Hello ^_^
I have some general questions about objects, and it would be great if you could help me out (or point me to previous threads if I missed it them my search):
1) I was planning on making objects out of the edges of walkbehind areas in order to have nice anti-aliased edges (I'm using 32bit colour), and I was wondering about the size vs. number of objects issue.Ã, I know that too large of an object, or too many objects, can both cause slow down, but which one is more of a concern?Ã, ie. should I break up the edges into several small objects, or make only a few larger objects?Ã, Some of my backgrounds will be scrolling backgrounds, if this makes a difference.
2) As a followup to the previous question, what is considered a "large object"?Ã, Is a sprite that is 250x5 considered as "large" as a sprite that is 50x25?Ã, Also, does the number of colours in the sprite make a difference in this regard?
3) Is the maximum number of objects in a room still 20?Ã, That's what is stated in the manual, but I thought I read in a thread that more are allowed... or am I confusing this with the maximum number of sprites?
Thanks for your time ^_^
I wouldn't worry too much about these things - just create them the easiest way you can. You can always break them up later if performance is a problem.
But to answer your question, it's all about the area of the object. So a 250x5 is the same as a 50x25, or 10 25x5 objects. The number of colours is irrelevant. It may be slightly faster if the alpha is 0 or 255. If the BG is scrolling the area of the visible portion of the object is all that matters.
Thanks for the speedy response! ^_^
So, to clarify: it doesn't really make a difference whether I make the edges as one large object or several small objects, because the number of pixels is the same either way?
Well, you could fit smaller boxes along curves and diagonals of edges, then the main solid part could be a real walkbehind rather than objects.
It all comes down to the pixel count, yes.
Thanks, good to know ^_^