Archive: 16 posts

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1) How do I make the death of an enemy trigger some event? Placing a sensor around it's weakpoint is not a reliable solution, as you might hit the sensor without hitting the weakpoint. 2) How do you build up your level geometry? I use gluing alot, but I guess that is not intended, since my level far too often end up falling apart, when I unglue one of my elements. I like to build it up by gluing, since it's easy to move the different plateaus around fast. How would you guys (and girls) recommend me setting up the level geometry, and avoid the unglue problem?

2009-04-06 19:02:00 Author: CarlsenJeppe Posts: 67

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1) Place a magnetic key on the enemy (im assuming it has a brain and so dissapears) and a key switch on a wall or the floor near its location. You need to make its radius big enough to detect the key on the enemy wherever it may move to. Set the swich to inverted. This means that when the enemy dissapears the key switch will no longer detect the key on the enemy so it will be triggered and do whatever you want to happen next. 2) When im building multilevel things i usually just have individual sections supported by darkmatter so the entire level isnt just one giant object. Hope this helps

2009-04-06 19:10:00 Author: redmagus Posts: 667

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Easiest way to trigger an event by death is to have a mag key on the enemy and for that enemy to always be in the range of a mag switch. That way when the enemy dies, mag key disappears and the mag switch can start the event. I like to glue a tiny invisible piece of dark matter to just about everything in my levels that doesn't need to move. Yes, it takes a lot of extra work but in the end it makes changing things very easy. I also never run into glue issues and I've been able to make some pretty big levels. Edit: Haha...same thing

2009-04-06 19:14:00 Author: Jaeyden Posts: 564

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I would listen to either of the above responses. They both sound really intelligent . Also a note on gluing or not gluing - there is definately a trade-off, and there are different reasons for doing things multiple ways. For instance, there are times when gluing things together is preferencial because it keeps thing together, but I do the same thing redmagus does - I will keep entire areas of my level separated into modules that I can fit together near the end. In fact, I will generally put a totally separate dark matter "bridge" to get between areas. This makes absolutely sure I don't end up gluing pieces together that will create an issue - or at least it keeps the issue confined to a specific area. I also use Jaeyden's techique quite a bit even in those areas - individual pieces of things that I may want to move around and I don't want to be part of the background scenery - I will just have a tiny piece of dark matter glued to it and place it on the ground so I can move it at any point. More complex objects that may have pistons attached and/or have movable parts - I usually design these separately, create objects from them, and THEN place them in the level. If you place it as an object you can easily shift it between planes. And it also keeps the original out of place somewhere so I can separately change it and re-place it in the level without messing with the scenery that's already there. Note on ungluing - sometimes it's more appropriate to erase an area to get rid of it instead of ungluing and deleting it. There is many times less of an issue "cutting" the material away.

2009-04-06 19:23:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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Thank you for your answers.

2009-04-06 19:37:00 Author: CarlsenJeppe Posts: 67

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if you want an event to happen when you pop each brain on a boss, you can place a mag key directly on the bubble portion of the brain as well, with a mag switch sitting right next to the brain. you can see it in action on my Mario vs. King Goomba level.

2009-04-07 22:33:00 Author: TJapan Posts: 225

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gluing is not really a problem, it only becomes a problem when the whole level is glued together as one piece. Dark matter does work in the way described above but is not needed on every object (really heavy materials don't need glue or dark matter at all). Every little bit of dark matter you use adds to the therm, so the dark matter solution uses therm space that could otherwise be reserved for other things in your level.

2009-04-08 19:32:00 Author: mindphaser74 Posts: 349

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Every little bit of dark matter you use adds to the therm, so the dark matter solution uses therm space that could otherwise be reserved for other things in your level. Don't feel offended or something but that's the most unlogical thing i have ever heard on this forum. But it could be right though...

