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Dynamic content realoding

- by Kikaimaru

Is there a relatively simple way to dynamicaly reload content files? (ie: effect files) I know i can do following: Detect change of file Run content pipeline to rebuild that specific file Unload ALL content that was loaded Load All content And use double references to reference content files. Problem is with step 3 (and step 2 isn't that nice too). But i need to unload everything because if i have model Hero.x which references Model.fx effect, and i change Model.fx file, i need to reload Hero.x file which will then call LoadExternalReference on Model.fx. So I guess question is, did someone mange to make this work without rewriting whole ContentManager (and every ContentReader) and tracking calls to LoadExternalReference?

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Understanding the Microsoft Permissive License

- by cable729

I want to use certain parts of the Game State Management Example in a game I'm making, but I'm not sure how to do this legally. It says in the license that I'm supposed to include a copy of the license with it. So if I make a Visual Studio Solution, I just add the license.txt to the solution? Also, if I use a class and change it, do I have to keep the license info at the top or add that I changed it or what?

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Good university for computer science with plans for Game Dev.

- by DukeYore

I am starting my Computer science degree at a local community college in Programming using C++. However, i will be transferring to a 4-year university. Does anyone have any insight on university programs? I know Cal State Fullerton has a degree with a minor in Game Dev. however, is that as important as getting a degree from a really great school? if i could shoot for something like Cal Poly would that be better? Or even Stanford or SF state being so close to so many gaming companies up there in the bay area? thank you in advance for any guidance.

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Deforming surfaces

- by Constantin

I try to accomplish an deforming physic behaviour for levelsurfaces, but don't get an idea how to start with the implemenation so far. Regardless of the shape from the surface (planes, cubes, spheres…), I want to have small indentations at the positions from game-entitys (players, enemys, objects…). It's kind of complicated to explain, so I illustrated what I'm talking about (here is an example with an sphere): So, the surfaces should be able to deforming themselfs a little bit (to apear like an really soft bed or sofa). My surfaces need probably an high vertices count to get an smooth deforming, but my big problem is the math for calculating this deforming… I'm programming in C/C++ with OpenGL, but will be fine with any advices in the right direction. Any help would be highly appreciated,

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Sprite Body can not stop

- by Diken

Hey i have issue regarding jump sprite body. In my code i am using moveLeft and moveRight Button and when i am press moveRight Button using following code if (moveRight.active==YES) { b2Vec2 force=b2Vec2(4,0); ballBody->SetLinearVelocity(force); } Its move perfectly and When i release this Button than sprite body stop using following code else { b2Vec2 force=b2Vec2(0,0); ballBody->SetLinearVelocity(force); } But when i put this else part then jump can not done. My jump code is following if (jumpSprite.active==YES) { NSLog(@"Jump Sprite"); b2Vec2 locationWorld; locationWorld=b2Vec2(0.0f,4.0f); double force=ballBody->GetMass(); ballBody->ApplyLinearImpulse(force*locationWorld, ballBody->GetWorldCenter()); } If i remove else part then jump will perform complete but sprite body can not stop after release button. So what to do?? Thanks in advance

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Managing many draw calls for dynamic objects

- by codetiger

We are developing a game (cross-platform) using Irrlicht. The game has many (around 200 - 500) dynamic objects flying around during the game. Most of these objects are static mesh and build from 20 - 50 unique Meshes. We created seperate scenenodes for each object and referring its mesh instance. But the output was very much unexpected. Menu screen: (150 tris - Just to show you the full speed rendering performance of 2 test computers) a) NVidia Quadro FX 3800 with 1GB: 1600 FPS DirectX and 2600 FPS on OpenGL b) Mac Mini with Geforce 9400M 256mb: 260 FPS in OpenGL Now inside the game in a test level: (160 dynamic objects counting around 10K tris): a) NVidia Quadro FX 3800 with 1GB: 45 FPS DirectX and 50 FPS on OpenGL b) Mac Mini with Geforce 9400M 256mb: 45 FPS in OpenGL Obviously we don't have the option of mesh batch rendering as most of the objects are dynamic. And the one big static terrain is already in single mesh buffer. To add more information, we use one 2048 png for texture for most of the dynamic objects. And our collision detection hardly and other calculations hardly make any impact on FPS. So we understood its the draw calls we make that eats up all FPS. Is there a way we can optimize the rendering, or are we missing something?

