how well/fast do games run made for the gp2x

[Holymonkey]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Game Editor and hope to use it to make games for my GP2x. Are there any example games I can download that were made with Game Editor to see how fast the games actually run on the unit?

Let's say, for instance I wanted to make an old fashioned side scrolling shooter with lots of bullets and explosions all over the screen. Would Game Editor games maintain a decent frame-rate?


Thanks

[Sgt. Sparky]

I do not have a gp2x but some people here that do say hat it runs well with GE but you can't just use any game made with GE than export it to gp2x .exe, you must first change the resolution to fit the screen wich would mess up some games

[akhad]

I too am without a GP2X but am keen to develop for it. Might be an idea for certain GE users who own a GP2X to offer themselves as beta testers perhaps ?

[Holymonkey]

I have a Gp2x already. I 'm currently deciding whether to buy GameEditor, but seeing some Game-Editor games run well on my system first would make it an easy decision

I'm not worried about changing the game resolution, as I'd be making the games for the gp2x native resolution to begin with.


Just a thought, maybe a game scaler program could be made that takes a game file, halves all the art, and all the numbers related to movement and velocity, and all the co-ordinates of actors, so that 640x480 games could be scaled automatically in GameEditor. That would surely be cool.

[HillBilly]

I will get you a link for a few things that I have done for the GP2X.

I have not been able to mess with it for the last 3 months due to medical problems but I can show you some of the stuff that I have made.

Nothing great but at least you can see some stuff on the GP2X.

I need to find a few things. Check back later tonight.

And for the record if you make a clean game, you can make some nice stuff for the GP2X. Keep the DRAW ACTORS down, and do not have a bunch of actors being drawn off screen and your frame rate will stay up.

[Holymonkey]

great news, thanks hillbilly! I look forward to seeing your examples. I wish you good health

[HillBilly]

OK now don't expect to see TOTAL GREATNESS.

Go to http://hillbillyarcade.tripod.com/gp2xstuff/

for these files.

BearOids is a simple Asteroids game. Kind of boring, but the first thing that I ever made.

Then there is a speed test file. On average you have 150 actors moving at different speeds and directions. 3 of the counters are actor counters add them up for total actors, and the far right is the FPS.

VectorGame is a Vectar type of game that I was messing with. I am not sure how many levels I made. No AI or main actor colison turned on yet.

Also I am not sure how many I have so you can exit. The exit should be sholder L & R plus DPad Down.

Hope this helps you out.

[HillBilly]

I forgot. Vector game also has a FPS on it. The bottom left is how many bad guys to go untill level change.

[Holymonkey]

thanks a ton. This will be very helpful

[willg101]

If you want, you could send me a simple game made with the demo and i could compile it to GP2X for you (if it's all right with makslane that is).

[Holymonkey]

I really apreciate the offer, willg101. But unfortunately I'm no where near ready even to make a simple demo. I've got alot to learn first, and precious little free time.

The examples thathillbilly gave me were enough to convine me I can make the sort of games I want to at a decent frame-rate. However I do have a few more questions that I shall adress in other threads.

thanks again, everyone for being so helpful

[akhad]

HillBilly, that's interesting info. When you say keep the Draw Actor functions down, do you have a rough guide as to how many DrawActors can be added before a noticeable lag occurs ? If you or any others have experience with this it would be good to hear. Also, is there any rough limit to the number of commands in a Cscript within a DrawActor?

[HillBilly]

I will check on my vector game. I think I have 20 stationary actors and 15-20 moving animated actors, with about 8 draw actors (active count variables) and I am getting about 25 fps.

On a game with nothing but a draw actor frame count (just a counter nothing else) I can get about 28-32 fps, so it takes about 5 fps of my cpu time to do this stuff above.

[akhad]

That sounds promising. 25 fps would be the magic number to achieve on GP2X for me. Do the contents of the DrawActor routine vary the frame rate? i.e a DrawActor that simply checks the objects Y position compared to a DrawActor that checks the collision state of 30 other actors and adjusts their angle using Real numbers ( A bit extreme but you get the idea)

[HillBilly]

I messed up. The VECTORGAME file I forgot to map the keys to the GP2X. I will post a corrected file tonight.

I agree if you can keep the frame rate above 25 it is great, under that it you start to see lag. If you keep your games clean I think you will like Game Editor on the GP2X. I sent a PM Mak to see if he can make a frame skip option, if he can that whould fix the limitations that we have now.


As far as the Draw Actors, the more you have them do the more CPU time you use since it does it on every frame. Another idea would be to have a Draw Actor option that is only preformed every 5 frames or so, that would save alot of CPU time.

Physical Responce burns alot of CPU also, but it is a great feature.

I think you will be happy with GE.

Also unless it has been changed, regestered versions of GE can not load the demo GED files, so we can not make a GP2X file from a demo version.