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Dev Log: Polygon Collisions

Dev Log: Polygon Collisions
I never thought I'd be able to get polygon collisions working in Otter but this past week I managed to jam out a quick prototype of an overlapping polygon test that seems to be working.

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Probably not the most exciting image in the world, but it's pretty dang cool to me. I found this tutorial on the Separating Axis Theorem. This tutorial specifically has some great images, and amazing pseudocode with explanations that allowed me to finally understand what the hell to do. I still don't understand some things, like what exactly projecting a vector onto an axis means, but right now I think I have the core of it working.

I'll be working on getting the PolygonCollider integrated into Otter properly over the next few days. That means I'll have to get it working with each other Collider type which shouldn't be too crazy, but we'll see if I end up getting stumped by something!
programming csharp otter
Posted October 4th 2014 8:15 PM (Otter)
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Doodle Post

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doodles
Posted September 30th 2014 4:02 PM (Doodle)
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Doodle Post

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doodles
Posted September 25th 2014 1:21 PM (Doodle)
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Platforming Nudging Assistance

Platforming Nudging Assistance
Making a solid feeling platformer isn't as simple as setting up horizontal movement, jumping, and gravity. There are a lot of tricks and behind the scenes magic involved in making something feel good to the player. In the past I've talked about ledge forgiveness, and input buffering, and now I'm going to add nudging assistance to the list!

Ledge forgiveness, input buffering are two tricks that let the player execute their intended action even if they screw it up slightly. Nudging assistance also falls into that category.

The Problem


My latest small game Starforger II is all about roaming around procedural levels. A lot of times the levels have one tile openings in walls that the player wants to navigate into. Take a look at what happens with just a typical platforming physics system when a player tries to navigate into a small tunnel like this.

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Even though the player really wants to slide into that hole as they fly by they simply cant because there is no frame in which the player is able to actually navigate into that tile. If their vertical speed is too great they will miss the hole every time even though they are holding down input that would make it seem like they should be able to squeeze into there.

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gamedev programming otter
Posted September 24th 2014 2:51 PM (General)
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Dev Log: Building Buildings

Dev Log: Building Buildings
I'm finally getting back to work on my main project which for now is called Stratoforce. Maybe StratoForce? Strato Force? I dunno, who cares for now.

A big part of the game is placing structures onto islands that you build, and for whatever reason I've been totally stuck in how I should be designing the structures. I had a couple of images in the game for the basic Power Generator and Power Node structures, but I hated how it looked over time. They looked too complex, so I decided to try to dial it back to something way simpler with big simple shapes.

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From left to right there's the Ammo Generator, the Power Node, and the Power Generator. I've been trying to find references for RTS structure and building design, but I found that a lot of them use 3d which is quite a bit different. I can see how this kind of thing would be waaay easier in 3d though. I do want to have my structures animate, and respond to things, and doing that in 2d is going to be a little challenging. I might be able to make something work with a bunch of tweens or something though... hopefully I'll be able to prototype some animation stuff for the structures soon!
stratoforce dev log gamedev
Posted September 18th 2014 6:36 PM (Stratoforce)
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Game Jam Procedural Generation Part IV

Game Jam Procedural Generation Part IV
The final part of this series about procedural generation for Starforger II will conclude with the last of the level generation code. In the last episode I talked about some of the details in generating rooms, tunnels, and other details in the level. In this final part I'll wrap it up by talking about how I place enemies, breakable blocks, and some final touches on the treasure room.

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The next thing in the generation of the level is the breakable blocks. These are blocks that the player can blow up using their bombs. I added these sort of at the last minute of the jam just to give some more interaction with the world, and it felt kinda fun to forge your own path through a big section of breakable blocks.

// put breakable blocks in random places I dunno

for (var yy = 10; yy < grid.TileRows; yy++) {

    for (var xx = 0; xx < grid.TileColumns; xx++) {

        if (CheckRect(xx, yy, 2, 2)) {

            continue;

        }

        if (Rand.Chance(config.BreakableChance)) {

            if (breakables < breakablesMax) {

                Scene.Add(new BreakableBlock(xx * 16, yy * 16));

                gridBreakable.SetRect(xx, yy, 2, 2);

                breakables++;

            }

            if (config.Width > 1500) {

                xx++;

            }

            if (config.Width > 1000) {

                xx++;

            }

        }

    }

}

I actually use a separate grid "gridBreakable" to keep track of where I've already placed blocks. This is less expensive in Otter. The alternative would be to do a collision check against all other breakable blocks which would take longer and longer if there are more breakable blocks being added. Whenever a block is added I add a 2 x 2 rectangle to the gridBreakable grid, and the function CheckRect() will check against the breakable grid and the ground grid, so I can't accidentally place a breakable block in the ground, or overlapping another breakable block.
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programming csharp starforger gamedev
Posted September 18th 2014 4:08 PM (General)
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