Mipey's Forum Posts

  • Chill pill, Genesys?

    Anyway, Ashley: It is not a matter of efficiency; there are times when I wished I could simply draw a geometric shape (or polygon) instead of having to use a pre-rendered texture. Having the feature I described would be quite a boon for game developers.

    Here are the advantages I can think of:

    • you can update the shape in real time, while a static texture remains the same. Imagine real time graphs! And that is not the only thing you could do in the game.
    • collision checking is easy between geometric primitives, because you can simply solve rather than check for each pixel, where even slightly transparent pixel can throw the alarm bells off.
    • I mentioned transparent pixels... well, static textures, when zoomed in, have these all over the place. There would be no such "dirt" with polygons.
    • low memory footprint. A huge circle (to preserve crispiness) can easily take a good chunk off memory, while a primitive circle would take substantially less (if we draw directly to the visible screen, skipping offscreen). Static texture still retains the same space, even if it is not drawn offscreen.

    Efficiency is not a concern, when it comes to numerous possibilities we can create with these objects.

  • I was wondering if it would be possible to introduce primitives - simple geometric objects such as circle, triangle, square etc. through DX9?

    Basically a feature that would draw the shape as per the supplied instructions (equation, vectors), which would also be compared in the game for collision purposes. So instead of checking for pixels, you check the actual equation that is used to draw the geometric structure. These primitives would also be scaleable - since you're drawing per vector instructions, it would always remain sharp.

    I have little to no clue about programming, DX9 and stuff, so I am wondering if this would be possible. See, all graphics currently are redrawn each frame by reading the supplied texture pixel-by-pixel. What if instead it would draw directly, following supplied instructions? Isn't that what shader effects currently do - alter the texture per instructions?

    Be nice to be able to draw simple geometric shapes and benefit from perfect collision checking!

  • If I understand you right, you want to color pixels within tank sprite differently and use those colors for purposes of collision detection? For that have to check each pixel of the tank sprite, which uses more CPU than multiple sprites.

    Maybe someone can advise you better, though.

  • I'm not from US/UK either, but my English is not that bad. It pays off to practice it

    Anyway, instead of using colour masks, why not use private variables to identify tank parts?

    Like private variable named 'type', on collision check if it is "fuel", "armor", "ammo" etc.

    It might make things easier.

  • Sadist.

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  • Oh, that certainly sets the Christmas mood!

    A few comments...

    • don't forget to thank the person who helped you with game mechanics
    • at the start, I got chain reactions. Maybe make sure there are no chains of 3 at the start? I believe it was covered in the tutorial, but there are other ways, too (like silently removing chains until there are no more)
    • when 3 blocks of the same color spawn at the top row, they are destroyed without the animation.
    • I noticed that sometimes a block suddenly turns into another color

    Keep it up

  • Not related to the topic, but...

    Arima's signature excites me.

  • Projects, exported from Construct to an .exe, can be played on other computers (WinXP and newer), as long as they have August 2008 DX9 (this one doesn't come with default package, so your friends may have to download that package specifically).

  • A GUI plugin could be a cool idea. Mind giving some suggestions on how it could work?

    • buttons
    • checkboxes (also radio)
    • basic frames (window, dialog etc.)
    • dropdown list
    • input field (one line, multi line)

    Those are the basics, I believe, that are lacking in Construct (since the default windows control is wonky in DX9 runtime).

  • Pizza-flavored lobster?

    Awesome.

  • Time pizza is done?

  • Yeah, I suppose only checking "moved" or "freshly spawned" blocks would work, though it doesn't really matter on a 8x8 or even 12x12 board.

  • At this point, it would involve a lot of work, so there aren't really many examples of tile based games. It also has the disadvantage, where displaying many tiny objects (tiles) can slow the game down, if not done properly.

    So, basically it is an unexplored territory. I've dabbled a bit, but right now I am busy with other projects, before I get back to it. My next major game project will be tile based.

    Therefore I suggest that you experiment. Keep experimenting, until you come up with an acceptable solution. There are some others working on tile engines, they may have a few tips.

    The most important thing to note - destroy objects that are offscreen and create them before they come onto screen.

  • Well, you have to take chain and more-than-3 elimination into account. The premise is simple, but execution - especially smooth and failproof - can be a little tricky.

    It can be done with simple condition checking (if a bit slower than array):

    For each block on the field, check if it has any neighboring blocks of the same color. If it finds one, check that block's next neighbor - that is in the same direction. If there is one, mark for demolition. Do this for EACH block on the field.

    Then, once checks are done, start the demolition. Whee! Fireworks! After that, collapse the pieces or whatever and repeat the check, until there are no blocks that meet the condition, then allow the player's input.

    This method has the advantage of streamlining; you can use fancy animations and stuff!

    Pseudo code:

    +For each block

    • Are any of its four neighbors of the same color?
    • Check that block's adjacent block, that is in the same direction

    > Mark these blocks for demolition

    When done checking all blocks, DEMOLISH! Then re-check all blocks until NONE are marked for demolition and wait for player's move.

  • That totally blew my mind.