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  • Designing a game - Where to start?

    - by OghmaOsiris
    A friend of mine and I are planning a game together to work on in our free time. It's not an extensive game, but it's not a simple one either. He's working on the story behind the game while I'm working on the graphics and code. I don't really know where to start with the game. We know what the basic type of game it's going to be and how it would be played, but I'm having a hard time of actually knowing where to begin. I have Xcode open but I don't really even know what I should be designing first. What is some advice for this writer's block? Where is a good place to start with a game? Should I design all the graphics and layout before even touching Xcode? Should I program the things I know I'll have difficulty with first before getting to the easy stuff?

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  • How to determine if a 3D voxel-based room is sealed, efficiently

    - by NigelMan1010
    I've been having some issues with efficiently determining if large rooms are sealed in a voxel-based 3D rooms. I'm at a point where I have tried my hardest to solve the problem without asking for help, but not tried enough to give up, so I'm asking for help. To clarify, sealed being that there are no holes in the room. There are oxygen sealers, which check if the room is sealed, and seal depending on the oxygen input level. Right now, this is how I'm doing it: Starting at the block above the sealer tile (the vent is on the sealer's top face), recursively loop through in all 6 adjacent directions If the adjacent tile is a full, non-vacuum tile, continue through the loop If the adjacent tile is not full, or is a vacuum tile, check if it's adjacent blocks are, recursively. Each time a tile is checked, decrement a counter If the count hits zero, if the last block is adjacent to a vacuum tile, return that the area is unsealed If the count hits zero and the last block is not a vacuum tile, or the recursive loop ends (no vacuum tiles left) before the counter is zero, the area is sealed If the area is not sealed, run the loop again with some changes: Checking adjacent blocks for "breathable air" tile instead of a vacuum tile Instead of using a decrementing counter, continue until no adjacent "breathable air" tiles are found. Once loop is finished, set each checked block to a vacuum tile. Here's the code I'm using: http://pastebin.com/NimyKncC The problem: I'm running this check every 3 seconds, sometimes a sealer will have to loop through hundreds of blocks, and a large world with many oxygen sealers, these multiple recursive loops every few seconds can be very hard on the CPU. I was wondering if anyone with more experience with optimization can give me a hand, or at least point me in the right direction. Thanks a bunch.

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  • UIView with IrrlichtScene - iOS