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Make Sprite Jump Upon a Platform

- by Geore Shg

I have been struggling to make a game like Doodle Jump where the sprite jumps on a platform. So how do you make a sprite jump upon platforms in XNA? Th platforms are represented by a list of positions like Public platformList As List(Of Vector2) This is the collision detection under update() Dim mainSpriteRect As Rectangle = New Rectangle(CInt(mainSprite.Position.X), CInt(mainSprite.Position.Y), mainSprite.texture.Width, mainSprite.texture.Height) 'a node is simply a class with the texture and position' For Each _node As Node In _gameMap.nodeList Dim blockRect As Rectangle = New Rectangle(CInt(_node.Position.X), CInt(_node.Position.Y), _BlocksTexture.Width, _BlocksTexture.Height) If mainSpriteRect.Intersects(blockRect) Then 'what should I do here? For example velocity and position?' End If If (_node.Position.Y > 800) Then nodeList.Remove(_node) End If Next

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Long running calculation on background thread

- by SundayMonday

In my Cocos2D game for iOS I have a relatively long running calculation that happens at a fairly regular interval (every 1-2 seconds). I'd like to run the calculation on a background thread so the main thread can keep the animation smooth. The calculation is done on a grid. Average grid size is about 100x100 where each cell stores an integer. Should I copy this grid when I pass it to the background thread? Or can I pass a reference and just make sure I don't write to the grid from the main thread before the background thread is done? Copying seems a bit wasteful but passing a reference seems risky. So I thought I'd ask.

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libgdx loading textures fails [duplicate]

- by Chris

This question already has an answer here: Why do I get this file loading exception when trying to draw sprites with libgdx? 4 answers I'm trying to load my texture with playerTex = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("player.jpg")); player.jpg is located under my-gdx-game-android/assets/data/player.jpg I get an exception like this: Full Code: @Override public void create() { camera = new OrthographicCamera(); camera.setToOrtho(false, Gdx.graphics.getWidth(), Gdx.graphics.getHeight()); batch = new SpriteBatch(); FileHandle file = Gdx.files.internal("player.jpg"); playerTex = new Texture(file); player = new Rectangle(); player.x = 800-20; player.y = 250; player.width = 20; player.height = 80; } @Override public void dispose() { // dispose of all the native resources playerTex.dispose(); batch.dispose(); } @Override public void render() { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1, 1, 1, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); camera.update(); batch.setProjectionMatrix(camera.combined); batch.begin(); batch.draw(playerTex, player.x, player.y); batch.end(); if(Gdx.input.isKeyPressed(Keys.DOWN)) player.y -= 50 * Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime(); if(Gdx.input.isKeyPressed(Keys.UP)) player.y += 50 * Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime(); }

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How do I properly center Nifty GUI elements on screen?

- by Jason Crosby

I am new to JME3 game engine but I know Android XML GUI layouts pretty good. I have a simple layout here and I cant figure out what is wrong. Here is my XML code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <nifty xmlns="http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd"> <useControls filename="nifty-default-controls.xml" /> <useStyles filename="nifty-default-styles.xml" /> <screen id="start" controller="com.jasoncrosby.game.farkle.gui.MenuScreenGui"> <layer id="layer" backgroundColor="#66CD00" childLayout="center"> <panel id="panel" align="center" valign="center" childLayout="center" visibleToMouse="true"> <image filename="Textures/wood_floor.png" height="95%" width="95%"/> <panel id="panel" align="center" valign="center" childLayout="center" visibleToMouse="true"> <text text="test" font="Interface/Fonts/Eraser.fnt"></text> </panel> </panel> </layer> </screen> Everything works well until I get to displaying the text. I have tried different alignments and tried moving the text into different panels but no matter what I do the text is never in the center of the screen. It's always in the upper left corner, so far I can only see the lower right part of the text. How can I center the text element in the center of the screen?

