Misc Suggestions, Bug Reports, Etc.

[J_A_Whye]

(First, do you want a new topic for each thing we find, suggestions, etc? If so, then lock this thread – otherwise I’ll keep throwing stuff in here.)

The square that shows the dimensions of the device needs to float on top of everything. Once you stick a large background image in the scene you no longer have the ability to place things according to the edges of the device.

And if you could XOR it or something that might be handy in case the background is black or another dark color – so it will be visible no matter what.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

This was kind of mentioned by Lerg and myself in other messages, but I’d *really* like to see the ability to tag objects in the GUI.

Right now you’re mixing the idea of an ID and of tags, but I hope you distinguish between the two. One awesome use of tags would be to (using the tutorial video example) tag all the beams with something and then in scene1.lua code be able to loop over all the beam objects (those things tagged with “beam”) and apply the needed physics characteristics.

Those people who want to, one at a time, click all the checkboxes and stuff in Composer GUI can still do that. But allowing both options gives those of us who can crank out code a way to use the GUI bit not feel like we’re being artificially slowed down.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

Auto-loading scene file when Corona Simulator is launched – BAD!

On launch Outlaw copies the project files to a sandbox and passes that location to the simulator. Now the simulator is looking at a location that does NOT contain the files that should be edited and it opens a scene file. If the user makes changes to that scene and then hits launch in Outlaw, the changes get wiped out as the master files are once again copied to the sandbox.

(You might say Outlaw shouldn’t launch files from a sandbox, but you’d be wrong – it’s the most sensible way to handle projects.)

I’m not sure why Corona Composer is auto-launching when it sees a scene file – that seems wrong. Not only does it screw up workflow with Outlaw, but I can imagine other (non-Outlaw) ways in which auto-launching is a bad idea.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

The rotate widget on objects is in a bad place for smaller images. I often find myself rotating things when all I wanted to do was grab them and move them. 

Maybe rotation handles can show up when Shift is held, or something. Or some kind of toggle. Or even just allow it via the R field. I think moving an object will happen a LOT more often than rotating one.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

Scrolling the asset list with the mouse button doesn’t work – you have to grab the scrollbar. Non-standard UI.

 Jay

[walter]

Good feedback! I think the tagging notion is worth it’s own thread.

Agree with you on the rotate. It bugged the hell out of me too.

What did you mean by auto-loading scene? Are you talking about the simulator window or the composer window?

[J_A_Whye]

When I launch the simulator from Outlaw the simulator opens, and the Composer GUI window opens, too, loading a scene file (the first one it finds? dunno).

Here’s a 2-minute video that shows what I’m talking about (the important stuff starts about the :50 mark):

http://gamedevnation.com/files/composerguiautolaunch.mov

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

This was kind of mentioned by Lerg and myself in other messages, but I’d *really* like to see the ability to tag objects in the GUI.

Right now you’re mixing the idea of an ID and of tags, but I hope you distinguish between the two. One awesome use of tags would be to (using the tutorial video example) tag all the beams with something and then in scene1.lua code be able to loop over all the beam objects (those things tagged with “beam”) and apply the needed physics characteristics.

Those people who want to, one at a time, click all the checkboxes and stuff in Composer GUI can still do that. But allowing both options gives those of us who can crank out code a way to use the GUI bit not feel like we’re being artificially slowed down.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

Auto-loading scene file when Corona Simulator is launched – BAD!

On launch Outlaw copies the project files to a sandbox and passes that location to the simulator. Now the simulator is looking at a location that does NOT contain the files that should be edited and it opens a scene file. If the user makes changes to that scene and then hits launch in Outlaw, the changes get wiped out as the master files are once again copied to the sandbox.

(You might say Outlaw shouldn’t launch files from a sandbox, but you’d be wrong – it’s the most sensible way to handle projects.)

I’m not sure why Corona Composer is auto-launching when it sees a scene file – that seems wrong. Not only does it screw up workflow with Outlaw, but I can imagine other (non-Outlaw) ways in which auto-launching is a bad idea.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

The rotate widget on objects is in a bad place for smaller images. I often find myself rotating things when all I wanted to do was grab them and move them. 

Maybe rotation handles can show up when Shift is held, or something. Or some kind of toggle. Or even just allow it via the R field. I think moving an object will happen a LOT more often than rotating one.

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

Scrolling the asset list with the mouse button doesn’t work – you have to grab the scrollbar. Non-standard UI.

 Jay

[walter]

Good feedback! I think the tagging notion is worth it’s own thread.

Agree with you on the rotate. It bugged the hell out of me too.

What did you mean by auto-loading scene? Are you talking about the simulator window or the composer window?

[J_A_Whye]

When I launch the simulator from Outlaw the simulator opens, and the Composer GUI window opens, too, loading a scene file (the first one it finds? dunno).

Here’s a 2-minute video that shows what I’m talking about (the important stuff starts about the :50 mark):

http://gamedevnation.com/files/composerguiautolaunch.mov

 Jay

[J_A_Whye]

I’m going to whine about something again because it keeps biting me.

When I launch the Composer GUI  when using Outlaw (and now, Desperado) it doesn’t grab the correct ccscene file. It grabs the one in the launch sandbox which is a temporary file. Any changes to that version of the ccscene file will be overwritten the next time the project is launched.

And there doesn’t seem to be any way I can launch the GUI with the scene file – I tried dragging it onto the Corona Simulator icon but it was ignored. When I launch Composer GUI it assumes I want to mess with ccscene files that are in the same location as what’s running in the simulator. While I can see the reasoning behind that, it makes using Composer GUI with Outlaw/Desperado such a pain as to not be worth the hassle.

I know it’s not your fault that Outlaw uses a sandbox for passing files to Corona Simulator, but it is your “fault” that the Composer GUI is tied so tightly to the Simulator. If they could be launched separately this wouldn’t be a problem.

Any chance of untying the two?

Jay

[J_A_Whye]

I’m going to whine about something again because it keeps biting me.

When I launch the Composer GUI  when using Outlaw (and now, Desperado) it doesn’t grab the correct ccscene file. It grabs the one in the launch sandbox which is a temporary file. Any changes to that version of the ccscene file will be overwritten the next time the project is launched.

And there doesn’t seem to be any way I can launch the GUI with the scene file – I tried dragging it onto the Corona Simulator icon but it was ignored. When I launch Composer GUI it assumes I want to mess with ccscene files that are in the same location as what’s running in the simulator. While I can see the reasoning behind that, it makes using Composer GUI with Outlaw/Desperado such a pain as to not be worth the hassle.

I know it’s not your fault that Outlaw uses a sandbox for passing files to Corona Simulator, but it is your “fault” that the Composer GUI is tied so tightly to the Simulator. If they could be launched separately this wouldn’t be a problem.

Any chance of untying the two?

Jay