    - by user1459024
    i have a UIViewController in a Storyboard and want to draw a IrrlichtScene in this View Controller. My Code: WWSViewController.h #import <UIKit/UIKit.h> @interface WWSViewController : UIViewController { IBOutlet UILabel *errorLabel; } @end WWSViewController.mm #import "WWSViewController.h" #include "../../ressources/irrlicht/include/irrlicht.h" using namespace irr; using namespace core; using namespace scene; using namespace video; using namespace io; using namespace gui; @interface WWSViewController () @end @implementation WWSViewController -(void)awakeFromNib { errorLabel = [[UILabel alloc] init]; errorLabel.text = @""; IrrlichtDevice *device = createDevice( video::EDT_OGLES1, dimension2d<u32>(640, 480), 16, false, false, false, 0); /* Set the caption of the window to some nice text. Note that there is an 'L' in front of the string. The Irrlicht Engine uses wide character strings when displaying text. */ device->setWindowCaption(L"Hello World! - Irrlicht Engine Demo"); /* Get a pointer to the VideoDriver, the SceneManager and the graphical user interface environment, so that we do not always have to write device->getVideoDriver(), device->getSceneManager(), or device->getGUIEnvironment(). */ IVideoDriver* driver = device->getVideoDriver(); ISceneManager* smgr = device->getSceneManager(); IGUIEnvironment* guienv = device->getGUIEnvironment(); /* We add a hello world label to the window, using the GUI environment. The text is placed at the position (10,10) as top left corner and (260,22) as lower right corner. */ guienv->addStaticText(L"Hello World! This is the Irrlicht Software renderer!", rect<s32>(10,10,260,22), true); /* To show something interesting, we load a Quake 2 model and display it. We only have to get the Mesh from the Scene Manager with getMesh() and add a SceneNode to display the mesh with addAnimatedMeshSceneNode(). We check the return value of getMesh() to become aware of loading problems and other errors. Instead of writing the filename sydney.md2, it would also be possible to load a Maya object file (.obj), a complete Quake3 map (.bsp) or any other supported file format. By the way, that cool Quake 2 model called sydney was modelled by Brian Collins. */ IAnimatedMesh* mesh = smgr->getMesh("/Users/dbocksteger/Desktop/test/media/sydney.md2"); if (!mesh) { device->drop(); if (!errorLabel) { errorLabel = [[UILabel alloc] init]; } errorLabel.text = @"Konnte Mesh nicht laden."; return; } IAnimatedMeshSceneNode* node = smgr->addAnimatedMeshSceneNode( mesh ); /* To let the mesh look a little bit nicer, we change its material. We disable lighting because we do not have a dynamic light in here, and the mesh would be totally black otherwise. Then we set the frame loop, such that the predefined STAND animation is used. And last, we apply a texture to the mesh. Without it the mesh would be drawn using only a color. */ if (node) { node->setMaterialFlag(EMF_LIGHTING, false); node->setMD2Animation(scene::EMAT_STAND); node->setMaterialTexture( 0, driver->getTexture("/Users/dbocksteger/Desktop/test/media/sydney.bmp") ); } /* To look at the mesh, we place a camera into 3d space at the position (0, 30, -40). The camera looks from there to (0,5,0), which is approximately the place where our md2 model is. */ smgr->addCameraSceneNode(0, vector3df(0,30,-40), vector3df(0,5,0)); /* Ok, now we have set up the scene, lets draw everything: We run the device in a while() loop, until the device does not want to run any more. This would be when the user closes the window or presses ALT+F4 (or whatever keycode closes a window). */ while(device->run()) { /* Anything can be drawn between a beginScene() and an endScene() call. The beginScene() call clears the screen with a color and the depth buffer, if desired. Then we let the Scene Manager and the GUI Environment draw their content. With the endScene() call everything is presented on the screen. */ driver->beginScene(true, true, SColor(255,100,101,140)); smgr->drawAll(); guienv->drawAll(); driver->endScene(); } /* After we are done with the render loop, we have to delete the Irrlicht Device created before with createDevice(). In the Irrlicht Engine, you have to delete all objects you created with a method or function which starts with 'create'. The object is simply deleted by calling ->drop(). See the documentation at irr::IReferenceCounted::drop() for more information. */ device->drop(); } - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib. } - (void)viewDidUnload { [super viewDidUnload]; // Release any retained subviews of the main view. } - (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation { return (interfaceOrientation != UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown); } @end Sadly the result is just a black View in the Simulator. :( Hope here is anyone who can explain me how i draw the scene in a UIView. Furthermore I'm getting this Error: Could not load sprite bank because the file does not exist: #DefaultFont How can i fix it ?

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  • One-way platforms in UDK

    - by Jordaan Mylonas
    I'm looking to make a multi-player platforming game using UDK. I'm currently doing feasibility research, to make sure I will reasonably be able to do all of the technical things I want to do. The first major hurdle I've come across without being able to find as answer, are one-way platforms. That is to say, platforms through which a player can jump up, but not fall through (unless they choose to). These are commonly seen in games like Mario, Kirby and Smash Bros. Does anyone know how such a system would work within UDK? I can think of solutions that might work for single-player, but not multi.

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  • How to deal with animated doors in isometric tiles

    - by George Profenza
    I've got a tricky issue I'm not sure how to tackle best: I have an animated tile of a door. When it's closed it should be sorted one way, but when it's openend it will need to be sorted a different way, as it belonging to a different(neighbouring tile). Here's the door closed: and the door opened: I imagine it would be possible to override the sorting system for such tiles and adjust the sorting based on the frame, but it feels a bit hacky. Has anyone encountered a similar scenario ? Any elegant solutions ?

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  • Sending Graphics to the C drive [on hold]

    - by CodeOfGenius
    I'm trying to create image files on the users' desktop. Let's say i have a picture of an orange in my eclipse workspace in the resource folder. When somebody downloads the project, I want to take that image of an orange and put it in a folder called fruit on their desktop. Whenever i export my game it can't read the images anymore which is wierd so I prefer to try this method. Just like minecraft has its' stuff in %Appdata%, I want to put a folder with my images the game uses on the desktop. There isn't any errors, I'm just asking how do i do this.

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  • What is the difference between Constant Vertex Attributes and Uniforms?

