Pre-Sales V2 Questions people should be asking

I agree that on the surface, BB2 looks amazing. So did BB1. The video was very polished and hopefully this time the software is too.

I have very specific questions about BB2 before I jump on the (IPhone reminiscent) mass hysteria train of having to have it, just because it's new. BB (Trey) has done a great job with marketing, sense of urgency, and sense of exclusivity. Same as IPhone. I never owned an IPhone.

These are the questions I couldn't get from the sales video and if someone (that knows) could answer, I would appreciate it...

1. Can we allow users to selectively turn off "game music" and "sound FX" or is it still just audio on/off.
2. Can we make objects clickable? Meaning, I click on ANY object and it reacts (disappears, moves, ect)
3. Can I transform the character in any way, make it bigger/faster/bouncier, during game play (mario mushroom)?
4. Can I click and drag to select multiple objects on my development screen? Or shift/ctrl click to select multiple objects. Huge pain with BB1, select and move one object at a time or do the linker thing.
5. Do you have any numbers on stability, crash stats, does the auto-save work properly now?
(I still get 3-5 crashes an hour with 1.3.5 and once the game gets to be of any size it takes 10-20 seconds to save (ctrl-s)) never once has auto-save helped.
6. Will there be full documentation for BB2? Is it available yet, I assume if your selling BB2, there's a manual on how to use it? Can we see it?

What upgrades or add-ons are planned to be implemented in BB2? Will there be a road map published, to say what will make it in BB2 and what gets pushed to BB3? Is there a release date for BB3 or BB4 yet?

Finally, we only heard the positive in the videos. There has to be some kind of negative with BB2. What are the biggest hurdles or obstacles developers might face? (In the interest of community and full disclosure.)
What kind of games can you NOT make that you (buildbox) wanted the software to be capable of?

If there is a sense of sarcasm and cynicism in my post, it was intentional. I'm still a little frustrated by the lack of communication prior to the announcement of subs and then BB2. I bought one day before subs and at the best offer of $49/mo for a year (to move to subs), I'll still lose $1800 for buying one day to soon.

I still like the software, but I'm weighing options a little more carefully and making sure the software will do everything I hope it can do moving forward.

 

You pose some questions that I share.
I think that #3 can be answered now with BB1, though: use actions that replace the character with a bigger, smaller image of the character, and that change gameplay settings that govern the character. However, that only works in BB1 if you have one character (otherwise, your multiple character variation would hit an action that replaces it with a different character image, and while this may be desirable for a handful of games, it won't do what you seem to want). Plus, this strategy of doing this in BB1 will likely be different in BB2, given that BB2 allows for a new character component system that allows for different powers of multiple character options.

 

I posted a thread on the night of the video demo, questions #1 and #4 ,and have had no response to date. This concerns me. The silence is deafening as they say. But from previous info gleaned from this forum and support I believe at least #4 will be a go for v2.0.

Also the documentation, as you rightly point out at #6 needs to be seriously addressed as this has not been updated since v1.3.3 and is incomplete, simply incorrect in places and missing sections.

v2.0 is bigger, faster, stronger and I would expect/hope that the documentation will follow suit.

 

And in BB2 you can change the collision shape of the action replacement. This means you are able to make what ever you want with the character.

I'm interested in number 1 and 4 which should have been implemented a long time ago. Hopefully BB2 has it.

 

if only BB 2.0 can make simple 3d games like twist by ketchapp i think 2(simple games supported like pacman donkey kong so i think it's in) 3 (BB 2.0 is an upgrade of BB 1.0 so it have all the characteristic that BB 1.0 have) and for 4 you can make a groups for element and show layers like photoshop but iam not sure if you can select many object as one time

 

I see the BB1 way of doing this to be a work around at best. I have not seen it work correctly, and does it support collision shape change?

I guess my question, is it to be officially supported?

@Christoph says it is, did you see that somewhere, maybe I missed.

 

I understand most of what you're saying here. I'm assuming a lot of things too. I'm asking for some clarification before I buy.

I noticed the layer control too. I took notes during the videos and that was something I underlined. But I couldn't see any quickly click and drag to select multiple objects. Which any designer/coder knows is a HUGE time saver and have been absolutely baffled at it not being supported.

 

maybe this will answer #3

 

i think there are going to be another event in the lunch date maybe they're going to answer some question as after the last event lot of people are still asking and curious about many things and i think if trey want to sell his product more he should feed the hungry people..

 

At 11mins and 2secs into the video you can view Advanced Move which might be your answer.

 

12.30 Advanced Mode: you can add an additional collision shape.

 

@AndyG I was a little confused on that. The bunny scene was all on a "Level Select" board, that wasn't an actual playable scene from what I could tell. That bunny is NOT a character in game play. Still cool to build a level select option like that! These are the little things I'm thinking about for BB2.

What we should really be asking for, is the documentation. But I'm sure that'll be down the road.

 

Hey guys, sorry we are here a little less in the forum as we are dedicating most of our time to getting BB2 ready. If you have an important question please email support@buildbox.com as that email will get our attention more than anything else. I will try to answer the questions asked here, but please understand I may only have general detail on some things.

Asked by the OP:
1) This should be in BB2, it is on our list.
2) I don't believe this will be possible.
3) via the advanced move feature somewhat, you can also use different character in different worlds you may be able string those together and accomplish a similar effect.
4) This is the biggest bummer, we could not meet the timeline on initial 2.0 release with multiple select.
5) Don't really have any specific data here to share.
6) We have someone dedicated to the manual. There is also video. I don't know the exact timing but it will definitely be out before the final release. We should have something done for or during the beta.

 

THAT is an understatement!!!!!

 

What about backwards movement for platformers is there any chance of that being in BB2, or is it still only one way movement ?

 

Quick question about linear velocity:

 

@Andy Thank you for the reply!

Summary

1. Yes (maybe) - Turn Game music and Sound Effects on/off selectively
2. No - Clickable Objects
3. No (but somewhat) - Transform a character
4. No - Click and drag to select objects (huge. major. disappointment.)
5. No - Crash statistics
6. Not yet - Documentation
7. No - Road map for the community (not numbered above, but not answered, I have to assume no)

NEW Questions not answered yet
@VectologyGames asks, does linear velocity effect character in both directions when adding as an event?
@wayne_martell asks, will backwards movement for platformers be supported?
@wesam_badr states, there may be another event prior to the beta/actual launch. Is this true?

How did number 4 not get the attention it deserves? I was still expecting that to make it into 1.3.6.

 

We don't have a public roadmap, it would be invalid the day after it is published.

I'm not 100% sure, I'll have to find out for sure. The rephrased question doesn't really make sense or represent what was asked in the video.

This is already supported in 1.x

I'm not aware of any plan for another event. I'm sure there will be some sort of launch for the official release.

Regarding multiple select... sometimes we need to make hard choices, this was a hard one.

 

Thank you for responding. I sincerely appreciate the candid answers.

No doubt you guys are busting you asses behind the scenes.

I'm still on the fence about purchasing. Very hard choices indeed.

 

As posted in another thread, I would like to know if it is possible to make different and independent scores. My game has 30 levels/worlds and an endless bonus level. Like Phases had. In BB1 the game starts with the levels and ends with the endless mode. But in BB2 I want to make the levels with independent access. Plus the endless mode will be the training mode to master later the levels. The best score system I could imagine is one for the levels and another one for the endless mode which each has its own statistic in gamecenter. Is this possible? And if not, how does BB2 manage the score system with a distance score when using different worlds?

Update: And was the statistic of how many deaths implemented? (found in games like geometry dash or Mr Jump).