Just wanted to know if there is a limit on the amount of Atlases we can have? I've currently got 6 ans think I might need 7 or 8 to finish the graphics, is that okay? Is there a limit warning? Thanks.
I'm on my first project so its probably best someone else will answer this. Also, my game has a very minimal graphics style. Nothing huge actually. I realized that with 4 atlases and more, the older devices are already having problems (iPhone 4s and back). This obviously is mixed with how many animations and effects are going on at the same time but also on how many atlases the game has to access. As you probably know, there is no easy way to manually move the images in the atlas. It is possible that graphics from the first level are moved to the last atlas where all graphics from the menu UI or the last level are (or vice versa). Very annoying actually. So it always is best to keep it down the most you can. Most of the released Buildbox games have 1 or 2 atlases (correct me if I'm wrong). I personally wouldn't make my game to have more than 4. I think Sean said this also once in the old forum.
@Christoph Sean had said 4-7 is optimal in another thread: https://www.buildbox.com/forum/inde...ssy-roads-be-built-with-buildbox.74/#post-395
@Phill Mason Im sure you're aware of this, but just in case... Be vigilant about manually deleting extra un-needed images in your atlases wasting space. Especially if you're starting to accumulate so many atlases. No matter what I do, "Remove Unused Image Objects" / "Rebuild Atlas" / "Optimize Atlas" / etc., I am constantly finding duplicate images of objects I have imported into my projects and since removed.
Thanks @Christoph, @stevinz, all good advice, cheers. I've also noticed duplicate images on the atlases, even after a good optimizing session. Something not working quite right there. I've definitely got some graphics that could be downsized and re-imported, hopefully that'll bring down the atlas count a little.
Most likely you have dragged them into BB multiple times. Instead to reuse graphics you can select existing objects from the animation editor instead.
I realize I should add a reply to your original post as well... 7 or 8 would be max, but not that great. It will run slow on low power iOS and Android devices. With a Buildbox 1.x game most can be done in 1 or 2 atlases at most, which will give you the best performance. I've never seen a 5+ atlas game that could not be optimized and improved from an atlas perspective. Of course if you want to for example throw in many full screen hires/hicolor graphics you have to step back and ask... Is it really necessary? Does it add any gameplay value? How can I achieve the same effect in a different way? Games with 20+ atlases will run fine on the desktop, but for mobile you have to consider the impact of what you are doing.
At first I hated that Buildbox loaded the entire game into memory but now I'm quite fond of it because I know that the game won't crash due to loading of assets at runtime, though the latest code to load defeated sound effects accounts for 80% of my crashes so I'm making a bare bones BB file to help isolate the issue. I'd recommend designing your game up front with 1 to 2 (or even 1.5 atlases) and don't exceed 3.5 atlases. If you have thousands of level objects you probably can't get away with a lot of atlases btw
I think i just have to make my assets smaller outside bb and then remake my game from scratch with smaller assets that will be used at 1:1 scale when dragged into bb.
Searching the forum for "optimize", "atlass", "atlasses". And yes, the first thing you have to do is use everything with a 1:1 ratio. Don't downscale at all.
Go to View > Atlases and Optimize and Rebuild + Go to Tools and Remove Unused as needed the appropriate Objects. Also ensure your images are the exact size for the game and not being resized via Scale.