    - by Samaursa
    According to the OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide: A constant vertex attribute is the same for all vertices of a primitive, and therefore only one value needs to be specified for all the vertices of a primitive. For uniforms the book states: ...any parameter to a shader that is constant across either all vertices or fragments (but that is not known at compile time) should be passed in as a uniform. I've always used uniforms for data that is constant for a primitive but now it appears that attributes can also be used in the same way. Is there more to constant vertex attribute than simply 'they are the same as uniforms'?

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  • How can I log key presses in Game Maker?

    - by skeletalmonkey
    I'm trying to create a log of a players actions as they play a game of Spelunky. The easiest I've found to do this is to log what keys are pressed at each frame. What I don't know how to do is how to integrate this with the Game Maker source code of Spelunky. Is there a specific way to create a script that is checked every frame/tick (don't know the right term) and a command to find what buttons are pressed?

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  • The right way to add images to Monogame/Windows

    - by ashes999
    I'm starting out with MonoGame. For now, I'm only targeting Windows (desktop -- not Windows 8 specifically). I've used a couple of XNA products in the past (raw XNA, FlatRedBall, SilverSprite), so I may have a misunderstanding about how I should add images to my content. How do I add images to my project? Currently, I created a new Monogame project, added a folder called "Content," and added images under there; the only caveat is that I need to set the Copy to Output Directory action to one of the Copy ones. It seems strange, because my "raw" XNA project just last week had a Content project in it (XNA Framework Content Pipeline, according to VS2010), which compiled my images to XNB (I think). It seems like Monogame doesn't use the same content pipeline, but I'm not sure. Edit: My question is not about "how do I get the XNA content pipeline to work with Monogame." My question is "why would I want to use the XNA content pipeline in Monogame?" Because there are (at least) two solutions (that I see today): Add the images to the Monogame project and set the Copy to Output Directory options to copy. Add a XNA content pipeline project and add my images to that instead; reference it from my MOnogame project. Which solution should I use, and why? I currently have a working version with the first option.

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  • Avoid overwriting all the methods in the child class

    - by Heckel
    The context I am making a game in C++ using SFML. I have a class that controls what is displayed on the screen (manager on the image below). It has a list of all the things to draw like images, text, etc. To be able to store them in one list I created a Drawable class from which all the other drawable class inherit. The image below represents how I would organize each class. Drawable has a virtual method Draw that will be called by the manager. Image and Text overwrite this method. My problem is that I would like Image::draw method to work for Circle, Polygon, etc. since sf::CircleShape and sf::ConvexShape inherit from sf::Shape. I thought of two ways to do that. My first idea would be for Image to have a pointer on sf::Shape, and the subclasses would make it point onto their sf::CircleShape or sf::ConvexShape classes (Like on the image below). In the Polygon constructor I would write something like ptr_shape = &polygon_shape; This doesn't look very elegant because I have two variables that are, in fact, just one. My second idea is to store the sf::CircleShape and sf::ConvexShape inside the ptr_shape like ptr_shape = new sf::ConvexShape(...); and to use a function that is only in ConvexShape I would cast it like so ((sf::ConvexShape*)ptr_shape)->convex_method(); But that doesn't look very elegant either. I am not even sure I am allowed to do that. My question I added details about the whole thing because I thought that maybe my whole architecture was wrong. I would like to know how I could design my program to be safe without overwriting all the Image methods. I apologize if this question has already been asked; I have no idea what to google.

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  • Adjusting the rate of movement of different objects on the same timer

    - by theUg
    I have a series of objects moving along the straight lines. I want to implement slight changes of velocity of each of the object. Constraint is existing model of animation. I am new to this, and not sure if it is the best way to accommodate varying speeds, but what do I know? It is a Java application that repaints the panel every time the timer expires. Timer is set via swing.Timer object that is set by timer delay constant. Every time the game is stepped objects’ coordinates advanced by an increment constant. Most of the objects are of the same class. Is there fairly easy way to refactor existing system to allow changing velocity for an individual object? Is there some obvious common solution I am not aware about? Idea I am having right now is to set timer delay fairly small, and only move objects every so many cycles of animation so that the apparent speed can be adjusted by varying how often they get moved. But that seems fairly involved, and I do not think it is the most elegant solution in terms of performance what with repainting the whole frame every 3-5 milliseconds. Can it be done by advancing the objects so many (varying) times during the certain interval (let’s say 35ms for something like 28fps), and use repaint() method to redraw just individual object? Do I need to mess with pausing animation for smoothness at higher redraw rates? Is it common practise to check for collision at larger step interval, but draw animation a lot more frequently?

