huh, a lot of questions.
durnurd has shown me how to import the sprites you mentioned. these are quite cool. i don't think this possibility was mentioned in the help files, so it would be very good if you could update the help on this topic.
i don't need a tut which explains this behaviours, because the rules are easy to read and are as good as a tut.
i am happy that you are willing to write further tutorials, even if it takes you a few weeks. but the semester ends late january, so i would be more happy if there were more script code to examine. i agree with you that i can learn faster from existing scripts. what's more, if writing tuts is all what you keeps from releasing a new beta, then i would prefer to have the beta first without the tuts.
if you ask me, put your time into development of enemies instead of tutorials teaching the same, but do cost you much more time.
i can imagine monster birds, which are fluttering around at one point till the player is near, and then do a nose dive to attack him. the same with some animals which are grazing on the ground.
as i tried out the cannons, i saw they do fire when the game starts. as a scripting newbie i realized that there is a parameter called fire, but failed to make the cannon fire whenever the player gets near. (actually, i thougt about this problem, but didn't made an attempt to solve it and kept it for future spare time)
i could imagine these script examples:
- fire a few times one after another, pause a few seconds, repeat
- only fire if the player is near (specified range)
- cannon changes its state by itself towards the player (f. e. a cannon on the plain ground runs through the stats left, upleft, up, upright and right, when the player is flying from left to right over the screen. astriction: the cannon is not allowed to run through all states. some are always blocked from solid which the cannon stays on. exept it's a space cannon flying freely through space.)
- combination of cannonball and other enemy: the cannonball/enemy is fired, then lands somewhere because of the gravity. at this place it proceeds its normal enemy behaviour.
and now.... i tell you what i have imagined and dreamed of since i thougth about to start this project. it is sure very complex. it is also not necessary for my project. look at the pics.
the guys with the ball chain-like neck and legs can move really cool around, since these chains are a good method to enlarge a sprite, its outreach, and smooth its movements.
the dragon tank is made of several elements. you have to defeat each of them all to win. with these two techniques one could make so large and distinctive enemies, it would be... so amazing.