Recent posts by GPStudios on Kongregate

Topic: Game Programming / Bizarre flash file size inflation

I’ve just noticed something

Okay, this time I copied a mouth drawing into a blank fla.

It’s literally a curved line. 1 line.

I saved the file. 170kb

But this is something i noticed, and almost definitely the problem:

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1096/70118928.jpg

As you can see from the picture, there appear to be hundreds (thousands more likely) of corners below the line when I select the white arrow.
Even though it looks like about 50 on the picture, it has to be a massive amount, simply because of the file size. It must be well over 1,000.

If I drag one of them it creates a line.

I’ve noticed these huge load of drag points on many many frames of my character file.

But the problem is, If I optimize, it does nothing, if I copy it and paste it, it copies all the drag points as well. it’s VERY messed up.

Might as well upload the .fla to show you. It’s very bizarre indeed. See if you can remove these drag points.

www.gpstudios.com/downloads/temp11.fla

Topic: Game Programming / Bizarre flash file size inflation

Well thhe example of the 5 edged lips that I copied into a new .fla, that wasn’t a movieclip. No movieclips in the library, all that’s there is a pair of lips.
Anyway, that was 180kb.
The new freshly drawn lips of much more edges and detail in general are 30kb

A blank flash file is 20kb.
So let me rephrase, 160kb of data for 5 vector lips
10kb for new complex lips

16x more!!!!

While I have used bitmap caching in the source file, it has no trace in the lips file or the character files.

Topic: Game Programming / Bizarre flash file size inflation

Well, it sounds like you’re referring to save and compact and I’ve tried that.
I’ve looked through the preferences and there doesn’t appear to be any option like that anyway.
Thanks, can anyone else suggest something?

Topic: Game Programming / Bizarre flash file size inflation

This isn’t a code problem as such… Well not at all tbh, but anyway, here’s the problem:

I have a very very strange problem and i hope someone can help me out. I have a game file that I’ve been working on for almost a year.

It’s been in the 250mb – 300mb region for months, and it’s been getting more and more unreliable (crashes, lag etc…). Anyway, here’s what I’ve noticed.

I have a movieclip of some lips. They are attached to all of the characters and when you speak to them the mouth moves. There are about 90 frames in total (1 layer)
Well anyway, I copied it over to a blank .fla and saved it, as I noticed the movieclip was acting quite sluggishly in the API.

Well it took about 10-15 seconds to copy and another to paste into the fla. I saved it, and checked out the file size.
22mb.

22MB????

When I export it it’s 5kb.

So I did some more experimenting. I started removing some of the frames, then doing save and compact checking the file size. It all seemed consistent in how much it reduced the file size

Eventually i got to one frame, a pair of lips. 5 lines, 2 solid colours, thats it. No movieclips in the library. 180kb
I drew a pair of lips that were identical in another fla. 30kb

So, a big loud confused WTF!?

I realised that that the characters I’ve created for my game have hugely inflated file sizes. They’re full of useless data.

My game has 60 rooms including lots of detail, There are about 500 unique objects (tables, chairs, walls, windows, fire extinguishers, frogs, LOADS!!!).
It takes about 10 seconds to copy these 60 frames (they are on a timeline)
Yet it takes 15-20 seconds to copy a pair of lips…
And it takes 5 minutes to copy a character movieclip (containing 25 actual characters)

So clearly there is something wrong, but in the vector drawings themselves.
So how the hell can i fix them without literally redrawing everything?
It’s bizarre. I doubt many people have experienced a problem as weird as this in flash.

Ever heard of a very rare medical condition called “Fetus in fetu”?
This is when a dead fetus is attached to the live twin in the womb, becoming nothing more than a parasite.
Well I belive that is what I’ve got… (with my flash file ofcourse, lol)

I reckon about 100mb is just useless corrupted data, while the other 150mb is what I can see (my source file that is)
I should probably say at this point that the game I’ve been working on is incredibly big, so it seems almost plausable for the size to actaully be 250mb, but after doing my little experiment, I very much doubt it now.

How do I fix this? Is anyone familiar with this?

