A quick backdrop is used to fill up the background of your level. It's quite easy to use, you
right-click, insert object, and choose 'quick backdrop'. Originally it's just one colour
which you can stretch out by selecting it and dragging, but it's a bit boring. If you
go to where it says 'type' you can choose gradient, which is a bit more interesting,
quite flashy looking, if you're doing a side-view game you might use this to make a sky backdrop,
for example... that sort of thing, but the one I'm going to use for this game is a sand
texture. To do this, go to 'Type' and choose 'Motif'. This makes it so that it's just a
picture that's repeated over and over again, a bit like a texture in say... Hammer. Click
'Edit', to edit it, and draw the picture that you want repeated. I'll just do this quickly.
Lovely sand texture, obviously you'll spend more time on it than I will... okay, and there
you go. A nice sand texture. And that's pretty much what a quick backdrop does. You can have
multiple ones in the level, but I'm just going to leave it with one for now.
A backdrop object is like an active object, but with just one frame of animation. And
it can't move or anything like that. It's just simpler to use. So right-click on the
backdrop somewhere, 'Insert Object' and choose 'Backdrop'. This can be used to add more detail
to the quick-backdrop, say... you want some small rocks, you can draw some small rocks
here, obviously better looking than the ones I'm drawing right now, add them around the
place a bit, and that's about it for the backdrop object.
If you want things to bounce OFF the backdrop object, you know, to stop bullets, to stop
people walking through them, select the backdrop and go to the 'Runtime Options' tab. Here
you'll see 'Collisions', 'Obstacle Type' 'None'. Click on 'None', and choose 'Obstacle'. But
that isn't enough, as you can see here, they're still running through them. To stop this,
go into the 'Event Editor', right-click on 'New Condition', when the enemy (Right-click
on the enemy), 'Collisions', 'Backdrop', make the enemy bounce. There we go. So with this,
you can make walls and cliffs and things that they can't run through. If you want bullets
to be destroyed when they hit the backdrop, it's quite similar, right-click on 'New Condition',
right-click on the bullet, collisions, backdrop. Go across to where the bullet is, right-click,
'Destroy'. You won't be able to shoot through rocks now. If you don't want your person to
be able to run through them, right-click on 'New Condition', your person, 'Collisions',
'Backdrop', go across to your person, 'Movement', 'Stop'. This option will only be available
if your person can be controlled with the keys. If you haven't done the first tutorial
that I've made on this program, you won't be able to do this stage. Same with the enemy.
You have to have your person's movement set to one of these, and not 'Static'. And that
just about covers the entire tutorial. I hope this helps.
The last collision we're going to do is between your person, and the enemy. Now, later on
I'll make it so that you lose health and everything, but for now we're just going to make it so
that they bounce off you, and you get stopped. To do this, go to the 'Event Editor', right-click
on 'New Condition', right-click on either the enemy or you, it doesn't matter, 'Collisions',
'Another Object', choose the enemy, go across to your character, now, you could destroy
yourself at this point if you want, but I'm going to choose 'Movement' 'Stop', and for
the enemy I'm going to choose 'Movement' 'Bounce'. Play the game. There. They now bounce off
you. There you have it, the game is more complex now, obviously it's still simple, but it's
getting there. Have fun.