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  • What is the best type of c# timer to use with a Unity game that uses many timers simultaneously?

    - by Kyle Seidlitz
    I am developing a stand-alone 3d game in Unity that will have anywhere from 1 to 200 timers running simultaneously. There will be a GameObject containing 1 timer. For this game timer durations will range from 5 minutes to 4 days. There will not be any countdown displays or any UI for the timers. Each object is a prefab, with all the necessary materials included. An attached script will handle the timer and all the necessary code to change the materials and make any sound effects. Once the timer is expired, the user will then click on the object again, and the object will be destroyed, and the user's inventory will be adjusted. If the user wants to save or end the game before all the timers are done, the start value of the still running timers is to be saved to an XML file such that when the game is started again, any still running timers will be checked to see if they have expired, where the object's materials will be changed appropriately. I am still trying to figure out what type of timer to use, and see also if there are any suggestions for saving and calculating times over several days. What class(es) of timers should I use? Are there any special issues I should look out for in terms of performance?

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  • Animate multiple entities

    - by Robert
    I'm trying to animate multiple(3) entities using one model(IQM format). It's working but performance is really bad because I'm calling animate function for each entity in my game loop (I think problem is there). What's the best way to animate multiple entities (with different animation ofc) in OpenGL? I think I can try build one VBO / entity for better performances but I don't think it's the best way to do it.

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  • converting 2d grid of squares to polygon nav mesh

    - by Roflha
    I haven't actually started programming for this one yet, but I wanted to see how I would go about doing this anyway. Say I have a 2D matrix of squares, all of the same size, some traversable and some not. How would I go about creating a navigation mesh of polygons from this grid. Is there any reading I can look at until I get a chance to get to my computer or should I just give it a go. My idea was to take the non-traversable squares out and extend lines from there edges to make polygons.. that's all I have got so far. Any advice?

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  • This for array colllision function doesn't work with anything but first object in array

    - by Zee Bashew
    For some reason, this simple simple loop is totally broken. (characterSheet is my character Class, it's just a movieClip with some extra functionality) (hitBox, is basically a square movieclip) Anyway: every time hitBox make contact with a characterSheet in a different order than they were created: Nothing happens. The program only seems to be listening to collisions that are made with o2[0]. As soon as another hitBox is created, it pushes the last one out of o2[0] and the last one becomes totally useless. What's super weird is that I can hit characterSheets in any order I like.... public function collisions(o1:Array, o2:Array) { if((o1.lenght>=0)&&(o2.length>=0)){ for (var i = 0; i < o1.length; i++) { var ob1 = o1[i]; for (var f = 0; f < o1.length; f++) { var ob2 = o2[f]; if (ob1 is characterSheet) { if (ob2.hitTestObject(ob1)) { var right:Boolean = true; if (ob1.x < hitBox(ob2).origin.x) right = false; characterSheet(ob1).specialDamage(hitBox(ob2).damageType, hitBox(ob2).damage, right); }}}}}} Also it might be somewhat helpful to see the function for creating a new hitBox public function SpawnHitBox(targeted, following, atype, xoff, yoff, ... args) { var newHitBox = new hitBox(targeted, following, atype, xoff, yoff, args); badCollisionObjects.push(newHitBox); arraydictionary[newHitBox] = badCollisionObjects; addChild(newHitBox); }

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  • Using elapsed time for SlowMo in XNA