2009-04-08 19:39:00 Author: Vanemiera Posts: 329

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Actually, not gluing something to dark matter adds to your "physics" thermo. Individual loose objects that are not glued to dark matter tax the physics engine. However, the dark matter itsself raises your "vertices" thermo. In my experience, however, the "separate objects" thermo seems to be a bigger culprit, so it's generally best to make sure anything that doesn't need to move is either glued to the ground or to a small piece of dark matter.

2009-04-08 19:58:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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gluing is not really a problem, it only becomes a problem when the whole level is glued together as one piece. Dark matter does work in the way described above but is not needed on every object (really heavy materials don't need glue or dark matter at all). Every little bit of dark matter you use adds to the therm, so the dark matter solution uses therm space that could otherwise be reserved for other things in your level. If you use one small, or even invisible amount of dark matter it can hold anything as big as what can fit in the map. Try it, make a massive block of metal raised slightly above the ground (almost full map sized- any amount of layers), put one dot of dark matter through it and press play.

2009-04-08 20:05:00 Author: S-A-S--G-U-N-R Posts: 1606

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Actually, not gluing something to dark matter adds to your "physics" thermo. Individual loose objects that are not glued to dark matter tax the physics engine. However, the dark matter itsself raises your "vertices" thermo. In my experience, however, the "separate objects" thermo seems to be a bigger culprit, so it's generally best to make sure anything that doesn't need to move is either glued to the ground or to a small piece of dark matter. Yeah the whole thermo thing is a bit strange. There is more then one possible "bottle neck". This way advanced creators will never be able to get the most out of their level, what could actually be possible. But that's something for our broadly discussed "advanced create mode" eh?

2009-04-08 20:07:00 Author: Vanemiera Posts: 329

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Yeah - really the best course is to be clean and follow best practices everywhere during level creation. Then, when thermo messages start popping up make changes. The 2 things that help me is initially using about 4 types of material, keeping EVERYTHING boxy looking (for less angles) and gluing as few things together as possible during initial develpment. Then, as I complete the entire level I start allowing things to get less efficient because I know I have a lot of wiggle room (cutting out more complex caverns, changing matierial types, or gluing more things down). Getting a good efficient flow is the best course.

2009-04-08 20:25:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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I find that I need to put 2 pieces of dark matter into things... When I make a large area and put in only one small piece of dark matter I get the object twisting. I use little dark matter "nails" like crazy. Another thing that helped me keep things from falling apart was directional gluing. You can glue things specifically up, down, side to side, and even plane to plane... I have had a lot less problems with things falling apart when I did have to unglue or erase them later. I am not sure why this made a difference, but it did for me. Other than that, I use Ccubbage's building system.

2009-04-09 15:46:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359

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Not to get too technical..... but in case anyone cares..... The reason the directional gluing makes a difference is because when you glue things they become part of a greater object "whole" the way it's organized in LBP structures. A lot of what is perceived as ungluing problems is really objects breaking away from their whole and taking others with them. In programming, we can see these relationships much easier - but LBP tries to hide the complexities to a point that you sometimes see unexpected things happen. When you directional glue, you're gluing something to another object in a more controlled manner and you can understand the relationship better.

2009-04-09 16:16:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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I use to have problems with therm overheat happening earlier in a created level (when the therm bar was only 3/4 full). My last 2 Below the Root levels let me go right to the top of the therm bar before I finally get the message (but I still don't get the "you cannot add anything else" message like I use to on earlier levels. I mainly glue things together now, back then I used various dark matter solutions such as DM nails. I still use dark matter for some things, but to hold most objects in place you should glue more often then using DM for the best results IMO, just DON'T glue EVERYTHING (your whole level) together.

2009-04-09 16:16:00 Author: mindphaser74 Posts: 349

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These things can go back and forth because it really depends on the level... if your level has a lot more vertices (such as carved caverns) every additional material edge makes a much bigger difference.... so less small pieces of dark matter is better. If you're building a level that has less edges (such as square buildings and windows), but does a lot of emitting of objects, small pieces of dark matter will not make as big a difference and keeping objects separate with a small piece of dark matter may be preferable. The key is understanding these relationships and learning the best practices for YOUR level.

2009-04-09 16:22:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430

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