So, now one may win or lose (at last). Main menu with instructions added.
Still lags in Chrome. Any suggestions of how to spot what exactly causes lags? What debug features may help me in this? (I’ve already checked release version).
My suggestion would be to use the web profiler on when building and running from within the editor and look at things such as draw calls (in the right column named counters). Note that the web profiler doesn’t work for HTML5, but running it against a desktop build will at least give you an idea of the resource counters of your project, with draw calls being of interest since many draw calls will have a negative impact on performance.
You can also try the visual profiler for HTML5 to get an idea of where you’re spending your time. The visual profiler is harder to read since it fluctuates a lot.
There is probably also some HTML5/webgl profiler tools that can be used but I’m not sure which ones… 
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Here is the progress with debuging (no progress, actually):
Didn’t find anything interesting with web profiler. Everything seems ok. Am I right that mem usage shows memory usage in bytes?
Screens of web profiler
https://i.gyazo.com/78cb6c8b5be39069b0db0d3519106e06.png
https://i.gyazo.com/e2d190dfd4c8b483c19eb7eb9219bf29.png
Versions with visual profiler enabled:
https://denischera.com/debug/ - orthgraphic render script
https://denischera.com/debug2/ - default render script
Screens of web profiler
It seems that in Chrome “render” and “render script” (“engine” also) are different from Firefox ones. So I tried to return default render script but that doesn’t help.
Also, GameObject field differs a lot. # ~50-90 in Chrome and ~1-5 in Firefox. What could this mean?
So, maybe someone may guide me with some further steps? Thanks!
Hmm. yeah. not sure what’s going on with the huge difference between Chrome and Firefox. You are using a release build right? You have 14 draw calls for something that should only require 2 or 3 draw calls. On web you want to minimise draw calls as much as possible. Have you read this post?
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Release build, yes. 14 draw calls - mainly, that’s because I don’t use layers for GUI. Build with no GUI and no turrets, but still lags (but actually this build is little bit smoother).
I’ve deleted all the extensions - still lags. Deleted all the game objects 1. except the turrets 2. Except the mobs - still lags. So, maybe something’s wrong with the way I use images and atlases?
I don’t use tiles. I have 7 atlases:
- Background and light
- HP bar
- Mob1
- Mob2
- Reactor
- Turrets
- Laser
Now I realise that this is too much but may this cause lags in Chrome? I didn’t test it with fewer atlases yet. So, should I rebuild my image structure or this amount of atlases can’t cause lags and everything’s fine?
You want to aim for as few atlases as possible while maintaining an atlas size below 4096x4096 pixels. There’s a discussion on atlas sizes in another post. You might want to consider using 2048x2048 atlases but it depends on your target group of users. I’d say 4096x4096 is good since it is handled by almost all existing hardware today.
2 Likes
Okay, now I have only one atlas for all images and also one tilemap for background with one huge tile (is this ok? Or one should use tiles as tiny as possible?). I’ve deleted GUI for testing (background also). Now I have only 3 draw calls. Now Chrome lags at first but then (make window of Chrome not fullscreen and then again fullscreen helps) - everything seems fine.
Build without GUI and background.
Here are results with extensions and all the code I’ve wrote:
But build with GUI and background still lags. I need to optimize my GUI.
Adding the gui should result in two more drawcalls (one for the button bg and one for the text) if you have created your gui properly. You need to use GUI layers to reduce the number of draw calls. This is mentioned in more detail in the post I linked previously.
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Yes, thanks. I’ve used this approach and now I have 6-9 draw calls. But Chrome still lags. Latest build.
One more thing, when I “Build HTML5” from editor - absolutely no lags in Chrome. Absolutely. But if I build with Bundle lags will appear. And yes, I am absolutely sure about release checkbox.
Hate Chrome. 
As it often happens the solution was simple - just one checkbox. Variable Dt 
But variable Dt is causing some funny bugs. For example, now one of the mobs just teleported 4 floors down. Wut?
I have this code for moving mobs:
local p = go.get_position()
-- apply the speed
p.x = p.x + self.speed * dt * self.direction
go.set_position(p)
if p.x >= 204 or p.x <= 39 then
p.y = p.y - 56
self.direction = self.direction*-1
if self.direction == -1 then
sprite.set_hflip("#mob1", true)
sprite.set_hflip("#hp", true)
sprite.set_hflip("#mob2", true)
else
sprite.set_hflip("#mob1", false)
sprite.set_hflip("#hp", false)
sprite.set_hflip("#mob2", false)
end
go.set_position(p)
end
As I can understand, because of the variable Dt is on, if statement of the script is executed several times in a row, not only once. How to avoid this?
