> Performance test results.

Hi bros, how are you doing?

I've been doing extensive performance tests lately, to test how the game engine handles animations.

I have to perform these tests because Construct 2 (the game engine I use) does not support bone animation and mesh deformation natively. So I am forced to use Spine to do the animations, render them, and then load them frame by frame into the Construct editor.

How does Construct handle this? Short answer: Bad.

When trying to implement what is known as "X-ray" I have to export 2 separate layers. One with background elements, like the hair, and one with the front elements, like the head or the arms. And on the upper layer an object that "cuts" the corresponding section so that you can see what happens "inside" the girl. This makes an animation that uses 240 frames (at 30 fps = 8 seconds of animation) actually requires using 480. Considering that each frame of the animation is ~800Kb, the total for that one animation is almost 400Mb. And, like I said, that SINGLE animation. In addition to this, export or loading the game takes forever even on a preety decent pc (Core i7 7700K - 16Gb ddr4 @3600Mhz)

What happens when trying to run the game?

The first thing I noticed is that it takes a lot longer to load the scene. Once it charges three things can happen.

- Black screen appears and nothing can be seen. The buttons seem to work as they make noise.

- The "Idle" and "Insert" animations work fine but when switching to the "Dischargue" animation the game crashes.

- The image flashes black and white until the game stops responding.

Possible solution.

Avoid using Xray: Then only one animation layer will be needed, without having to overlap elements and saving space. The complete scene with the Xray included could be released separately later. If the performance is adequate, I will probably go for this idea.

Next release date.

If all goes well, in mid-September I will release the game with scene 03. I really don't know how much more this game engine can handle, as adding the scene 03 animations will add about 600mb to the game. Because of this, the "extra" scenes will probably be released separately later.

TL/DR: Animations work bad. Too big for engine. Maybe release separately. Release date September.