Blitz Coding - Writing a platform game - Part 4.3

I've had a brain wave overnight about how to start getting the enemies to move. The problem was that I couldn't see a clean way to get them to drop off platforms in a sensible way, but I've thought of a solution. So watch and enjoy.

This is a lesson in coding, if you get stuck, then go do something else for a while and the solution might just pop into your head, like this one did.

get the files:
http://www.andymcadam29.webspace.virginmedia.com/youtube/PlatformGame.zip

Check my blog:
http://coffeeinduced.wordpress.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• blitz
• basic
• blitz3d
• games
• platform
• engine
• diary
• indie
• game
• development
• programming

[turrican1024]

Greatv Work !

Is there anywhere i can download this engine ?

thanks,

Andy

[amcadam26]

hey I'm called Andy too! Anyway, yes I'm making it available to download a long with the source code with my next video due out middle of January.

[amcadam26]

I've not really checking for performance on this engine yet. I add in extra loops where needed. I plan to go through at some stage cutting down the number of checks made per loop and also reducing the number of times it's checks enemies positions and the like.

[CTSSTC]

ahh pluss, I code in blitz 3d, but mainly use it for the gui it has, not the 3d potential, but I do wish I had the gui potential of plus : (

How does this read levels?

is there a parser that reads a txt file?

I've seen some cool coding for a psp game I had where you could write levels in a note pad :P

just thinking with the two "if enemies\mx " code blocks you could use one if instead of two, if you made the second one else, but I guess you can't escape the if of 0

[amcadam26]

Hi, blitz3D has some very nice GUI libraries available for it, which are skinnable too.

The levels are loaded from binary files which are saved from the editor, the editor just writes in values such as tile positions and objects and the game reads these from the fil in the same order they were entered. The game and the editor actually share the same code for loading levels.

I've not really gone through checking for efficientcy yet, but I will do at some point.

[SepFusion]

Interesting, although I don't understand why anyone would do games in blitz.

[amcadam26]

actually, on that note, one Blitz programmer is now working for Big Fish Games, and is still using Blitz for these games, so there are commercial games being written in Blitz.

[PopcornFaerie]

@amcadam26

Cant Wait!

I got a platform thing of my own kinda workin and kinda not. I'd love to get a look at your code and maybe fix a few of those glitches i have.

[CTSSTC]

Dangit hit the post button, but

would that effect the performance or is it not noticeable, or is it better coding, or would it matter in the long haul?

[CTSSTC]

It's just that I'm not sure if using another if is slower than resulting to an else, because it is only one bool/true/false check if you use else because the statement is true or false/else, but if you go into anther set comparison it's going to do a whole nother bool test.

[amcadam26]

Why not use Blitz? It's true that it's not used much in the industry in general, but then again, neither either manu language if they're not C++. Blitz gives you the benefit of being able to go from design to having something playable within a few days where as C++ with openGL may take weeks.