Halo-themed Side-scroller

necro · Post by **necro** » Tue 15 Nov, 2005 6:18 pm

and: both must be true
or: either one or both
xor:one but not the other
not(: is false[zero or less]

it realy isn't all that useful though, and I rarely ever see it in basic

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Wed 16 Nov, 2005 5:42 am

Oh, man, you would not believe how useful those can be... I only discovered how to optimize with these myself this summer, and it resulted in significantly faster code.

threefingeredguy · Post by **threefingeredguy** » Wed 16 Nov, 2005 4:07 pm

I use those all the time. But for XOR I think there is a slightly faster way.

Code: Select all

A=0->A

will make A 0 if A is 1 and make A 1 if A is 0.

CoBB · Post by **CoBB** » Wed 16 Nov, 2005 4:50 pm

That's just a special case of xor.

threefingeredguy · Post by **threefingeredguy** » Wed 16 Nov, 2005 8:33 pm

Yeah, it only works for comparing 0 to not 0. Which is how the 83+ = works.

necro · Post by **necro** » Wed 16 Nov, 2005 9:06 pm

well, it has a few uses...but it still is an obscur command that I only recently learned...so, yeah...

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Thu 17 Nov, 2005 1:11 pm

We've kind of hijacked gangsta's thread here... maybe we should get back on topic?

gangsta · Post by **gangsta** » Fri 18 Nov, 2005 2:10 am

tyvm, dys!

Umm...I need recommendations on drawing bullets...should I draw them as sprites?

necro · Post by **necro** » Fri 18 Nov, 2005 3:05 am

you don't actualy have to draw bullets at all...they do travel faster than we can see and as such, it wouldn't be outlandish to not show them (though the gun smoke and collision would be a must)

but otherwise, use sprites as they are the fastest method

Liazon · Post by **Liazon** » Fri 18 Nov, 2005 4:35 am

wouldn't they just be one pixel sprites? couldn't you just turn the pixels on and off really quickly?

kalan_vod · Post by **kalan_vod** » Fri 18 Nov, 2005 4:36 pm

make a laser with the line command

.

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Fri 18 Nov, 2005 5:50 pm

Don't show the bullets. You won't be able to handle multiple high-speed projectiles in Basic, so don't even try. You will probably want to show projectiles for needler, charged plasma pistol, and rocket launcher, but
forget it for all the other weapons. You can't even see the bullets for most of the human weapons. For the sniper rifle, you could draw a line to show the bullet trail. Since the rocket launcher can't fire many shots at once and its projectile moves slowly, you can show that. Same with the charged plasma pistol and fuel rod cannon. As for needler, I don't know, since it can have many projectiles at once, and these move at a relatively high speed. You might want to cut out the needler, which is too bad since its one of the cooler weapons in the game- it would be very difficult to program, and probably slow down your game. For pistol, plasma pistol (regular shots), plasma rifle, assault rifle, and shotgun, just show a firing animation at the end of the gun's barrel, without showing the actual projectiles. For flamethrower (if you include it) just show an animated flame coming out the front.
I would also recommend limiting the number of enemies onscreen at once, say to four or so. With more enemies to handle, it would run very slowly. You will need to experiment to see how many enemies (and marines) you can handle without slowing down the game too much.
For the zoom on the sniper rifle, pistol, and rocket launcher, it would be cool to simply shift over several screens in the direction you are aiming. So for all of them you could see one screen ahead, and for sniper rifle you could see one screen ahead. Perhaps while zoomed in, you would be unable to move your character around, and instead move a target around.
I have to say, this project is EXTREMELY ambitious. Not that I think it can't be done. I'm sure it can. I just want you to realize how difficult an undertaking it will be.

gangsta · Post by **gangsta** » Sun 20 Nov, 2005 12:39 am

great idea, dys...I had an idea about the levels...Each level is a program called at the beginning of a loop. It's based on screen number. The program draws the character. The program will have 1 (the first screen) stored to a variable. The enemy/background drawing program will be called, and the enemies, etc. will be drawn. the walking and stuff will then be checked, and if the character goes off the screen to the left, he is drawn at the right of the previous screen with all the enemies he killed still dead (using lists?); if he goes off to the right, he is drawn at the left of the next screen in sequential order, with all the new enemies...If the move does not change the screen, nothing is redrawn, except for the animations...

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Sun 20 Nov, 2005 5:52 am

Pretty standard movement routine, I think; it should work well.

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Mon 12 Dec, 2005 7:58 pm

Check this out: http://www.halozero.new.fr/
It's a 2d sidescrolling Halo, probably very much in the same vein as what you are trying to do.