As I believe i mentioned earlier, I have tried save and compact (without it, the filesize goes up to 340mb)

Topic: Collaborations / Artist needed for upcoming GPStudios game!

bump
I apologise for using this method, but I’ve asked nobody to reply to the thread :)

Topic: Collaborations / Artist needed for upcoming GPStudios game!

I am the developer of the popular game series, Bunny Invasion. I also recently released a game called Mutant Uprising.
Visit http://www.gpstudios.com to view these games, or http://www.gpstudios.com/aboutus.php for a little more information on GPStudios.

Recently I have been developing a game since the beginning of July ‘09 almost full-time.
It is an RPG/Adventure game set in a school. The basic plot is that kids are going missing, and it is up to you to find out what’s going on (Like I said, basic!)
It is very much a story-based game. You carry out missions for the pupils and students to advance the game.
For some (very early) pictures please leaf through the news section on gpstudios.com (http://www.gpstudios.com/news.php)
The game hasn’t got a name yet, but feel free to suggest one.

In the game there are several cut-scenes where I need a single picture, or a slideshow of pictures to display what is happening.
At the end of this post I have a attached a link to a picture of the main character. This is 400% magnification, the characters are quite small, so the lack of detail is for that reason.

(By the way, some of the displays I want created involve rather bloody and unsightly stuff, but I’d rather not go into any detail just yet)

The game I am hoping will be finished by April (but hopefully before).

I am willing to pay for these services, however I cannot say how much because I haven’t got a sponsor for the game yet, so you’ll have to take my word on that.

If you think you have the appropriate skills to help me, please email me your portfolio (or a link to it) to tom@gpstudios.com
It would also be useful to see how you can draw the character below in a setting, e.g. jumping out of an explosion.

Also, it could be possible (if you are eligible) to create a logo or a picture that can be used when distributing the game, such as a thumbnail or an advert.

It is vital that you use the email tom@gpstudios.com to contact me; not a forum post or a private message.

Thank you. I look forward to seeing some great artwork :)

- Tom, GPStudios.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/7342/maincharacter.jpg

Topic: Game Programming / Flash sometimes ignores my instance names.

This is a very weird problem, certainly a flash screw up.
I’m working on a monster game right now, it’s huge.
Recently I’ve been having problmes simply applying instance names.
I’ve created a system where every movieclip’s name and y position is added into an array so they can be sorted for a pseudo 3d effect.
With this array I can test if for instance the instance name “bed” is in there.
So, I create a movieclip and give it the instance name “bed”.
I compile, and if I ask for any info on “bed” it’ll always be undefined.
I check the array full of instance names, and it is registered as instance5748 or something.
Now here’s the really ****ed up bit.
If I do onclipevent(load){ trace(name) } it returns the name “bed” and then everything works!!!???
I can access it’s x & y value and everything.
So if I trace the name value, it works, if I don’t, it doesn’t work… so the trace statement (purely for debugging) is affecting the innerworkings of my compiled game… wtf?
This is without a doubt a flash hiccup, but is there a better way of going round it than embedding onclipevent(load){ trace(name) } into everything?
Perhaps if I understood more about it I could work something out myself. But atm this is just ****ing weird.
I’m working in AS2 (not a clever idea for such a huge game i know)
Any help will be great!

Topic: Game Programming / Flash CS3 crashing with copy/paste between 2 files

the swf size is perfectly normal.
For some reason, vector drawings in .fla’s are huge compared to the resulting swf.
the 250mb is pruely vector drawings, with about 50 small bitmaps used as textures.
The current swf is only 1mb big.

Topic: Game Programming / Flash CS3 crashing with copy/paste between 2 files

Hi.
I am a flash games developer, and I am currently working on a game that is truly massive.
The main file size is over 250MB.
It’s been a work in progress for about 4 months of solid work.
Due to the size of the file, I prefer to create things like characters and objects in another file. I then need to import it over, replacing old movieclips.

When copying and pasting now, it always crashes, or tells me that its run out of virtual memory.
It appears to be impossible to get it all over, even bit by bit.
I’ve saved and compacted, I’ve saved as, I’ve moved it onto another disk drive.
All of the above seemed to help temporarily, but I’m now at a stage where nothing is working.
I don’t think the file is corrupted in anyway. I’ve had no problems with any other component of flash. Just the copying.
I just don’t understand what’s so intensive about moving over an object of about 10-20 mb.
My computer is quite high performance, 5.6ghz, 4gb of ram.