    - by Dave Voyles
    I'm trying to create a slow-mo effect in my pong game so that when a player is a button the paddles and ball will suddenly move at a far slower speed. I believe my understanding of the concepts of adjusting the timing in XNA are done, but I'm not sure of how to incorporate it into my design exactly. The updates for my bats (paddles) are done in my Bat.cs class: /// Controls the bat moving up the screen /// </summary> public void MoveUp() { SetPosition(Position + new Vector2(0, -moveSpeed)); } /// <summary> /// Controls the bat moving down the screen /// </summary> public void MoveDown() { SetPosition(Position + new Vector2(0, moveSpeed)); } /// <summary> /// Updates the position of the AI bat, in order to track the ball /// </summary> /// <param name="ball"></param> public virtual void UpdatePosition(Ball ball) { size.X = (int)Position.X; size.Y = (int)Position.Y; } While the rest of my game updates are done in my GameplayScreen.cs class (I'm using the XNA game state management sample) Class GameplayScreen { ........... bool slow; .......... public override void Update(GameTime gameTime, bool otherScreenHasFocus, bool coveredByOtherScreen) base.Update(gameTime, otherScreenHasFocus, false); if (IsActive) { // SlowMo Stuff Elapsed = (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalSeconds; if (Slowmo) Elapsed *= .8f; MoveTimer += Elapsed; double elapsedTime = gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalMilliseconds; if (Keyboard.GetState().IsKeyDown(Keys.Up)) slow = true; else if (Keyboard.GetState().IsKeyDown(Keys.Down)) slow = false; if (slow == true) elapsedTime *= .1f; // Updating bat position leftBat.UpdatePosition(ball); rightBat.UpdatePosition(ball); // Updating the ball position ball.UpdatePosition(); and finally my fixed time step is declared in the constructor of my Game1.cs Class: /// <summary> /// The main game constructor. /// </summary> public Game1() { IsFixedTimeStep = slow = false; } So my question is: Where do I place the MoveTimer or elapsedTime, so that my bat will slow down accordingly?

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  • Tiled Editor: How is this Map Handling Collision?

    - by user2736286
    BrowserQuest map in question. From what I understand, with tiled, there are two main ways to specify collision: Create an object layer, and interpret the shapes in the engine as collision objects. Create a tiled layer, and make all tiles in the layer have a collision property, and interpret all tiles in the layer as collision objects. I'm using BrowserQuest as a big source of inspiration for my project, and I want to know how they handled collision on the level editing side. I've checked through all their layers, expecting an object layer to be handling cliff collision like: But there are no such object layers to be found. Furthermore, the tile layers containing the tiles for such cliffs have no properties at all, meaning that they didn't just specify "collision" for such tile layers. I especially need to know how they handled less rectangular shapes like: I could imagine that they are not using explicit collision layers, but instead determining collision in the actual engine, based off the presence of specific tile layer sprites. Only because BrowserQuest has whole-tile movement, and it wouldn't look too odd if a small apple, taking up only a fraction of the tile size, prevents movement over that entire tile. But I'm creating a game with more precise movement, so collision has to be tight to the apple, and I really want to know how BrowserQuest approached collision defining. If anyone knowledgeable with Tiled could take a quick look at the map, I'd appreciate it! I'm tearing my hair out here :). Thanks

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  • Dynamic model interactions

    - by Richard
    I am just curious as to how in many games (namely games like arkham asylum/city, manhunt, hitman) do they make it so that your character can "grab" a character in front of you and do stuff to them. I know this may sound very confusing but for an example go to youtube and search "hitman executions", and the first video is an example of what i'm asking. Basically I'm wondering how they make your model dynamically interact with whatever other model you come across, so in hitman when you come up behind some one with the fibre wire you strangle the other character or if you have the anesthetic you come up behind some person and put your hand over there mouth while they struggle and slowly go to the floor where you lay them down. I am confused as to whether it was animated to use two models using specific bone/skeletal identifiers, if it is just two completely separate animations that are played at the correct time to make it look like they are actually interacting or something else all together. I am not an animator so i assume most of what i just said is not right but i hope that some one can understand what i mean and provide an answer. PS) I am a programmer and I am in the process of building a hitmanesque game, just because i love that style of game and I want to increase my skills on something fun, so if you do know what i'm talking about have some examples with involving both models and programming (i use c++ and mainly Ogre3D at the moment but i am getting into unity and XNA) i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

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  • Initial direction of intersection between two moving vehicles?

    - by Larolaro
    I'm working with a bit of projectile prediction for my AI and I'm looking for some ideas, any input? If a blue vehicle is moving in a direction at a constant speed of X m/s and a stationary orange vehicle has a rocket that travels Y m/s, which initial direction would the orange vehicle have to fire the rocket for it to hit the blue vehicle at the earliest time in the future? Thanks for reading!

