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This file originally resided at Europress's old website before they redesigned it. Hopefully it'll contain some useful hints for you.
Hints & Tips
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Take direct control over your objects. Assign your objects to a ball movement, and set the speed to zero. You can now change their X or Y coordinates using the "Set X Coordinate" or "Set Y coordinate" actions from the Event Editor. This lets you do clever things, such as simulating gravity, or walking a monster across a MOVING platform.
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Use the Static option to create "Intelligent backgrounds" Sometimes, an active object can do a great job by sitting quietly in the background. You can use these objects as buttons for your control panels, or slide a character behind them to give a powerful illusion of 3D.
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Convert your text into graphics and import it into an object. Enter your text into your favourite Windows wordprocessor, and check the spelling and the formatting carefully. When you're satisfied, move to each page, and press the PRINT-SCREEN key to grab it onto Clipboard. You can then copy the results into Windows Paintbrush using the PASTE option, and save the graphics as a ".BMP" file. They can now be imported directly into a Klik & Play Object.
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Manipulate your animations with the Resize Zoom option Click on a frame in the Animation Editor with the RIGHT mouse button, and select the "Resize Zoom" option. This changes the dimensions of a single image over a series of "animation" frames. So you can zoom your aliens into the distance, or stretch your pictures into weird and wonderful shapes.
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Use counters to trigger events Supposing you want to create a game like Space Invaders. The aliens should sweep across the screen, and move down in unison when they reach one of the edges. You can control this pattern using a counter.
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Create Guided Missiles with the "Look in Direction" action The "Look in Direction" action turns your object into a guided missile! Once you've started the object moving, you can repeatedly change its direction so that it homes in on the selected target. It doesn't matter how hard the target tries to dodge away. Your missile will now follow it relentlessly.
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Generate 3D graphics using a Ray Tracer If you can't draw, you can still generate some fantastic 3D effects using a "Ray Tracer" program. There are lots of these utilities on the Public Domain, and although they DO take a while to master, the results can be really professional. Look for a program called Point Of View (P.O.V). It's available from most PD libraries, and it's FREE!
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Use the "Appear" and "Disappear" sequences from the Animation editor. "Appearing" shows your object being born in the screen when the object is first created. "Disappearing" is called automatically whenever you destroy an object in your game.
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Incidentally, you can copy animations between objects using the "Select All" option from the Edit Menu. Just grab your sequence from the animation editor with COPY, bring up your destination object, and PASTE the images into position.
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If your event contains several conditions, choose their order carefully. Klik & Play tests conditions involving COLLISIONS, TIMERS, or OBJECT locations first.
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Use the TIMER to regulate your actions The Timer starts from zero, and increases by one every 100th of a second. You can test it to perform your actions at regular intervals. Every so often, you can change an objects speed, position, or direction. This adds an extra feeling of variety to your games. You can also fire up a new attack wave when the player is least expecting it!
First check the alien's position, and set a counter to a trigger value such as one. You can now test for this counter in your game. If it's equal to the trigger, you can reverse the aliens movement directions, and increase their "Y Coordinates" by an appropriate amount. Finally, you can set the counter back to zero to start again.
So:
• Alien Leaves the playfield
+ Counter 1=0
will be faster than:
• Counter 1=0
+ Alien Leaves the playfield
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