THE GAMES FACTORY - FAQ V1.1
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By Chris_A
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CONTENTS: 1) This contents list
2) About The Games Factory
3) Needed / Recommended system specs
4) Getting started
5) FAQ
6) Bugs
7) Updates
8) Contact information / Credits
9) Copyright information
NOTE: Throughout this FAQ, I shall refer to 'The Games Factory' as 'TGF'.
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2) ABOUT THE GAMES FACTORY
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The Games Factory is a utility for Windows designed to allow the user
to make their own games and screen savers using a simple GUI (graphical
user interface), making programming easier. Designed by Europress Software,
it is the third in a series, the first being "Klik & Play" and the second,
"Corel Klik & Create". From What I understand, the Corel licence and
publishing deal allowed Europress to provide a commercial licence - you
can legally sell the games you make with Klik & Create, whereas games
made using Klik & Play and TGF must be PD / Freeware.
Europress are a UK company, so it might be quite hard to find the
packages outside of there. However, you do not need TGF to play TGF games,
as they can be made to run independently (see FAQ section).
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3) NEEDED / RECOMMENDED SYSTEM SPECS
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According to the TGF packaging, the minimum specs are:
PC486 or above, hard drive, 8Mb RAM, Windows 95, Windows 3.1 or Windows NT.
All Windows sound cards are supported.
The recommended specs are: Pentium PC or above, hard drive (presumably
they mean a LARGE hard drive) 8MB of RAM (I find TGF quite RAM heavy, so I'd
recommend 16MB to be on the safe side).
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4) GETTING STARTED
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This section is designed to cover the basics that will get you started on
TGF. The package seems quite daunting at first, but you will soon get the
hang of it.
(NOTE: I'm assuming that you can find all the icons and work the menus. If
you can't do this, read the help files or the manual - it's fairly
self-explanatory.)
THE STORYBOARD EDITOR:
When you first start TGF, you'll come to the storyboard editor. This is
where you create new levels, delete levels and decide any general options
for the game (such as it's name, icon, controls etc). You will see a
'thumbnail' (shrunken image) of your levels. When you start, though, there
is only one level and it's blank. To access it, right click the thumbnail
and choose either 'Level editor' or 'event editor'.
THE LEVEL EDITOR:
This will look like a blank white screen at first, surrounded by grey.
The white is your play area - you can place things on the grey, but they
can't be seen in the game and although things can go on and off the grey,
they will appear to go 'off-screen'.
You will place your game objects on the white area, known as the 'playfield'
and this is where they will appear in the game. The level editor is the
place to access existing objects or create new ones.
THE EVENT EDITOR:
This is where all of the programming takes place - the event editor is a
'state table', where 'events' can be set to happen if certain conditions
are met.
To use a real life example; My cat being hungry is a condition,
as my cat may or may not be hungry. If my cat is hungry, I feed it. That is
an event. However, this event depends on my cat being hungry, which may or
not be true. Since I will not feed the cat if it is not hungry, the event
depends on the condition.
Conditions are created by clicking on 'new condtion' and then making
choices from the various menus. To make an event occur when the condition
is met (ie, when player collides with power-up) click one of the boxes to
the right of the condition and fill in the menus (ie, player 1 life, add 1).
(This would create the line 'When player collides with power up, add 1
life to player 1'.
Multiple events can be added to one line, for example:
'When player collides with power up, add 1 life to player 1, destroy
power-up, play sample "yes!".
BACKDROP OBJECTS:
Any good game needs scenery, backdrop objects are used for this. Anything
that just sits there looking pretty, or is a platform, will be a backdrop
object. (NOTE: Backdrop objects cannot be animated - they can only have
one 'frame' of animation.)
Backdrop objects can be set to be platforms or ladders (see FAQ section).
QUICK-BACKDROP OBJECTS:
There are three types of these. They are used to make backgrounds that,
while very large, do not use much memory. The three types are:
* SOLID - one solid colour backdrop, chosen from a palette.
* GRADIENT - this look nicer, blending two colours together, but take up
more memory and hard drive space.
* MOSAIC - This can be edited like a backdrop object, and then 'tiled'
(repeated over and over) to fill the background.
ACTIVE OBJECTS:
Anything in your game that moves, is animated or has a specific purporse
will need to be an active object. Each active object has a number of frames,
which can be edited one at a time in the same way as a backdrop object.
OTHER OBJECTS:
There are various other object types, such as text (just static text, shows
up in Event Editor), Picture objects (static picture) Quicktime objects
(plays a movie), etc, etc.
LIBRARIES:
If you don't fancy making your own level objects, then you can import a
picture from another game, or from an external file. Failing that, you can
use TGF's 'libraries' of objects, groups of useful backdrop and active
objects ranging from cars, explosions, cartoon characters and Samurais.
