Clicker Game/ Series of NOOB questions

Hey there!

After countless unfinished tries I've decided to try and do my first real (finished) game! I've chosen a clicker game as it should be fairly simple yet still interesting to do. I've also encountered some obstackles (because I'm a noob...duh!) and after much googling decided to post in forums.

I'd like this thread to be a place for all my questions about making a clicker game rather than starting a new one for each question. It also might help other noobs to find their answers in one place instead of searching through hundreds of threads.

Which brings me to my last point! If you're a fellow clicker game maker and a noob, please feel free to use this thread for discussion and to find answers.

Cheers!

So....question no.1

I've already got a rough playable version of my clicker game. Got sme variables, some upgrades and all works nicely. Now I've decided to try and add more layouts. I've made a new layout for Main Menu and added buttons (clickable sprites) to move between layouts. The problem is, when I'm in the secon layout my game in first layout is paused which I don't want. So....how do I do that? How do I keep that other layout running?

My thinking is adding some sort of time tracking that would then tell the game how much time has passed while the layout was inactive and then add generated points to variables accordingly. Am I going in right direction?

When I was playing around making my "Clicker Wizard " I found the Clicker Template on the Scirra store to be well worth the $2.99 it costs. I only used parts of it but it is well laid out and commented and allows you to very easily get your head around the concept. I can't recommend it enough. It will answer most of your questions about storing current data and returning to find it increased accordingly.

As for layouts stopping when you leave them, the above is probably your best route.. but you can also look at the "Persist" behavior built into C2.

Thanks! I wanted to avoid using templates as I was afraid I would end up using something without knowing how it actually works, which I don't want. But if it's really that well commented and easy to understand I'll definitely give it a shot! I can already see some things in it's description that I want to learn and this might be the best way.

Yes, it is very easy to understand. I gutted the heck out of it and have used pieces and parts in several projects.