind of Lost with Playmaker, need Help!
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2014, 09:22:52 AM »
Hi Jean

-- Send you a reply to your pm. Thanks a lot.

Thanks for letting me know where you from :) I just wanted to know if you are swiss or not :)

-- Character

While I do not want to tell to much about my Character, I can say that he is round. He needs to automatically bounce even when you don't move him around.
When you wanna go right, he needs to look right, when going left he needs to look to the left, when you jump up he needs to look up. Go or fall down, need to look down.
Also I wanna implement that while he bounces his body gets smaller when he hits the ground just slightly. When he falls from further up the gets squeezed further, but I guess this is advanced. I am will start to work on the Animations shortly.

I checked now SmoothMoves and it does everything I need but I just need to know how to combine this with my Character Controls. It does support Playmaker as I saw, and from the Tutorials I watched yesterday it made a lot of sense to animate my Character the way I want him too.

--Camera Work

As it will be a 2D Jump N Run Game, I want the Camera to follow the Player centered. The Camera needs to follow him smoothly, not hectic.
The Background needs to serve as a Level. So the Camera is allowed to only move within the Size of my Background. So when my Character reaches the bottom left, right or top left or right the Camera cannot have him centered as it reached the limit so it can only be shown in the top left,right and bottom left and right of the Camera View.

I played with the Perspective View but that did not work out for me that well so rather an Orthographic View. So it is bascially a third person 2D View.

Imagine a Pinball Game. You have a Static Camera view on the Pinball Box and see everything. But you also have the Option that the Camera follows the Ball but only within the Pinball "Game" or "Play" Area. The Gaming Pinball Area acts in that case as well as a Level, but remains always the same.

--M2H

I will study them tonight.

I studied other games yes but to find a game that has the game mechanic like mine is hard to find. I bought the Playmaker Platforming Starter Kit and learning some Mechanics from there as well.

Regards
NC
« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 09:25:45 AM by NeverCon »