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  • Confusion about Rotation matrices from Euler Angles

    - by xEnOn
    I am trying to learn more about Euler Angles so as to help myself in understanding how I can control my camera better in the game. I came across the following formula that converts Euler Angles to rotation matrices: In the equation, I could see that the first matrix from the left is the rotation matrix about x-axis, the second is about y-axis and the third is about z-axis. From my understanding about ordinary matrix transformations, the later transformation is always applied to the right hand side. And if I'm right about this, then the above equation should have a rotation order starting from rotating about z-axis, y-axis, then finally x-axis. But, from the symbols it seems that the rotation order start rotating about x-axis, then y-axis, then finally z-axis. What should the actual order of the rotation be? Also, I am confuse about if the input vector, in this case, would be a row vector on the left, or a column vector on the right?

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  • Choosing a mobile advertising mediator over going it alone

    - by Notbad
    We have finished our first game for IOS/Android. We would like to give it away adding ads to it. I have been reading a lot about the subject but it is a bit overwhelming for starters. From what I read, it seems there are some important points to have into consideration: 1) Do as much localization as you can (target your audience with ads they could be interested for the zone they live in). 2) Do not over advertise in your application. At this moment we have decided to go with AdMob. It seems an easy option to setup for beginners and have a good set of ad networks. My question is, will we earn less for example for iAds using adMob than implementing iAds without a mediator? Are adMob paying less than others (this is what I remember for some artilces I read)?. It would be nice to hear from people with experience on this to let us light our way a bit.

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  • Draw Cards and Eliminate Cards Problem

    - by Jen
    I am having a problem in this question. I want a system inside a game wherein the player draws 2 cards randomly, and the enemy draws 2 cards randomly. Then, what the program does is to print out to the console the cards the player draw and the enemy's. The cards should not conflict and must not be the same. Then lastly, the program prints out the card that was not drawn by both the player and the enemy. Here's how I did it but it was lengthy and full of errors: import java.util.Random; public class Draw { public static Random random = new Random(); public static String cards[] = {"Hall", "Kitchen", "Billiard", "Study", "Pool"}; public static int playercounter; public static int enemycounter; public static String playercardA = null; public static String playercardB = null; public static String enemycardA = null; public static String enemycardB = null; public String lastcard = null; public static void playercardAdraw() { playercounter = random.nextInt(5); playercardA = cards[playercounter]; } public static void playercardBdraw() { playercounter=random.nextInt(5); playercardB= cards[playercounter]; if (playercardB==playercardA || playercardB == enemycardA || playercardB == enemycardB) { return; } } public static void enemycardAdraw () { enemycounter = random.nextInt(5); enemycardA=cards[enemycounter]; if (enemycardA == playercardA || enemycardA == playercardB) { return; } } public static void enemycardBdraw () { enemycounter = random.nextInt(5); enemycardB=cards[enemycounter]; if (enemycardB == playercardA || enemycardB == playercardB || enemycardB == enemycardA) { return; } } public static void main (String args []) { System.out.println("Starting to draw..."); System.out.println("Player's Turn: "); playercardAdraw(); System.out.println("Player's first card: " + playercardA); playercardBdraw(); System.out.println("Player's second card: " + playercardB); System.out.println("Enemy's Turn: "); enemycardAdraw(); System.out.println("Enemy's first card: " + enemycardA); enemycardBdraw(); System.out.println("Enemy's Second card: " + enemycardB); } }

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  • How does Minecraft render its sunset and sky?

    - by Nick
    In Minecraft, the sunset looks really beautiful and I've always wanted to know how they do it. Do they use several skyboxes rendered over eachother? That is, one for the sky (which can turn dark and light depending on the time of the day), one for the sun and moon, and one for the orange horizon effect? I was hoping someone could enlighten me... I wish I could enter wireframe or something like that but as far as I know that is not possible.

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  • Why do I get an exception when playing multiple sound instances?

