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How to make custom shaped holes in terrain

- by Guy Ben-Moshe

So I'm trying to create a game where you fit certain shaped objects into the hole that fits them (similar to the young children's game with different shaped blocks) in Unity 3D. I've encountered a problem, how do I make the holes in the terrain? Or what type of object should I use for making holes in? So far I've tried to make a 3d model in unity by using other cubes and planes, it just doesn't feel right. I guess I need to create a model in another software and import to unity, I don't know any other software I can use. Tips would help.

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Turn-based Strategy Loop

- by Djentleman

I'm working on a strategy game. It's turn-based and card-based (think Dominion-style), done in a client, with eventual AI in the works. I've already implemented almost all of the game logic (methods for calculations and suchlike) and I'm starting to work on the actual game loop. What is the "best" way to implement a game loop in such a game? Should I use a simple "while gameActive" loop that keeps running until gameActive is False, with sections that wait for player input? Or should it be managed through the UI with player actions determining what happens and when? Any help is appreciated. I'm doing it in Python (for now at least) to get my Python skills up a bit, although the language shouldn't matter for this question.

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Slow Firefox Javascript Canvas Performance?

- by jujumbura

As a followup from a previous post, I have been trying to track down some slowdown I am having when drawing a scene using Javascript and the canvas element. I decided to narrow down my focus to a REALLY barebones animation that only clears the canvas and draws a single image, once per-frame. This of course runs silky smooth in Chrome, but it still stutters in Firefox. I added a simple FPS calculator, and indeed it appears that my page is typically getting an FPS in the 50's when running Firefox. This doesn't seem right to me, I must be doing something wrong here. Can anybody see anything I might be doing that is causing this drop in FPS? <!DOCTYPE HTML> <html> <head> </head> <body bgcolor=silver> <canvas id="myCanvas" width="600" height="400"></canvas> <img id="myHexagon" src="Images/Hexagon.png" style="display: none;"> <script> window.requestAnimFrame = (function(callback) { return window.requestAnimationFrame || window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame || window.mozRequestAnimationFrame || window.oRequestAnimationFrame || window.msRequestAnimationFrame || function(callback) { window.setTimeout(callback, 1000 / 60); }; })(); var animX = 0; var frameCounter = 0; var fps = 0; var time = new Date(); function animate() { var canvas = document.getElementById("myCanvas"); var context = canvas.getContext("2d"); context.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height); animX += 1; if (animX == canvas.width) { animX = 0; } var image = document.getElementById("myHexagon"); context.drawImage(image, animX, 128); context.lineWidth=1; context.fillStyle="#000000"; context.lineStyle="#ffffff"; context.font="18px sans-serif"; context.fillText("fps: " + fps, 20, 20); ++frameCounter; var currentTime = new Date(); var elapsedTimeMS = currentTime - time; if (elapsedTimeMS >= 1000) { fps = frameCounter; frameCounter = 0; time = currentTime; } // request new frame requestAnimFrame(function() { animate(); }); } window.onload = function() { animate(); }; </script> </body> </html>

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Starcraft 2 - Third Person Custom Map

- by Norla

I would like to try my hand at creating a custom map in Starcraft 2 that has a third-person camera follow an individual unit. There are a few custom maps that exist with this feature already, so I do know this is possible. What I'm having trouble wrapping my head around are the features that are new to the SC2 map editor that didn't exist in the Warcraft 3 editor. For instance, to do a third-person map, do I need a custom mods file, or can everything be done in the map file? Regardless, is it worth using a mod file? What map settings do I NEED to edit/implement? Which are not necessary, but recommended?

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Level Design V.S. Modeler

- by Ecurbed

From what I understand being a level designer and a character/environment/object/etc Modeler are two different jobs, yet sometimes it feels like a Modeler can also do the job of the level designer. I know this also depends on the scale of the game. For small games maybe they are one and the same, but for bigger games they become two different jobs. I understand a background in some modeling could not hurt when it comes to level design, but the question I have is: Do jobs prefer people who can model for level designing? This way they can kill two birds with one stone and have someone to create the assets and design the level. What is your opinion of the training? Does level design contain skill sets that make them completely different from what a modeler can do, or is this an easy transition for a modeler to become a level designer? Can you be a bad level designer but a good modeler and vice versa?

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Is there a way to use scala with html5?