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How does a segment-based rendering engine (as in Descent) work?

- by Calmarius

As far as I know Descent was one of the first games that featured a fully 3D environment, and it used a segment based rendering engine. Its levels are built from cubic segments (these cubes may be deformed as long as it remains convex and sides remain roughly flat). These cubes are connected by their sides. The connected sides are traversable (maybe doors or grids can be placed on these sides), while the unconnected sides are not traversable walls. So the game is played inside of this complex. Descent was software rendered and it had to be very fast, to be playable on those 10-100MHz processors of that age. Some latter levels of the game are huge and contain thousands of segments, but these levels are still rendered reasonably fast. So I think they tried to minimize the amount of cubes rendered somehow. How to choose which cubes to render for a given location? As far as I know they used a kind of portal rendering, but I couldn't find what was the technique used in this particular kind of engine. I think the fact that the levels are built from convex quadrilateral hexahedrons can be exploited.

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Developing an AI opponent for Monopoly

- by Bernhard Zürn

i want to develop an AI opponent for the Board Game Monopoly. I want to implement the whole Game with Prolog (XPCE). The probability for a field on the Board being hit, can be computed with Markov Chains. I already know some "best practices" like "after 50% of the playing time it does not make sense to buy out of jail because in jail you get renting fees for your fields but you don't have to pay for other fields as long as you stay in prison". The interesting question always is: buy a streetfield ? buy houses / hotels ? how much ? so i think i would have to compute some kind of future liquidity .. does anyone know how to pack that into an algorithm or how to translate it to prolog ?

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How to split a string with negative numbers using ActionScript 3.0

- by inzombiak

I'm having trouble loading my level. I'm using Ogmo to create my level then I import it. I have no problem converting 0's and 1's into an Array, but I can't figure out how to do the same for -1's. It separates the "-" and the "1". Any help would be great. I've posted my code and the XML files below levelXML = new XML(e.target.data); playerX = int(levelXML.Entities.Player.@x); playerY = int(levelXML.Entities.Player.@y); levelGrid = levelXML.Grid; levelGrid = levelGrid.split("\n").join(""); levelTiles = levelXML.Tiles; levelTiles = levelTiles.split("\n").join(""); levelTiles = levelTiles.split(",").join(""); tileArray = levelTiles.split(""); gridArray = levelGrid.split(""); for(i = 0; i <= 34; i++) { levelArray[i] = new Array(); for(j = 0; j <= 34; j++) { if(tileArray[j*35 + i] == 0) { gridArray[j*35+i] = -1; } var currentSymbol = gridArray[j*35+i]; levelArray[i][j] = currentSymbol; if(gridArray[j*35 + i] == 1) { wall = new Wall; addChild(wall); wall.x = i*20 + 10; wall.y = j*20 + 10; } else if(gridArray[j*35 + i] == -1) { pellet = new Pellet; addChild(pellet); pellet.x = i*20 + 10; pellet.y = j*20 + 10; } } } I know the code is very dirty, but I needed a quick fix. Grid exportMode="Bitstring" 11111111111111111111111111111111111 10000000000000000011000000000000001 10000000000000000011000000000000001 10011111001111110011001111110011001 10011111001111110011001111110011001 10011111001111110011001111110011001 10000000000000000000000000000000001 10000000000000000000000000000000001 10011111001100111111100110011111001 10011111001100000100000110011111001 10000000001100000100000110000000001 10000000001111100100111110000000001 11111111001111100100111110011111111 00000001001111100100111110010000000 00000001001100000000000110010000000 11111111001100000000000110011111111 00000000000000111111100000000000000 00000000000000100000100000000000000 11111111001100100000100110011111111 00000001001100111111100110010000000 00000001001100000000000110010000000 11111111001100111111100110011111111 10000000000000000100000000000000001 10000000000000000100000000000000001 10011111001111100100111110011111001 10000011000000000000000000011000001 10000011000000000000000000011000001 11110011001100111111100110011001111 11110011001100111111100110011001111 10000000001100000100000110000000001 10000000001100000100000110000000001 10011111111111100100111111111111001 10000000000000000000000000000000001 10000000000000000000000000000000001 11111111111111111111111111111111111 Tiles tileset="Tiles" exportMode="CSV"-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,0,-1 -1,-1,-1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-1 -1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1