One more interesting thing. Because of Variable Dt Chrome version is much more challenging to play now. Any suggestions?
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But will not the p.x check in the first if case evaluate to true multiple times?
Now I have this code in update, so I think the best way will be to add collision object and run this if statement in on message.
Yes, sounds look a good plan.
I’ve made level progression, everything is smooth now in Chrome. But because of Variable Dt(?) Firefox version is really easy to win, but Chrome is not.
Mob’s hp increments in time, something like every 1 seconds add 100 more hps to initial hp (when factory spawns mob). But because of Variable Dt these 2 seconds are not actually 2 seconds as I may guess. The same thing happens with britzl’s timer and with other approach of making timer (like in some tutorial with spawning stars to collect).
Or there is some kinda problem with damage dealing which now works like that: if mob receives collision message from laser, than mob takes damage.
Or math.random behaves differently in Chrome and Firefox? Hm…
Any suggestions how to make Chrome and Firefox versions be the same difficulty?
Intro menu slightly redone:
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You could use os.time() or socket.gettime() to read system time and decouple it from dt. Although dt should be the correct way to solve this problem I think. Or you could use my timer module.
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I’ve checked HP incrementing and os.time(), socket.gettime(). It seems that problem is in damage dealing, not in hp incrementing.
Here is the brief example:
Chrome:
Firefox:
As you may see, in Chrome version mob has passed the whole second floor, but in Firefox not (you also may notice how much hp he has: initial hps for Chrome - 575, for Firefox - 657). It seems that Сhrome processes messages slower and this causing lower hp damage. ~0-1 ms for Firefox, ~2+ ms in Chrome.
I have the following code for damage dealing:
--laser script
function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
if message_id == hash("collision_response") then
msg.post(message.other_id, "do_damage", {damage = self.damage * self.damage })
end
end
--mob script
function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
if message_id == hash("do_damage") then
self.hp = self.hp - message.damage
end
end
If I understand all this thing right, I need to add a timer here? To kinda slow down Firefox to not receive messages too fast. What’s the best way to implement this? I need to send only one message at a time not the bunch of messages.
P.S. Also, the problem is not in the Chrome itself. It’s in the performance of the device and browser. Lower performance = slower message passing = lower hp damage. I’ve added timer to sending messages but this doesn’t work well. It seems that “collision_response” behaves very differently. With timer there can be such a situation that mobs will not be damaged at all for some amount of time. Don’t know what to do with all of this - I just can’t balance the game, because browsers and performance may vary. Really annoying.
Yeah, that’s most likely low FPS issue. You need variable_dt option and rely solely on time markers: count seconds and not messages. Inflict damage each second or half a second.
On slow machines you get fewer frames, fewer messages, hence smaller damage per second.
2 Likes
I would give each laser a collision object set to “trigger”. Match the collision masks and layers so it reacts to the enemies of course, then do the following (untested code).
-- Laser script
function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
if message_id == hash("trigger_response")
if message.enter then
msg.post(message.other_id, "start_damage", {damage = self.damage})
else
msg.post(message.other_id, "end_damage")
end
end
end
-- Enemy script
function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
if message_id == hash("start_damage") then
self.damage = message.damage
elseif message_id == hash("end_damage") then
self.damage = nil
end
end
function update(self, dt)
if self.damage then
self.health = self.health - self.damage * dt
if self.health <= 0 then
-- enemy death code here
end
end
end
You’ll need a bit more than this to cover everything. Upgrades for example. You’ll need to keep a table of all the enemies the laser is hitting—add them to the list on trigger enter and remove them on trigger exit. When the laser is upgraded (damage increased), resend the “start_damage” message with the updated damage to every target enemy. That means you’ll need to keep that list updated when enemies are killed, but I think you’ll get the “trigger_response” exit message when the enemy is deleted, so it may just work.
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Thanks, I’ll check this approach maybe , but now I found how to build the game with release mode actually working. It was not working because of some Native Extensions. More info here.
So, now I can make build running smoothly in Chrome and Firefox.
At last I’ve fixed all the weird performance and balancing stuff. Thanks to everyone who helped me on this forum. Guys, you’re awesome! Final build on itch. Enjoy!