- by Maik Klein

I want to create a very simple 2d multiplayer browsergame in html5. Something like Scalatron I mainly want to do this to improve my scala skills, the problem is I would have to code the clientside code in javascript and the serverside code in scala. This would result in duplicated code. Another option would be to ignore the html5 part and write it in opengl. But I would still prefer to have a html5 game. I could do this is in javascript, but then it would destroy the whole purpose of learning scala. Is there a way to use scala with html5? Or what would you recommend me to do?

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"Optimal" game loop for 2D side-scroller

- by MrDatabase

Is it possible to describe an "optimal" (in terms of performance) layout for a 2D side-scroller's game loop? In this context the "game loop" takes user input, updates the states of game objects and draws the game objects. For example having a GameObject base class with a deep inheritance hierarchy could be good for maintenance... you can do something like the following: foreach(GameObject g in gameObjects) g.update(); However I think this approach can create performance issues. On the other hand all game objects' data and functions could be global. Which would be a maintenance headache but might be closer to an optimally performing game loop. Any thoughts? I'm interested in practical applications of near optimal game loop structure... even if I get a maintenance headache in exchange for great performance.

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XNA extending the existing Content type

- by Maarten

We are doing a game in XNA that reacts to music. We need to do some offline processing of the music data and therefore we need a custom type containing the Song and some additional data: // Project AudioGameLibrary namespace AudioGameLibrary { public class GameTrack { public Song Song; public string Extra; } } We've added a Content Pipeline extension: // Project GameTrackProcessor namespace GameTrackProcessor { [ContentSerializerRuntimeType("AudioGameLibrary.GameTrack, AudioGameLibrary")] public class GameTrackContent { public SongContent SongContent; public string Extra; } [ContentProcessor(DisplayName = "GameTrack Processor")] public class GameTrackProcessor : ContentProcessor<AudioContent, GameTrackContent> { public GameTrackProcessor(){} public override GameTrackContent Process(AudioContent input, ContentProcessorContext context) { return new GameTrackContent() { SongContent = new SongProcessor().Process(input, context), Extra = "Some extra data" // Here we can do our processing on 'input' }; } } } Both the Library and the Pipeline extension are added to the Game Solution and references are also added. When trying to use this extension to load "gametrack.mp3" we run into problems however: // Project AudioGame protected override void LoadContent() { AudioGameLibrary.GameTrack gameTrack = Content.Load<AudioGameLibrary.GameTrack>("gametrack"); MediaPlayer.Play(gameTrack.Song); } The error message: Error loading "gametrack". File contains Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media.Song but trying to load as AudioGameLibrary.GameTrack. AudioGame contains references to both AudioGameLibrary and GameTrackProcessor. Are we maybe missing other references?

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Entity Type specific updates in entity component system

- by Nathan

I am currently familiarizing myself with the entity component paradigm. For an example, take a collision system, that detects if entities collide and if they do let them explode. So the collision system has to test collision based on the position component and then set the state of those entities to exploding. But what if the "effect" (setting the state to exploding) is different for different entities? For example, a ship fades out while for an asteroid a particle system must be created. Since entities and components are only data, this must happen in some system. The collision system could do it, but then it must switch over the entity type, which in my opinion is a cumbersome and difficult to extend solution. So how do I trigger "entity type dependend" updates on an entity?

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Which data structure should I use for dynamically generated platforms?

- by Joey Green

I'm creating a platform type of game with various types of platforms. Platforms that move, shake, rotate, etc. Multiple types and multiple of each type can be on the screen at once. The platforms will be procedural generated. I'm trying to figure out which of the following would be a better platform system: Pre-allocate all platforms when the scene loads, storing each platform type into different platform type arrays( i.e. regPlatformArray ), and just getting one when I need one. The other option is to allocate and load what I need when my code needs it. The problem with 1 is keeping up with the indices that are in use on screen and which aren't. The problem with 2 is I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how I would store these platforms so that I can call the update/draw methods on them and managing that data structure that holds them. The data structure would constantly be growing and shrinking. It seems there could be too much complexity. I'm using the cocos2d iPhone game engine. Anyways, which option would be best or is there a better option?

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Drawing particles with CPU instead of GPU (XNA)

- by Helix

I'm trying out modifications to the following particle system. http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/sample/particle_3d I have a function such that when I press Space, all the particles have their positions and velocities set to 0. for (int i = 0; i < particles.GetLength(0); i++) { particles[i].Position = Vector3.Zero; particles[i].Velocity = Vector3.Zero; } However, when I press space, the particles are still moving. If I go to FireParticleSystem.cs I can turn settings.Gravity to 0 and the particles stop moving, but the particles are still not being shifted to (0,0,0). As I understand it, the problem lies in the fact that the GPU is processing all the particle positions, and it's calculating where the particles should be based on their initial position, their initial velocity and multiplying by their age. Therefore, all I've been able to do is change the initial position and velocity of particles, but I'm unable to do it on the fly since the GPU is handling everything. I want the CPU to calculate the positions of the particles individually. This is because I will be later implementing some sort of wind to push the particles around. How do I stop the GPU from taking over? I think it's something to do with VertexBuffers and the draw function, but I don't know how to modify it to make it work.