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Calculating distance from viewer to object in a shader

- by Jay

Good morning, I'm working through creating the spherical billboards technique outlined in this paper. I'm trying to create a shader that calculates the distance from the camera to all objects in the scene and stores the results in a texture. I keep getting either a completely black or white texture. Here are my questions: I assume the position that's automatically sent to the vertex shader from ogre is in object space? The gpu interpolates the output position from the vertex shader when it sends it to the fragment shader. Does it do the same for my depth calculation or do I need to move that calculation to the fragment shader? Is there a way to debug shaders? I have no errors but I'm not sure I'm getting my parameters passed into the shaders correctly. Here's my shader code: void DepthVertexShader( float4 position : POSITION, uniform float4x4 worldViewProjMatrix, uniform float3 eyePosition, out float4 outPosition : POSITION, out float Depth ) { // position is in object space // outPosition is in camera space outPosition = mul( worldViewProjMatrix, position ); // calculate distance from camera to vertex Depth = length( eyePosition - position ); } void DepthFragmentShader( float Depth : TEXCOORD0, uniform float fNear, uniform float fFar, out float4 outColor : COLOR ) { // clamp output using clip planes float fColor = 1.0 - smoothstep( fNear, fFar, Depth ); outColor = float4( fColor, fColor, fColor, 1.0 ); } fNear is the near clip plane for the scene fFar is the far clip plane for the scene

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How to do pre-loading

- by Dave

I have a question that is confusing me with making a game. For my game launch i pre load everything for the main menu then i loop the game to display it. But lets argue player wants to launch a new game or a specific level, then you preload the relevant sounds/graphics for that level right? How ever, the player must already be running the game loop if they are at the main menu, so you can't load in the game loop or you will load every frame...but im pretty sure most big games don't preload every level when you first run the game from desktop because it would take a long time on some of these games.... How is it done :S

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HTML5 Canvas A* Star Path finding

- by Veyha

I am trying to learn A* Star Path finding. Library I am using this - https://github.com/qiao/PathFinding.js But I am don't understand one thing how to do. I am need find path from player.x/player.y (player.x and player.y is both 0) to 10/10 This code return array of where I am need to move - var path = finder.findPath(player.x, player.y, 10, 10, grid); I am get array where I am need to move, but how to apply this array to my player.x and player.y? Array structure like - 0: 0 1: 0 length: 2, 0: 1 1: 0 length: 2, ... I am very sorry for my bad English language. Thanks.

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How to detect GLSL warnings?

- by msell

After compiling a shader with glCompileShader, I can call glGetShaderiv with GL_COMPILE_STATUS to check if the shader compiled successfully. I can also call glGetShaderInfoLog to get information about possible errors, warnings or other info. The information log returned by this function is unspecified. In a tool where users can write their own shaders, I would like to print all errors and warnings from the compilation, but nothing if no warnings or errors were found. The problem is that the GL_COMPILE_STATUS returns only false if the compilation failed and true otherwise. If no problems were found, some drivers return empty info log from glGetShaderInfoLog, but some drivers can return something else such as "No errors.", which I do not want to print to the user. How is this problem generally solved?

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Vector-based fonts vs. bitmap fonts in (2d) games?

- by jmp97

I know that many games are using bitmap fonts. Which are the advantages for vector-based font rendering / manipulation when compared to bitmap fonts and in which scenarios would they matter the most? Prefer a focus on 2d games when answering this question. If relevant, please include examples for games using either approach. Some factors you might consider: amount of text used in the game scaling of text overlaying glyphs and anti-aliasing general rendering quality font colors and styling user interface requirements localisation / unicode text wrapping and formatting cross-platform deployment 2d vs 3d Background: I am developing a simple falling blocks game in 2d, targeted for pc. I would like to add text labels for level, score, and menu buttons. I am using SFML which uses FreeType internally, so vector-based features are easily available for my project. In my view, font sizes in simple games often don't vary, and bitmap fonts should be easier for cross-platform concerns (font-formats and font rendering quality). But I am unsure if I am missing some important points here, especially since I want to polish the looks of the final game.

