What are you working on? :D

[Pilchard123]

So...squares instead of circles?

[Aino]

If yopu're talkihng about the game, it's made of circles, don't you worry

[Aino]

Finally finished the save/loading, now to add a button to it in the GUI x.x

[Aino]

Doing some final polishing now, I've made a very simple saving/loading system, some buttoms away and you're in the action again

You get 5 file saves to use, they are have buttons on each side telling if you want to load or save the file, and you can delete all content too of course!

[Aino]

I attached a strange file...

It's a very very early PROTOTYPE of what I've been having in mind.

(click to show/hide)

So, what I've been having on my mind is a combination of Minecraft and Black & White 2, where you play on a terrain made out of blocks, and you're the god. You can pick up blocks and place them and you must maintain a population by giving them food/materials and houses:

Food: The food can be eggs from chicken, pigs and milk from cows or farms for that sake.
Materials: Materials are wood, stone, iron and diamond for tools, weapons and armor.
Houses: Houses are complex, yet very simple: Houses are the beds, and if put a roof over the bed, the people is happy, this might tell that it's just putting blocks over the beds and done, but you can get raided, and if you have houses and your population sleeps, they might not get killed that quickly and has time to prepare.

This is very straight forward for now, but you have Mana, or the amount of god power availible, everything costs mana! Something simple as picking up a block costs mana, and killing an animal too! To obtain mana, you must get yourself an altar, four people can pray at them and gives you 1 mana per second each. The more altars you have, the more prayers you can have. Prayers don't work for food, build(ohh yes, they can build!) or fight.

The villagers can build, as I said. They use prototypes of buildings(shown transparent when existing. They use their accessible materials to build, if there is none, they'll go out and gather. You can also make them mine/harvest blocks instead of you doing it, you can put a place for them to mine, they'll use prototypes there too, but they aren't shown.

Enemies do exist too, they have a god, if it's another player or just an AI, you can form alliance or slaughter them with your people, when adding other people, you can't interact with their bases, it's like the influence ring in Black and white 2, but it doesn't limit you to not do stuff outside your own! You can interact with the world as you want, but not inside of an enemy infuence ring.

You can find more infor in the txt file, but there might not be things I said here on it, as I never really finished the file. But I've been planning for ages

The prototype is called "God"

Edit: And lol, to use the map: Right click three times in arow to change mode, is the ball on the mouse is blue you pick up and if it's red you place the availible picked ups

[Aino]

Ok, so now I'm trying myself on 3D rendering, but I need tons of help, and yes I know about annikks 3D, but I have some problems when it comes to encoding codes that are made, if I watch somebody build up the code, it looks just fine, but even if it's commented it's still hard. I don't like having to break up a code and see exactly whats going on, but if it goes step by step, it's much easier... All I currently understand it that you need a x,y,z

[Aino]

Anyone here coding c#? Because I want to know how to tell the difference between rigth/left click, which way you are scrolling the mouse and what buttons on the keyboard you are pressing...

[kmercy]

look into keyhooks

[Aino]

Nice, but I'll look into that as I've fixed scrolling and mouse movement/clicking with the mouse...

[Pilchard123]

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/globalmousekeyboardlib.aspx

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/csharpgeneral/thread/20ab0496-533b-433b-a309-6b0ff5f6017e

Try these. The top link is to the library's development/help page, the second is an MSDN thread about installing it. (There's only two posts though)

I think therer is a way to get it to work with .NET 4.0, but you may have to do a little hacking together.

[Pilchard123]

New post cuz this is a bit big. Taken from the top link in my previous post, second page of comments. Replace the Start() function in GlobalHook with this Start() function. Also, remember I know NO C#.

Class GlobalHook
 
public void Start()
{
      if (!_isStarted && _hookType != 0)
            {
 
                // Make sure we keep a reference to this delegate!
                // If not, GC randomly collects it, and a NullReference exception is thrown
                _hookCallback = new HookProc(HookCallbackProcedure);
 
                _handleToHook = SetWindowsHookEx(
                    _hookType,
                    _hookCallback,
                    System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.BaseAddress,
                    0);
 
                // Were we able to sucessfully start hook?
                if (_handleToHook != 0)
                {
                    _isStarted = true;
                }
 
            }
}

[Aino]

So, I have another question(regarding C#) and that is:

How do I reset my screen, or remove all of the drawings I've done? I've treid to clear all the graphics and redraw the background, but it only gives flickering... So any idea?

[kmercy]

Graphics.Clear();

should clear them all then you redraw after presuming thats how you are doing it but i would need to see the code to see how you are drawing them

[Aino]

No, you need a color, and setting it no color makes it black x.x

Also the flickering that's made by setting the background also makes it impossible to see anything...

