Stencyl

Stencyl is a game creation platform (Game Engine) that allows users to create 2D video games for computers, mobile devices, and the web. The software is available for free, with select publishing options available for purchase.[2] The software was originally called "StencylWorks" while in development and for the initial release, but was later shortened to just "Stencyl". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stencyl

http://stencyl.com/

Background info

• code interface mimics Scratch
• http://www.slant.co/topics/341/viewpoints/10/~what-are-the-best-2d-game-engines~stencyl
• http://www.gamefromscratch.com/post/2015/07/20/A-Closer-Look-At-Stencyl.aspx
  • An Actor is basically any game entity that isn't a tile. So your main character, your main menu, a high score widget and enemy sprites may all be actors. As you will see, the interface for actors is remarkably similar to Scenes
    • Actors can be put in Groups which helps with generalized behavior.
  • Basically Scene is your game level and Stencyl provides a complete and comprehensive level editor with most of the required tools for placement, physics, etc. You will notice at this point that Stencyl is highly configured for creation of 2D tile based games and if your game doesn't fit this description, Stencyl becomes less and less useful.
  • The Scene editor (shown above) enables you to paint scenes using tiles for a tileset, or to place your various actors within the world. The editor supports multiple layers of tiles with various blending modes available.
  • There are several pre-defined behaviors and more you can download from Stencyl Forge.
• samples http://www.stencyl.com/game/showcaseMobile/
• crash course (Getting Started) http://www.stencyl.com/help/view/crash-course/

== Trying Sept'2015 esp to build Mobile game ==

Getting started

• Sept29'2015 move stencylworks folder from /billseitz/ to /billseitz/documents/stencylworks/ http://www.stencyl.com/help/view/showstoppers/
• Sept30 launch Stencyl, click on Crash Course to Create Game. Get java error.
  • try increase memory to 9999, doesn't help http://www.stencyl.com/help/viewArticle/137/0
  • make alias to Xcode.app because it's sitting in Developer/Applications instead of billseitz/Applications - still doesn't help http://community.stencyl.com/index.php?topic=42601.0
  • realize I have build 8449, download fresh 8678.
  • now it won't launch at all: icon zooms like it's starting but nothing else happens.
  • Console shows 9/30/15 4:45:24.527 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[160]: (com.stencyl.Stencyl.72544[72513]) Exited with code: 1
  • Is it the Java version?
    • downloaded Java 6 - no change, same msg in Console. (How do I know which Java it's using?)
  • try launching from command-line: java -jar sw.jar gives

 Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: stencyl/sw/Launcher : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)```
  * try at command-line: `java -version` 

java version "1.6.0_65" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_65-b14-468-11M4833) Java [HotSpot] 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.65-b04-468, mixed mode)```

• duh that previous forum post was from Feb'2014, suggesting to use Java6 instead of Java7. But now Stencyl supposedly support Java8.
• posted to forum
• need to download Java v8. Now launches.

Oct08 stepping through Crash Course

• Oct11 have finished. Still does very little, and smells like an awful lot of work was pre-loaded before starting.
  • ah, the 2nd crash course starts you from scratch
• The best way to learn how to develop games is by digging into other people’s projects, so once you’ve finished with Crash Course you can download some of the many other available examples and even use them as a base for your own project. Alongside any resource you download you’ll find its usage license, and there’s no shame whatsoever in using a Creative Commons license.
  • samples to start easily

Nov07 steps in that 2nd Crash Course

• start new (Blank) game, set screen size
• create Actor Types (classes)
  • animation for each state, then import images for the frames of the animation
• then its basic physics - can it move, rotate; is it affected by Gravity? Then heaviness, material, damping, etc.
• then define collision-groups among various Actor-Types
• create more Actor-Types within the various Groups
• import sounds
• create the Scene