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A* algorithm very slow

- by Amaranth

I have an programming a RTS game (I use XNA with C#). The pathfinding is working fine, except that when it has a lot of node to search in, there is a lag period of one or two seconds, it happens mainly when there is no path to the target destination, since it that situation there is more nodes to explore. I have the same problem when the path is shorter but selected more than 3 units (can't take the same path since the selected units can be in different part of the map). private List<NodeInfo> FindPath(Unit u, NodeInfo start, NodeInfo end) { Map map = GameInfo.GetInstance().GameMap; _nearestToTarget = start; start.MoveCost = 0; Vector2 endPosition = map.getTileByPos(end.X, end.Y).Position; //getTileByPos simply gets the tile in a 2D array with the X and Y indexes start.EstimatedRemainingCost = (int)(endPosition - map.getTileByPos(start.X, start.Y).Position).Length(); start.Parent = null; List<NodeInfo> openedNodes = new List<NodeInfo>(); ; List<NodeInfo> closedNodes = new List<NodeInfo>(); Point[] movements = GetMovements(u.UnitType); openedNodes.Add(start); while (!closedNodes.Contains(end) && openedNodes.Count > 0) { //Loop in nodes to find lowest cost NodeInfo currentNode = FindLowestCostOpenedNode(openedNodes); openedNodes.Remove(currentNode); closedNodes.Add(currentNode); Vector2 previousMouvement; if (currentNode.Parent == null) { previousMouvement = ConvertRotationToDirectionVector(u.Rotation); } else { previousMouvement = map.getTileByPos(currentNode.X, currentNode.Y).Position - map.getTileByPos(currentNode.Parent.X, currentNode.Parent.Y).Position; previousMouvement.Normalize(); } //For each neighbor foreach (Point movement in movements) { Point exploredGridPos = new Point(currentNode.X + movement.X, currentNode.Y + movement.Y); //Checks if valid move and checks if not if closed nodes list if (ValidNavigableNode(u.UnitType, new Point(currentNode.X, currentNode.Y), exploredGridPos) && !closedNodes.Contains(_gridMap[exploredGridPos.Y, exploredGridPos.X])) { NodeInfo exploredNode = _gridMap[exploredGridPos.Y, exploredGridPos.X]; Tile.TileType exploredTerrain = map.getTileByPos(exploredGridPos.X, exploredGridPos.Y).TerrainType; if(openedNodes.Contains(exploredNode)) { int newCost = currentNode.MoveCost + GetMoveCost(previousMouvement, movement, exploredTerrain); if (newCost < exploredNode.MoveCost) { exploredNode.Parent = currentNode; exploredNode.MoveCost = newCost; //Find nearest tile to the target (in case doesn't find path to target) //Only compares the node to the current nearest FindNearest(exploredNode); } } else { exploredNode.Parent = currentNode; exploredNode.MoveCost = currentNode.MoveCost + GetMoveCost(previousMouvement, movement, exploredTerrain); Vector2 exploredNodeWorldPos = map.getTileByPos(exploredGridPos.X, exploredGridPos.Y).Position; exploredNode.EstimatedRemainingCost = (int)(endPosition - exploredNodeWorldPos).Length(); //Find nearest tile to the target (in case doesn't find path to target) //Only compares the node to the current nearest FindNearest(exploredNode); openedNodes.Add(exploredNode); } } } } return closedNodes; } After that, I simply check if the end node is contained in the returned nodes. If so, I add the end node and each parent until I reach the start. If not, I add the nearestToTarget and each parent until I reach the start. I added a condition before calling FindPath so that only one unit can call a find path each frame (60 frame per second), but it makes no difference. I thought maybe I could solve this by allowing the find path to run in background while the game continues to run correctly, even if it takes a few frame (it is currently sequential sonce it is called in the update() of the unit if there's a target location but no path), but I don't really know how... I also though about sorting my opened nodes list by cost so I don't have to loop them, but I don't know if that would have an effect on the performance... Would there be other solutions? P.S. In the code, when I get the Move Cost, I check if the unit has to turn to perform the move, and the terrain type, nothing hard to do.