[kmercy]

that makes no sense you since thats what you asked how to get rid of the drawings so you will need to post the code

[Aino]

Here:

Code: [Select]

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Collections;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {

        public double Zoom = 4;
        public double CameraX = 0;
        public double CameraY = -100;
        public int XPos = 100;
        public int YPos = 100;
        public bool[] MDown;
        public int MouseClicks = 0;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        public void Render()
        {

            Graphics g = Panel.CreateGraphics();

            g.DrawImage(Bitmap.FromFile("C:\\Users\\User\\Desktop\\C# Examples\\Test2\\WindowsFormsApplication1\\WindowsFormsApplication1\\Picture.png"), Convert.ToInt32(CameraX) + XPos, Convert.ToInt32(CameraY) + YPos, Convert.ToInt32(400 * Zoom), Convert.ToInt32(400 * Zoom));

        }

        private void Timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Render();
        }


        protected override void OnMouseDown(MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            switch (e.Button)
            {
                case (MouseButtons.Left):
                    MDown[0] = true;
                    break;
                case (MouseButtons.Middle):
                    MDown[1] = true;
                    break;
                case (MouseButtons.Right):
                    MDown[2] = true;
                    break;
                case (MouseButtons.XButton1):
                    MDown[3] = true;
                    break;
                case (MouseButtons.XButton2):
                    MDown[4] = true;
                    break;
            }
            MouseClicks = e.Clicks;
        }

        private void Panel_Scroll(object sender, ScrollEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.NewValue != 0)
            {

                Zoom = Zoom * (1 + (e.NewValue / (720*Zoom)));

            }
        }
    }
}
Have been focusing on other things since all the comments, I'll begin making progress soon hopelyfully

But I don't understand why the scrolling isn't working, the mouse clicking is fine though

[Aino]

Ok, I've been going to java again, I know it very well too! But theres that one problem I face always!

You want to have classes to separate things easier and stuff, you don't use Arrays, like I did on Eufloria! So when it comes to check something with all the units from one class, you need an array to span over all of them to be able to select them. But I get a crash whenever doing that!

So, any idea of how to be able to select all of the different units from one class without any problems?

[Pilchard123]

Thirteen and a half years old, but might be of use.

http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/ALT/Reflection/

[Aino]

So this will leave me with something like this:

Code: [Select]


NumThings = 0
Text = {}

for i = 1,math.random(1,1000) do

NumThings = NumThings + 1
Text[i] = math.random(1,100)

end

for i = 1,NumThings do

print(Text[NumThings])

end

Considerd a basic example

[Aino]

I believe I'll create a new map soon, It's gonna be weirder than weirdest!

An, what I meant was(in the previous posts): to run through the objects from a class, like say it's three objects from the same class:

Name: Betty
Income: 300$ daily
Taxes: 50
Children: 0

Name: Chuck Testa
Income: 999999999$ daily
Taxes: 0
Children: 35557968 dead animals

Name: Alex
Income: 750$ daily
Taxes: 100
Children: 2

Now each have their individual name, income, taxe and amount of children. But they all come from the same class... This is called polymorphism!

What I looked for was how do I check a field/run a method from every single object from the same class?

And whis is polymorphism, what you guys told about polymorphism is overloading methods
I also hope this is useful for newbies, polymorphism is a simple thing, but very hard to learn...

[Orion63]

Now each have their individual name, income, taxe and amount of children. But they all come from the same class... This is called polymorphism!

Hum...Nope...That's just regular objected-oriented programming...

What I looked for was how do I check a field/run a method from every single object from the same class?

Store all objects created in a array, and loop through it....

[Aino]

I knew it was called Object-orienting, but it's also called Polymorphism(atleast what I've learnt...).

[Pilchard123]

*bzzzzt*

Nope, it's not.

[Aino]

Well, Polymorphism is several things, and Object-orienting is one, Method/Function overloading is another(why call any of this polymorphism when they have indivdual names too?) and another thing. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymorphism_%28computer_science%29!

So, Polymorphism is both overloading methods and functionad and object-orienting! Do we agree now?

[Orion63]

You know, you're quoting an article that gives us reason, right?

Is Subtype Polymorphism, what you're confusing by Object Oriented programming?

An example of subtype polymorphism, the good old shape example(I have a Pascal(aka old) programming book with that example ^^)
Language is Python, because it's the closest thing to pseudo-code...

Code: [Select]

Class Shape(object):
    def getArea(self):
        pass

class Square(Shape):
    def getArea(self):
        return self.side ** 2)

class Circle(Shape):
    def getArea(self):
        return math.pi *self.radius ** 2

Since any shape can have his area measured, it makes sense, that the Shape class has a getArea method. But you can't determine the area of any random shape, by the same method, so you use different methods, with the same goal...

[Aino]

Is that polymorphism?

So in one post you guys tell me it's Overloading Methods, and now it's classes using another class object?

Atleast what i've learnt from this point, is that Overloading Methods, like this:

Code: [Select]

public class something{

public int squareroot(double a)
{
return Math.round(Math.round(Math.Sqrt(a)));
}

public float squareroot(double a)
{
return Math.round(Math.Sqrt(a));
}

public double squareroot(double a)
{
return Math.Sqrt(a);
}

}

And Object-Orienting:

Code: [Select]


public class lol {

private Something s;

public static void main(String[] args){

s = new Something();

}

}

public class Something{

private x;
private static numThings;

public Something(){

x = 1;
numThings++;

}

}

Both are in Java...