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Alpha blending without depth writing

- by teodron

A recurring problem I get is this one: given two different billboard sets with alpha textures intended to create particle special effects (such as point lights and smoke puffs), rendering them correctly is tedious. The issue arising in this scenario is that there's no way to use depth writing and make certain billboards obey depth information as they appear in front of others that are clearly closer to the camera. I've described the problem on the Ogre forums several times without any suggestions being given (since the application I'm writing uses their engine). What could be done then? sort all individual billboards from different billboard sets to avoid writing the depth and still have nice alpha blended results? If yes, please do point out some resources to start with in the frames of the aforementioned Ogre engine. Any other suggestions are welcome!

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Shader inputs in a general purpose engine

- by dreta

I'm not familiar with SDKs like Unity or UDK that much, so i can't check this offhand. Do general purpose engines allow users to create custom uniform variables? The way i see it, and the way i have implemented it in an engine i'm writing to learn 3D, is that there is a "set" of uniforms provided by the engine and if you want to write a custom shader then you utilize uniforms you need to create a wanted effect. Now, the thing is, first of all i'm not an artist, second of all, i didn't have a chance to create complex scenes yet. So my question is, is it common practice to define variables that the engine provides and only allow the user to work with what they're given? Allowing users to add custom programs and use them where they want is not hard, but i have issues imagining how you'd go about doing the same for uniforms.

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E_INVALIDARG: An invalid parameter was passed to the returning function (-2147024809) when loading a cube texture

- by Boreal

I'm trying to implement a skybox into my engine, and I'm having some trouble loading the image as a cube map. Everything works (but it doesn't look right) if I don't load using an ImageLoadInformation struct in the ShaderResourceView.FromFile() method, but it breaks if I do. I need to, of course, because I need to tell SlimDX to load it as a cubemap. How can I fix this? Here is my new loading code after the "fix": public static void LoadCubeTexture(string filename) { ImageLoadInformation loadInfo = ImageLoadInformation.FromDefaults(); loadInfo.OptionFlags = ResourceOptionFlags.TextureCube; textures.Add(filename, ShaderResourceView.FromFile(Graphics.device, "Resources/" + filename, loadInfo)); }

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Where can I buy freely redistributable (creative commons) game assets?

- by Erlend

I'd like to know about any 3D asset shops out there that specialize in game assets and, most importantly, license their assets under an open license like Creative Commons or similarly permissive. We are looking to buy some professional looking assets for use and redistribution with our open source 3D game engine. The problem is that all the commercial 3D assets we've come by are only sold under very restrictive licenses, which won't allow us to include the models in our code repository (since free code hosting repositories require that all your data, including media, is open source or otherwise copyleft) nor in turn redistribute the assets as part of our downloadable SDK. I realize this sounds like a weak business idea, since users could just buy the asset and start sharing it with everyone. But somehow this has worked for hundreds of WordPress theme shops, so I was hoping maybe someone's trying similar things for commercial game assets.

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How do I detect and handle collisions using a tile property with Slick2D?

- by oracleCreeper

I am trying to set up collision detection in Slick2D based on a tilemap. I currently have two layers on the maps I'm using, a background layer, and a collision layer. The collision layer has a tile with a 'blocked' property, painted over the areas the player can't walk on. I have looked through the Slick documentation, but do not understand how to read a tile property and use it as a flag for collision detection. My method of 'moving' the player is somewhat different, and might affect how collisions are handled. Instead of updating the player's location on the window, the player always stays in the same spot, updating the x and y the map is rendered at. I am working on collisions with objects by restricting the player's movement when its hitbox intersects an object's hitbox. The code for the player hitting the right side of an object, for example, would look like this: if(Player.bounds.intersects(object.bounds)&&(Player.x<=(object.x+object.width+0.5))&&Player.isMovingLeft){ isInCollision=true; level.moveMapRight(); } else if(Player.bounds.intersects(object.bounds)&&(Player.x<=(object.x+object.width+0.5))&&Player.isMovingRight){ isInCollision=true; level.moveMapRight(); } else if(Player.bounds.intersects(object.bounds)&&(Player.x<=(object.x+object.width+0.5))&&Player.isMovingUp){ isInCollision=true; level.moveMapRight(); } else if(Player.bounds.intersects(object.bounds)&&(Player.x<=(object.x+object.width+0.5))&&Player.isMovingDown){ isInCollision=true; level.moveMapRight(); } and in the level's update code: if(!Player.isInCollision) Player.manageMovementInput(map, i); However, this method still has some errors. For example, when hitting the object from the right, the player will move up and to the left, clipping through the object and becoming stuck inside its hitbox. If there is a more effective way of handling this, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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How do I implement a Bullet Physics CollisionObject that represents my cube like terrain?