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What are the pros and cons of non-unique display names?

- by Davy8

I know of at least big title game (Starcraft II) that doesn't require unique display names, so it would seem like it can work in at least some circumstance. Under what situations does allowing non-unique display names work well? When does it not work well? Does it come down to whether or not impersonation of someone else is a problem? The reasons I believe it works for Starcraft II is that there isn't any kind of in-game trading of virtual goods and other than "for kicks" there isn't much incentive to impersonate someone else in the game. There's also ladder rankings so even trying to impersonate a pro is easily detectable unless you're on a similar skill level. What are some other cases where it makes sense to specifically allow or disallow duplicate display names?

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I have an "amoeba" game mechanic. Any idea on how to implement it?

- by Jason

Outside of a tetris clone, a crappy 2D top-down shooter, and some messing around with stuff like Unity and Flixel, I realize that I have yet to complete a single, polished, bells-and-whistles game. I want to change this, and I have an idea for my next project. The idea is that you're an amoeba. Amoebas have these eye-like cores (or something like that, I don't know biology), and you have two of 'em. You control one with WASD and the other with IJKL. There has to be a constant radius of stuff around each of the cores: And the area of the amoeba has to stay constant. So if you move a core in one direction, you increase the amoeba's area, but that increase is compensated by a decrease somewhere else: Aaaaaand I'd like to implement a vagination mechanic. You absorb things by engulfing them, like a boss. Maybe even an extra core, or a needle that pops you and causes all your inner stuff to start gushing out: But here's the problem: I don't know how to make this. However, I would like some ideas on how to implement it. Should I explore physics libraries like Box2D? Or maybe something involving fluid physics? Any help would be much appreciated. P.S. Feel free to steal this idea. I have plenty of ideas. If you do, please tell me how you made it so I can try it myself.

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What's the best way to add some particle or laser effects to an already animated character?

- by Scott

I just purchased some rigged and animated robot characters from 3drt for a game I'm making in unity. I would like to be able to add some weapon effects to the characters. For example, I would like for the robots to be able to shot lasers out of the hands at enemies. I have know idea where to even start with this task as I'm more of a programmer than a graphics guy. Can some experienced developers / designers please point me in a good direction? Thanks. Note: As of right now I have maya and blender installed on my computer.

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How should I choose quadtree depth?

- by Evpok

I'm using a quadtree to prune collision detection pairs in a 2d world. How should I choose to what depth said quadtree is calculated? The world is made mostly of moving objects1, so the cost of dispatching the objects between the quadtree cells matters. What is the relationship between the gain from less collision checking and the loss from more dispatching? How can I strike a balance that performs optimally? 1 To be completely explicit, they are autonomous self-replicating cells competing for food sources. This is an attempt to show my pupils predator-prey dynamics and genetic evolution at work.

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Bomb timer adventure game win32 c++ [on hold]

- by user3491746

I'm working on an adventure game in win32 and opengl for my 2nd year university project for class. I am pretty much finished my game but I'm stuck on the concept of how to program a timer which outputs hh : mm : ss -- but which countdown, not up. I've made a clock which counts up using vector matrices and the segxseg matrix algorithm but I cannot figure out how to make a clock (it can be simple even text using wsprintf) that counts down in that format. Can anyone possible give me an example or some literature that I can read on how to do this? Please dont suggest for me to use another environment, I've already been working here for 2 months on this game, and I'm pretty much done so i'm at no point to switch over. Can anyone show me how I can take a shot at this component of my project? Thanks a bunch! Anything that I can get is appreciated.

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C++ Framework for iOS [closed]

- by myrkos

I am looking for a simple and easy C++ framework for iOS. Specifically, what I want it to wrap in a C++ API: Simple GUI system 2D Graphics User touch input and accelerometer Networking (UDP sockets) What I'm trying to do is port a multiplayer game to the iOS. I've seen cocos2d-x, but I don't know how stable it is and I don't think it supports networking. Oh, and I want it to be free and open source if possible. Android support is a plus but definitely not required.

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