I’ve asked for help on so many forums now, and all i get is criticism at my file size. Well it can’t be helped. It’s a massive game.
I’ve tried using a runtime shared library, but unfortunately it doesn’t allow attachmovie to get it from the library. It seems the identifier is only being used to connect the 2 libraries when you set up a runtime shared library.
attachmovie is very important to the code and it can’t be done any other way.

Please please help.
I’m at a point where I need those movieclips in the main file…
I know that this is not an actionscript problem, but I am desperate right now for any suggestions.

Topic: Game Programming / 4GB RAM but get error msg: "Flash is out of memory"!?

I need to move a massive movieclip that contains possibly 100MB of vector drawings and animation over to another file.

It usually takes minutes to copy and then even longer to paste it into the other file.
Recently though it just crashes, or I get a message appear saying “Flash is out of memory, to increase memory, quit flash and allocate more virual memory in the system properties dialogue box.”

I have 4gb of ram, so it should be plenty.
Can someone please tell me how I can transfer large movieclips from one .fla to another .fla.

Topic: Game Programming / Is it possible to load AND embed movieclips from another swf in AS2?

Ok, heres the problem.

I have a very large game file. It’s a monstrous thing.
I have 60 characters that I have drawn, and I believe they are making the FLA file take ages to load, and lag.

I would like to seperate the game into 2 files, characters.fla and everything else in another .fla.

I know that I could do loadmovie, but if I move the exported swf file with the loadmovie code in to my desktop for instance, then it won’t load.

I would like it so that the two files are seperate, but when i export, it exports from both files to make a single swf with everything in it.

Hope someone can help! (remember this is AS2)

-Tom

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

Ok, dont worry peeps, I misunderstood the badge process.
I’ve now uploaded a version without live update and its working, however, the badges are all activated only once.
I’m very confused now as to how this works now…

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

https://www.mochiads.com/community/forum/topic/version-control-incompatible-with-kongregate-score-api/72103

I’ve just found this article… It pretty much says that you can’t connect to kongregate with mochi version control. this is half a year old though so hopeully there is now a way to solve it.

Topic: Game Programming / I can't connect to kongregate!

https://www.mochiads.com/community/forum/topic/version-control-incompatible-with-kongregate-score-api/72103

I’ve just found this article… It pretty much says that you can’t connect to kongregate with mochi version control. this is half a year old though so hopeully there is now a way to solve it.

Topic: Game Programming / I can't connect to kongregate!

_root.kongregateServices.connect();
It just doesn’t work.
The green light doesn’t come on, and I’ve placed this code on the first frame.
I’ve tried running this code every 2 seconds aswell, still, nothing.

I’m using mochi live update. Could this be the problem???

Could someone please suggest how to fix this.
Thanks

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

This still isn’t working! :(
It’s so ridiculously simple that the problem can’t be with the code…
I’m using mochi live update btw. This has caused a few problems here and there, so I’m guessing this may be the culprit.
Could someone please just give some suggestions as to how I may fix this :(

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

Ok thanks for the replies all.

I fiddled wth it some more tonight, I’m guessing for some reason the connect I’ve placed on the first frame is not working for some reason.
If anyone has any ideas as to why it wouldn’t be working that would also be a help.

I’ll work on it tomorrow now I know I can check if its working through the green light etc.

Thanks.

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

Ok, well I did the statistics stuff, but on my revenue report it’s still showing 25%.
Should that update immediately if I’ve added the API correctly??

I’ll guess i’ll try add leaderboards see if that makes a difference.

Is there a way to see that the statistics are working? :S

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

Ok I understand.
I was wondering If I had to do something else for it to happen.

Does anyone know if I’ve added the statistics in, but badges have not been added yet, am I still eligible for that monthly best games contest?

Thanks.

Topic: Kongregate / Trying to add Badges

Hi.

I am the author of Bunny Invasion 2.
I implemented the stats I intend to use for badges yesterday, and they are on the games statistics page.

How do I get them turned into proper functioning badges and then added onto the games description page?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
GP Studios