- by Byte56

I've successfully integrated the Bullet Physics library into my entity/component system. Entities can collide with each other. Now I need to enable them to collide with the terrain, which is finite and cube-like (think InfiniMiner or it's clone Minecraft). I only started using the Bullet Physics library yesterday, so perhaps I'm missing something obvious. So far I've extended the RigidBody class to override the checkCollisionWith(CollisionObject co) function. At the moment it's just a simple check of the origin, not using the other shape. I'll iterate on that later. For now it looks like this: @Override public boolean checkCollideWith(CollisionObject co) { Transform t = new Transform(); co.getWorldTransform(t); if(COLONY.SolidAtPoint(t.origin.x, t.origin.y,t.origin.z)){ return true; } return false; } This works great, as far as detecting when collisions happen. However, this doesn't handle the collision response. It seems that the default collision response is to move the colliding objects outside of each others shapes, possibly their AABBs. At the moment the shape of the terrain is just a box the size of the world. This means the entities that collide with the terrain just shoot away to outside that world size box. So it's clear that I either need to modify the collision response or I need to create a shape that conforms directly to the shape of the terrain. So which option is best and how do I go about implementing it? It should be noted that the terrain is dynamic and frequently modified by the player.

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How to break terrain (in blender) into Chunks for a game engine

- by Red

I've created an island in blender. 2048x2048 blender units. The engine developer wants me to split the terrain into 128x128 "chunks" so that would be 16x16 "chunks" from a top down view. The engine isn't using height maps, in order to allow caves, 3d overhangs, etc. I'm not in charge of the engine, so suggestions about that aren't needed here :/ I just need a good, seamless way to split a terrain mesh into 16x16 pieces without leaving holes. I'm very new to blender, so baby steps are very much welcomed :) Here's a quick render of what i've got so far. I added a plane to show sea level but i've since removed it. http://i.imgur.com/qTsoC.png

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Where do you search/look for game developers for an indie game startup?

- by G.Campos

Hey there I just recently saw stackoverflow had a game dev sister site so here I am, wondering if you experienced fellows know where one can search/look for game developers for an indie game startup? In other words: I have a game idea which I've written down with as much detail as possible (so anyone else can understand how it works) and now I'm looking for a heavy php programmer with whom to pair up in order to go from idea to reality. I'm a front-end/interface designer and an intermediate programmer. I recognize my project requires heavy programming skills which I do not have as of today =) So, what websites, communities or places do you recommend I go look into? Where do good programmers interested in indie games go look for projects if they don't have their own? Thanks in advance G.Campos

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Algorithm to find all tiles within a given radius on staggered isometric map

- by kasztelan

Given staggered isometric map and a start tile what would be the best way to get all surrounding tiles within given radius(middle to middle)? I can get all neighbours of a given tile and distance between each of them without any problems but I'm not sure what path to take after that. This feature will be used quite often (along with A*) so I'd like to avoid unecessary calculations. If it makes any difference I'm using XNA and each tile is 64x32 pixels.

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Calculating angle a segment forms with a ray

- by kr1zz

I am given a point C and a ray r starting there. I know the coordinates (xc, yc) of the point C and the angle theta the ray r forms with the horizontal, theta in (-pi, pi]. I am also given another point P of which I know the coordinates (xp, yp): how do I calculate the angle alpha that the segment CP forms with the ray r, alpha in (-pi, pi]? Some examples follow: I can use the the atan2 function.

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Good baseline size for an A* Search grid?

- by Jo-Herman Haugholt

I'm working on a grid based game/prototype with a continuous open map, and are currently considering what size to make each segment. I've seen some articles mention different sizes, but most of them is really old, so I'm unsure how well they map to the various platforms and performance demands common today. As for the project, it's a hybrid of 2D and 3D, but for path-finding purposes, the majority of searches would be approximately 2D. From a graphics perspective, the minimum segment size would be 64x64 in the XZ plane to minimize loaded segments while ensuring full screen coverage. I figure pathfinding would be an important indicator of maximum practical size.

