start your engines

[iWasAdam]

Now what is this mess?

[Derron]

A design plan for santa's sleigh?


bye
Ron

[Dabz]

Now what is this mess?

The Spectrum version of Gran Prix Simulator by the Oliver Twins?



Dabz

[Xerra]

Amiga version of SuperCars 1 or 2?

I repeat my previous statement, that I have claimed multiple times: Adam must be a machine. I have no idea how he finds time to do so much stuff.

I'm not jealous or his work ethic at all. Oh, no. Not me.......

[iWasAdam]

OK Here's a really good set of rules (And one I've shouted a few times at certain peoples...)

1. Go back to the basics - And I mean 1980 and below.
2. Look at the emerging computer arcade machines and what the creators had to do to make a compelling game with virtually no resources
3. Work with severe restrictions (low res, few colors, 8x8 mono sprites)
4. And above all else - WORK IN 2D!

You want to know how to do AI - then work out how a car can follow a path - or is is a set of points?

How does collision actually work (hint: it's not a single point per object)

How does collision work on a 2d map like a platformer? Is it different from a top down car racer?

BUT...
How do you make it playable and have the 'I MUST HAVE ANOTHER GO' mechanic?

How do you do collision on vector data, is it the same as on bitmaps?

The choice (as they say) is up to you...

[iWasAdam]

One last thing.
If you really learn and get to know how to do the basic stuff - the nasty stuff is not so complex. it's usually just a variation on the base code.

E.G.
This top-down racer. the only thing you need is a new 'render' procedure and you have the game in isometric, or verctor, or vector3d or even 3d. You don't have to change one line of code - just the render system.

Now think a bit on that...

P.S. Tempest is really just space invaders, with the screen wrapped into a tube and rotated so it looks like 3d - the far away back is the top, and the near is the bottom... simples...

[chalky]

I repeat my previous statement, that I have claimed multiple times: Adam must be a machine. I have no idea how he finds time to do so much stuff.

I have to agree with this. The man either doesn't eat, doesn't sleep or has found a way to stretch time - his prolific output defies the laws of physics...

[iWasAdam]

Nah....

After a bit of hair pulling and some lunch. I've got this...

[Dabz]

Cool... Nice way, I like the springy type movement when it grabs the next way point, like, it finds traction after the current turn!

Dabz

[Xerra]

It's a great example to show how to do AI path finding. Have some invisible markers on the play area that your enemy/competitor sprite moves towards and then throw in a couple of random elements, like the oil not being in fixed places so it needs to react to whatever effects that has on it, then tries to put itself back on track by navigating to the next marker point. This works with a Grand Prix car doing simple movement around the track and skidding out a bit if it hits oil, or platform game bad guys navigating a fixed path, or direction, but encounter an object that either sends it back the way it came, or perhaps turns it 90 degrees.

The AI in Tommy Gunn could have been much better if I'd worked the collisions and main player code much better but that worked by the enemy soldiers looking ahead of them to see invisible markers to jump and automatically changing direction when they came up against a collision block. My big mistake there was not making then change direction after a short time if Tommy had moved to the other side of them, which Adam pointed out and made me actually slap my own head, lol.

Breaking games down to the base element works for every game idea ever, I believe. Same as the player controls should be right at the top of your things-you-must-get-right list.

[blinkok]

Remember your paths may cross ;-) and you may have shortcuts

[Qube]

He he, that's cool to watch . I think it's broke thought as I can't get the white car to join in

[steve_ancell]

Rubber band waypoints, that's a neat trick.

[iWasAdam]

The 'rubber band' is a direction to the next waypoint. The car will turn to the correct direction, speeding up and down...

I've enabled some waypoint offsets and basic collision for the cars They don't follow the same path now, and will jostle each other when they get close...

[steve_ancell]

Sounds good to me.