The libraries can be accessed from a pull-down menu near the top left of
the event editor. (You might need the TGF CD) The objects in that library
will appear down the left-hand side of the screen and, when an object is
clicked on, it can be placed on the playfield.
Libraries can also be used from other games and even other packages,
such as Klik & Play and (presumably) Klik & Create.
HOT-SPOTS:
Hot-spots are used as the 'centre' of a sprite, quite simply. They provide
the rotation point for when things change direction, whether it be a racing
car or a platform sprite. By default, the hot spot is set to co-ordinates
0,0 on a sprite. However, this usually causes problems. Listen carefully,
Bond...
When the sprite is moving right, there's no problem. However, if the sprite
is flipped (say because your character is moving left) the sprite will flip
around the hotspot. If the hotspot is at 0,0 ,the pixel at 1,0 will be moved
to -1,0 and the pixel at 32,0 will be moved to -32,0. If the sprite's centre
was supposed to be at 16,16 it would be moved to -16,16 when it was rotated.
This creates a noticable 'jump'.
However, if the hot-spot was set to 16,16 (the centre of the sprite) then
when the sprite was flipped, the centre would stay at 16,16. 15,16 would
become 14,16 and so on, removing the 'jumping' effect.
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5) FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
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Q) My character falls through platforms! What do I do?
A) There are three likely causes:
1 - You are trying to use a non-backdrop object as a platform. It's
best to use a backdrop object (at least until you get more advanced)
2 - You have not told the backdrop object to be a platform. Right click
the object and choose no (object is not solid), yes (object is
solid), platform (object can be jumped onto from below) or ladder
(object can be climbed or stood on).
3 - You have to tell your character what to do when he hits a platform:
* Go to the event editor.
* Choose 'new condition', select your character, choose 'collisions'
and then 'object collides with background'.
* Now, click the box under your character and choose 'movement'.
Now choose 'stop'. The line should now read 'Object collides with
background, stop object'. Whenever your character hits a background
object set to 'obstacle','platform' or 'ladder', it will stop.
(This is not the only way, but it is the most effective).
Q) How do I change the size of my levels?
A) Go to the storyboard editor and change '520x340' to the size of the
level you want. If the level is bigger than your screen resolution,
you will need to scroll around to see everything.
(NOTE: Window size and level size are two different things - it's
possible to have a HUGE level running in a tiny window)
Q) Where do I get noises and music for my game?
A) From the TGF CD, or from the internet, or from the C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA
directory. TGF accepts music in midi format (.mid) and sounds in wave
format (.wav)
Q) How do I change the resolution of my levels?
A) You can't. At least, I don't know of any way to and there's no option
that I've found.
Q) How do I play music in my level?
A) * Go to the event editor.
* Make a new condition 'Start of level'
* choose either 'play midi' (plays once) or 'play and loop midi' (plays
a set number of times, I usually use 99).
* Browse in the window that appears to find your midi. Double click it,
or use the play/stop controls to test it first.
Q) How do I make the screen follow my character (scroll)?
A) * Go to the event editor.
* Create a new condtion - 'always'/
* Click the box under the icon that looks like a reel of film.
* Choose 'scrollings'.
* Choose 'center window in playfield'.
* Choose 'relative to' in the window that comes up, and then select
the character that you want the screen to follow from the list of
active objects.
* Set the screen to follow the character at co-ordinates 0,0 from your
character. That's it!
Q) How do I make my character climb walls / fly / eat?
A) If an action is covered by TGF platform engine, you can simulate it.
Lets take the climbing walls one for an example. Make two user animations
(or, if you prefer, two active objects), one for climbing up left-hand
walls and one for right. Now, make two invisible active objects against
the walls (the closer, the better).
Now, set in the event editor something like:
* While character is overlapping left invisible object + Player 1 is
pressing 'up' + every second, play left climbing animation + alter
characters y co-ordinate [by a certain amount].
(This might well need some additional editing, to stop the climbing
animation playing etc, but this is the idea behind making your own
effects.)
Q) My character isn't showing up in the event editor. Why?
A) Only active objects will show up in the event editor.
Q) Why can't I sell my game?
A) Corel Klik and Create is the only package in this range to come with
a commercial license, hence the higher price tag (it was £80 in the UK).
Klik & Play and TGF do not contain the licences, hence the lower price
tag and warning.
Q) How do I set platform movement?
A) Right click your active object, choose movement and then choose
'platform'. Edit speed, gravity etc by moving the sliders and then
click OK when you're done.
Q) How do I use the 'ini' object?
A) This is somewhat of a puzzle to me, too. The help file simply says
that you can use TGF to edit existing INI files. After playing around
for a while with this, I can think of two uses:
1) Making a simple utility to allow people with less Windows skills
to edit ini files safely.
2) Creating a simple Operating System and using this as a function.