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Java, two JPanel on JFrame - Settings JPanel, StartMenu JPanel [on hold]

- by Andy Tyurin

There is my first question and I welcome community! I'm making a simple game and have some problems with Start menu. I have three buttons on my JPanel StartMenu and when I click "Settings" button, new JPanel will be open, but I don't know why buttons from StartMenu JPanel appeared in my Settings JPanel. My "Settings" JPanel has one ugly button "Back" in center and ugly grey background. I made some screens to see a problem. Start Menu JPanel when game launched Settings JPanel when button clicked Settings JPanel when mouse was over settings window There is code of StartMenu class: public class StartMenu extends JPanel { private GameButton startGameButton = new GameButton("Start game"); private GameButton settingsGameButton = new GameButton("Settings"); private GameButton exitGameButton = new GameButton("Exit game"); private Image bgImage = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("ru/andydevs/astraLaserForce/bg.png")).getImage(); private int posX; private int posY; final private int WIDTH=(int)Game.SCREEN_DIMENSION.getWidth()/3; final private int HEIGHT=(int)Game.SCREEN_DIMENSION.getHeight()/2; public StartMenu() { setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints(); setSize(new Dimension(WIDTH, HEIGHT)); posX=(int)Game.SCREEN_DIMENSION.getWidth()/2-WIDTH/2; posY=(int)Game.SCREEN_DIMENSION.getHeight()/2-HEIGHT/2; setBounds(posX, posY,WIDTH,HEIGHT); c.ipadx=95; c.ipady=15; c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL; c.insets = new Insets(20,0,0,0); c.gridy=0; add(startGameButton, c); c.gridy=1; c.insets = new Insets(20,0,0,0); System.out.println(settingsGameButton.getWidth()); add(settingsGameButton, c); c.gridy=2; c.insets = new Insets(20,0,0,0); add(exitGameButton, c); settingsGameButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { @Override public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { GameOptionsPanel gop = new GameOptionsPanel(); Game.container.add(gop); Game.container.setComponentZOrder(gop, 0); Game.container.revalidate(); Game.container.repaint(); } }); exitGameButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { @Override public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { Main.currentGame.stop(); } }); } public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { g.drawImage(bgImage,0,0,WIDTH,HEIGHT,null); } } There is code of Settings JPanel public class GameOptionsPanel extends GamePanel { private GameButton backButton = new GameButton("Back"); private GameOptionsPanel that; public GameOptionsPanel() { super((int) (Game.SCREEN_DIMENSION.getWidth()/3), (int) (Game.SCREEN_DIMENSION.getHeight()/2), new Color(50,50,50)); that=this; setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints(); gbc.fill=gbc.HORIZONTAL; add(backButton); backButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { @Override public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { Game.container.remove(that); Game.container.revalidate(); Game.container.repaint(); } }); } } I glad to see some suggestions. Thanks.

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How exactly are textures drawn on faces of cubes?

- by Christian Frantz

Are they drawn from the lower left corner clockwise? I know how triangles are created, I'm not just sure if textures are the same way. The texture on my cube is skewed way off and after playing around with the U,V coordinates, I still can't get it right. //front left bottom corner ok vertices[0] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(0, 0, 0), new Vector2(1, 0))); //front left upper corner vertices[1] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(0, 1, 0), new Vector2(1, 1))); //front right upper corner ok vertices[2] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(1, 1, 0), new Vector2(0, 1))); //front lower right corner vertices[3] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(1, 0, 0), new Vector2(0, 0))); //back left lower corner ok vertices[4] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(0, 0, -1), new Vector2(0, 1))); //back left upper corner vertices[5] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(0, 1, -1), new Vector2(1, 1))); //back right upper corner ok vertices[6] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(1, 1, -1), new Vector2(1, 0))); //back right lower corner vertices[7] = (new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(1, 0, -1), new Vector2(0, 0)));

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How to correctly Dispose a SourceVoice once its finished

- by clamp

i am starting to play a sound with XAudio2 and SourceVoice and once its finished, it should be correctly disposed to not have any leaks. i was expecting it to be something like this: sourceVoice.Start(); sourceVoice.StreamEnd += delegate { if (!sourceVoice.IsDisposed) { sourceVoice.DestroyVoice(); sourceVoice.Dispose(); } }; but that crashes with a read access violation in native code deep in XAudio2.dll which i cant debug.

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