Glitches and Cures
-By Ashman

Introduction
Klik and Play, The Games Factory, Multimedia Fusion! Whichever 'klik' Tool you prefer, you will always encounter what I call Default Glitches! Errors and Problems that arise not from fault in your code, but from fault in the program itself! Or in a sense, not knowing how to get around the programs hitches. With this article I intend to help with some of these. I am using The Games Factory as a base for this but I'm almost sure most of this would apply to MMF, and or KNP.

(All Example Events are UnderLined!)

Glitch : Lag
Programs : KNP, TGF, MMF
Cure Compatibility : Effective with Custom Movements Only
Cure : Lets just say for arguments sake, you have a weapon as a seperate active object that you would like to Always Set Position to your main sprite! You do an event -

ALWAYS - Set GUN OBJECT Xpos to MAIN CHARACTER Xpos
Set GUN OBJECT Ypos to MAIN CHARACTER Ypos

Or you could possibly be doing it the basic way -

ALWAYS - Set Position to MAIN CHARACTER (0,0)

Either way you do this nice little event, you run the level! As you move your character, you see this awful lag! *SHUDDER*

Aggghhh This will not do! Then you remember, "Hmmmm didn't that wonderfully talented Chap, Ashman, do an article on this?"

The solution is simple! Remember this only works for a custom movement! I will use a Custom Platform Movement as an example for this as there are only 2 directions then!

The cause of the problem is the ALWAYS event, is activated at a different time than the movement event, so how do we solve this?....Put the SET POSTION action in the same event as the MOVEMENT action! Ditch the ALWAYS event and do this -

REPEAT WHILE RIGHT IS PRESSED - Set X of MAIN CHARACTER to X of MAIN CHARACTER + 2 Set Position of Gun to MAIN CHARACTER (0,0)


Repeat this same formula for moving left, jumping, falling etc! Remember this is not a custom Platform tutorial! There is much more required to code a Custom Platform Movement. I was simply using that as an example!

Glitch : Falling through Platforms
Programs : TGF, MMF (KNP is free of this glitch you'll see why soon)
Cure Compatibility : Effective with Default Platform Movement Only
Cure : First off all, I hear you asking...what is he on about? Well this glitch is more directed to Newbies to Klik who are still using the Default Platform movement! You've made this brilliantly designed level, ready to test! You jump around the level a bit, testing everything when suddenly a ledge which was perfectly solid before, is still there....but you fall straight through it....EGADS!!

First of all, you have set the Backgrounds on which you intend your character to stand, to Platform NOT Obstacle...come on tell the truth! Well thats OK, but as soon as you scroll away from the area and then come back....it's like its just an ordinary, non-ledge!

(Thats why it is not relevant in KNP.....You cannot Scroll in KNP...not conventionally anyway!)

The only cure for this is to set the backdrop object to OBSTACLE or Do not let the level scroll away from it! I recommend the first solution. The only downside, is you cannot have your character jump threw the floor.


Glitch : The 'Play it Again and I'll kill you, Sam' Sound Glitch!
Programs : TGF
Cure Compatibility : Only effects the standard Play Sample option!
Cure : Ever been in a part of a Klik game, where the game just locks up and keeps playing the last sample you heard over and over, and the only way to continue is to keep pressing a key or move the mouse cursor?

It's REALLY annoying! But there are a couple of solutions!

1. Play all your samples through an extension such as DMC!

2. Do not allow collectables or other things that make noise able to repeat very quickly. Seperate collectables and try to let 'Hurt' sounds play on a time interval and not just While the enemy is overlapping the character!

3. Do NOT click Multi Samples in the Game Setup! You're asking for trouble with this option! Leaving this alone is not a cure as it will happen still, but that option makes it happen ALOT more!


Glitch : Object Limit
Programs : TGF
Cure Compatibility : Mainly effective with Bullets and Particle Effects
Cure : Sometimes you will reach the object limit in TGF, whens theres nothing on the screen! What the?

Often you have bullets, or blurs, or particle explosions or something along those lines where active objects are created and leave the screen. Quite often, they just leave the screen, and do not destroy....even if you have set an event to do so! The solution...

When you create an active object goto it's OBJECT PREFERENCES, EXTRA and uncheck the INACTIVE IF FAR FROM PLAYFIELD option. Then goto ADVANCED and uncheck the DESTROY IF TOO FAR FROM PLAYFIELD option!


Glitch : Animation Destruction Glitch
Programs : KNP, TGF, MMF
Cure Compatibility : N/A
Cure : Have you made an active object that might be shot from another, and destroy when the animation is over....sometimes it won't destroy! Most likely your problem is as follows -

WHEN ANIMATION STOPPED HAS FINISHED - DESTROY

But it's moving when this event takes place...so what animation does it want to be running....Walking or Running, depending on the speed! If you want to check for an animation it needs to be appropriate with it's speed! So if the object is moving at speed 25, then..

WHEN ANIMATION WALKING HAS FINISHED - DESTROY

...should work just fine!


Glitch : Off Screen Collisions
Programs : TGF, MMF
Cure Compatibility : Only applies to Scrolling games
Cure : Have you an enemy AI or some object that is required to collide with a backdrop object, sometimes when the screen is not centered above it! Then, the object becomes an un-obstacle until you can see it at which point the enemy may have gained access to an area that it wasn't meant to, or may even be stuck in the backdrop itself! The solution....In the Level Editor, goto EDIT and then LEVEL PREFERENCES and check HANDLE BACKGROUND COLLISIONS EVEN IN INVISIBLE PLAYFIELD!


Glitch : Fading In Shows Too Much
Programs : TGF, MMF
Cure Compatibility : Only applies to games with fades
Cure : Have you got a tonne of markers all around the playfield that are set invisible at the start of the level? Does you game have fades between levels? If you answered yes to both, most likely you know what I'm talking about! When the image of the next level is captured and faded in, it shows all the markers on the screen as well...
The solution, once you have designed the level and do not require the markers to be visible, goto OBJECT PREFERENCES, ADVANCED and Change the objects transparency to 100%!


Summary
Well thats about it...I had a whole heap of glitches in my head but I forgot half of them! You'll have to make do with these for now, in a few days I'll write a second part!

I hope I have helped you!