To be honest, this seems to be one of those 'because they could'
features, like the ability to include Quicktime movies in a level -
that would make any stand-alone game REALLY big.
Mort, a veteran TGF user, tells me that they can be used to make
save games also, writing the number of lives, score etc to an ini
file and then recalling it, thus reloading the save data.
-UPDATE-
After much experimentation, I have found one use for an INI file. Let's
say that we have a jigsaw puzzle game with 10 pieces. We want to make
a save game function that will save the positions of the pieces when
we press 'S'. What we do is this:
* Make a new ini file, and call it something like pieces.ini
* Make a new condtion 'upon pressing S', click the box under the INI
icon and choose 'save position of object' and choose a jigsaw piece.
Repeat this for all pieces.
* Make a new condtion, 'upon pressing L' (which we will use to load
the game) and choose 'load position' of all your pieces.
When you play your game and press 'S', the location of your pieces will
be saved. Now, when you press 'L', they will be reloaded to the positions
they were in when you pressed start.
Q) When I jump, my character reverts to a standing animation. Help!
A) That's not a question, it's a request. Simply give the character a
new 'falling animation', which can be the same as the jumping animation
or completely new.
Q) When I start the game, the character won't move!
A) Check to see if you've missed a sprite, and set the background
to 'obstacle'. This happens a lot, especially when you're trying to
click on animated sprites.
Q) My animations aren't moving properly, they're all jerky. Is it the
Government's fault?
A) Normally, my answer would be yes, but in this instance it's probably
because of your Hot-Spot / Action Point. Read the new 'Hot-Spot' bit
in section 4 for help.
Q) I tried to make it so that an effect turned on when I pressed a key,
and when I pressed the key again it turned off. But nothing happens.
Why?
A) The effect is actually happening, but TGF is thinking:
"Ooh, the key is being pressed. I'd better turn the effect on."
And then, a microsecond later, thinks:
"Ooh, the key is being pressed. I'd better turn the effect off."
It keeps doing this very very quickly, and to the human eye it seems
like nothing is happenening. Set a pause, it will work.
Q) TGF keeps displaying the message 'Do not remove cover while power is
on' and a serial number. What's going on?
A) You're looking at the wrong side of your monitor...
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6) Bugs
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The following is a list of common 'bugs', or glitches that I find crop up
frequently while I use TGF.
* Gradient oddness - scrolling has a tendency to mess up gradient
backdrops.
* Getting 'stuck' on platforms - TGF's platform engine isn't the greatest,
and it is possible to climb up the side of platforms, and occasionally
get stuck to them.
* When your character climbs a ladder, it will climb until the last bit of
it stops touching the ladder. This can mean that the characters 'head'
may well get stuck in a ceiling, or floor, or whatever.
* It is possible to fall down the holes where ladders are.
* Unless 'multi-samples' is chosen from the game setup, two things causing
noises together will sound....well, horrible.
* (Submitted by anaconda105)
Sometimes the game will register a backdrop as 'no obstacle' instead of
'platform'. What I mean is about half of 'backdrop 1' will be considered
'no' and the others 'platform' it it is set to 'platform'. It only happens
with 'run level' and 'run game' though, not with a stand-alone game.
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7) Updates
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V1.1 - Current version - added a new section, to deal with those pesky
"Hot-Spots". New stuff in the FAQ section.
V1.02 - added some more FAQ's, updated the FAQ on INI
files. 15/8/99
V1.01 - Added some new FAQ's and a new bug.
V1.00 - First version, everything is new. 1/8/99
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8) Contact information / Credits
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This FAQ was written by me, Chris_A. I can be contacted with questions or
feedback at steve.allcock4@virgin.net.
Special thanks go to Mort (mort@eidosnet.co.uk) for helping me learn how
to use TGF a couple of years go back. Additional credits (for some FAQ's)
go to Kulock and Pelord. And of course, Europress, for creating TGF.
Kudos must go also to Mort.
Oh, BTW, if you're interested in Duke Nukem 3D, or are just up for a laugh,
visit my website at http://jump.to/chris@duke3d/
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9) Copyright
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This FAQ was written by and is Copyright 1999 Chris_A, but I give
permission for it to be distributed to anyone that wants / needs it,
and anyone can post it on their site or message board if they want.
Hey, I'm a nice guy, and information should be shared.
"The Games Factory" and all related terms are copyright of Europress
Software and Francois Lionet and Yves Lamoureux, (C) 1996.
"Klik & Play" and all related terms are copy right of Europess.
Klik & Play is a trademark of Europress.
"Corel Klik & Create" is a trademark of The Corel Corporation of Ottowa,
Canada.
The author of this FAQ makes no attempts to claim that any of the above
games are his creation, or do anything to infringe copyright in any way.
At all. Ever. Honest.
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