    - by Boreal
    Right now, I'm adding a rudimentary sound engine to my game. So far, I am able to load in a WAV file and play it once, then free up the memory when I close the game. However, the game crashes with a nice ArgumentOutOfBoundsException when I try to play another sound instance. Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. Parameter name: readLength I'm following this tutorial pretty much exactly, but I still keep getting the aforementioned error. Here's my sound-related code. /// <summary> /// Manages all sound instances. /// </summary> public static class Audio { static XAudio2 device; static MasteringVoice master; static List<SoundInstance> instances; /// <summary> /// The XAudio2 device. /// </summary> internal static XAudio2 Device { get { return device; } } /// <summary> /// Initializes the audio device and master track. /// </summary> internal static void Initialize() { device = new XAudio2(); master = new MasteringVoice(device); instances = new List<SoundInstance>(); } /// <summary> /// Releases all XA2 resources. /// </summary> internal static void Shutdown() { foreach(SoundInstance i in instances) i.Dispose(); master.Dispose(); device.Dispose(); } /// <summary> /// Registers a sound instance with the system. /// </summary> /// <param name="instance">Sound instance</param> internal static void AddInstance(SoundInstance instance) { instances.Add(instance); } /// <summary> /// Disposes any sound instance that has stopped playing. /// </summary> internal static void Update() { List<SoundInstance> temp = new List<SoundInstance>(instances); foreach(SoundInstance i in temp) if(!i.Playing) { i.Dispose(); instances.Remove(i); } } } /// <summary> /// Loads sounds from various files. /// </summary> internal class SoundLoader { /// <summary> /// Loads a .wav sound file. /// </summary> /// <param name="format">The decoded format will be sent here</param> /// <param name="buffer">The data will be sent here</param> /// <param name="soundName">The path to the WAV file</param> internal static void LoadWAV(out WaveFormat format, out AudioBuffer buffer, string soundName) { WaveStream wave = new WaveStream(soundName); format = wave.Format; buffer = new AudioBuffer(); buffer.AudioData = wave; buffer.AudioBytes = (int)wave.Length; buffer.Flags = BufferFlags.EndOfStream; } } /// <summary> /// Manages the data for a single sound. /// </summary> public class Sound : IAsset { WaveFormat format; AudioBuffer buffer; /// <summary> /// Loads a sound from a file. /// </summary> /// <param name="soundName">The path to the sound file</param> /// <returns>Whether the sound loaded successfully</returns> public bool Load(string soundName) { if(soundName.EndsWith(".wav")) SoundLoader.LoadWAV(out format, out buffer, soundName); else return false; return true; } /// <summary> /// Plays the sound. /// </summary> public void Play() { Audio.AddInstance(new SoundInstance(format, buffer)); } /// <summary> /// Unloads the sound from memory. /// </summary> public void Unload() { buffer.Dispose(); } } /// <summary> /// Manages a single sound instance. /// </summary> public class SoundInstance { SourceVoice source; bool playing; /// <summary> /// Whether the sound is currently playing. /// </summary> public bool Playing { get { return playing; } } /// <summary> /// Starts a new instance of a sound. /// </summary> /// <param name="format">Format of the sound</param> /// <param name="buffer">Buffer holding sound data</param> internal SoundInstance(WaveFormat format, AudioBuffer buffer) { source = new SourceVoice(Audio.Device, format); source.BufferEnd += (s, e) => playing = false; source.Start(); source.SubmitSourceBuffer(buffer); // THIS IS WHERE THE EXCEPTION IS THROWN playing = true; } /// <summary> /// Releases memory used by the instance. /// </summary> internal void Dispose() { source.Dispose(); } } The exception occurs on line 156 when I am playing the sound: source.SubmitSourceBuffer(buffer);

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  • Understanding IDAT chunk of PNG file format

    - by DRapp
    From the sample image below, I have a border in yellow just for display purposes only. The actual .png file is a simple black/white image 3 pixels by 3 pixels. I was originally thinking to try as a 2x2, but that would not help trying to interpret low/hi vs hi/low drawing stream. At least this way, I would have two black, one white from the top, or one white, two black from the bottom.. So I read the chunks of data, get to the IDAT chunk, decode that (zlib) and come up with 12 bytes as follows 00 20 00 40 00 80 So, my question, how does the above get broken down into the 3x3 black and white sample... Also, it is saved in palette format and properly recognizes the bit depth of 1 and color palette of 2... color pallet[0] is RGBA all zeros. Palette1 has RGBA of 255, 255, 255, 0 I'll eventually get into the multiple other depth formats later, just wanted to start with what would expect to be the easiest. Part II. Any guidance on handling the other depth formats would help if anything special to be considered especially regarding alpha channel (which I am already looking for in the palette) that might trip me up.

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