[Orion63]

Yep, that looks right...

Like in the Wikipedia article you quoted, you could have read that polymorphism is a lot of things... I immediately recognize polymorphism as overloading methods, due to it's C usage, most recognize as subtype polymorphism due to it's usage in both C++ and Java, both widely used languages, and there's still parametric polymorphism used by the functional folk.

[Pilchard123]

Polymorphism actually means "having many forms", from the Greek poly (many) and morphe (form)  .

Basically, taking one thing, and changing how it is, but still being the same. In CS, overloading methods is one way of using polymorphism, as is inheritance of classes/datatypes.

[Aino]

Pilchard, look at your posts counter... I don't like that number... (666 is the number...)

[Orion63]

111 posts for divinity ^^

[Aino]

Hmmm, I got a question:

In java, how do you find a specific object in a list provided the info that object on the list should have? I mean, a list goes from 0, infinite(fine by me) and contains data, or an object filled with data. Now you don't really wanna go from 0, 40 just to find the correct object, you would rather want to have the object coming to you instantly. Like if you could write in the data in the list to get to it. Though this works in lua, but not java...

A brief example:

Code: [Select]

List:
0: 0,0,0
1: 0,0,1
2: 0,0,2
3: 0,0,3
4: 0,0,4
5: 0,0,5
6: 0,0,6
7: 0,1,0
...

You want the data in 7, but you don't really know that 7 contains the data. So you do a for loop though all of them to find the perfect match. But this takes performance... So we'd like to go directly to the object with the data you require, meaning no for loop. But how the heck would you do this if theres over 1000 objects on the list and only one match?

So is there any way to do that shortcut, to prevent lag?

[Orion63]

I am pretty sure that Lua method is just sugar candy for a wrapped C for-loop...
Either way, if you're really not feeling like doing a for loop, you can use a hash table, with a decent hash function...
If you manage to do a perfect hash function, to your data(no collisions), time complexity will O(1), compared to the average O(n/2) that the for loop, provides...

Still, if it's only 40(or even somewhat larger ranges), it's not worth the trouble, and it will probably be slower...

[Aino]

I figured it out, I jsut made an arrqay inside of the class, telling who the nighbours are, and they are checked when level is created.

Also, the size of the array would minimally be 20x20x20, so it's a large number!

[Pilchard123]

Set up a binary search for the data. You can reuse it quite easily then as well.

Admittedly this requires the data to be sorted as well, but that isn't monstrously hard to do either. It depends how you set up your data in the first place.

[Aino]

Heh... But I got another problem, I need to get an object that could be anything, like it's not predefined...

[Orion63]

Hum?Sorry, didn't understand. Can you elaborate?

[Aino]

Well, I walked through some video tutorials by TheNewBoston(highly reccomended, seriously!!!) and he began talking about an object that can have any shape, so it's and object... a simple object with no specific form... I've figured out that this "object"¨s name is simply... "Object" when you write it on the code x.x

So... Lol!

[Pilchard123]

De quoi?

[Aino]

"Object" in java is the super class for all object, nuff said.

But the binary search, how fast is the while loop usually?

And is it "lag-free" for 2d search? Like X,Y?

[Orion63]

Binary Search has a time complexity of O(log2(n)) a.k.a. pretty damn good...(Still vote for hash table ^^)

Either way, unless whatever you're doing is a full-featured software or has some kind of scientific basis, you shouldn't be thinking much about timing algorithms. It's faster to write whatever you want the program to do first, and optimize it later, than spending too much time, finding the perfect method for every small thing.

And if you still insist in doing things, the hard way, Java will help you, more than pretty much any other language, around. Java has a ridiculous amount of data types, just waited to be used(including binary trees and hash tables, linked lists, graphs, etc...), so you shouldn't be spending much time in that...

[Aino]

Well, I'm asking around and then coding, so that I can do other stuff that is unsolved while I wait for an answer... I think it's pretty nice to do that...

And because I asked, I do believe I will optimize my project alot now, currently each block(like in minecraft) checks for a neighbour and does that by doing a for loop throuhg all the blocks(around 10.000) when created and updated, with the binary search/hash tables(which both I didn't know about) are far more efficient for this than looping through all of the blocks.

I also have no time limit on my project, I have no intention being quick about the project... So I'll use the time I need

[Orion63]

I think I know now, what you want and indeed checking every block is a bit overkill(underkill in this case?), and if I am understanding the problem correctly, your best bet is making a hash table, in which the key is the hashed coordinate, and whenever trying to check for neighbors, it creates the coordinates where they should be(moore neighborhood), and checks if exists in the hash table...

And if you want alternatives, a binary tree, would also be a good option, and perhaps a quadtree, which seems appropriate to the kind of problem, you're facing. I never used it thought in any of my cellular automata programs(Seems similar to your problem.). I would normally use either a hash table, or just a regular list(with some nasty hacks ^^).

[Pilchard123]

...currently each block(like in minecraft) checks for a neighbour and does that by doing a for loop throuhg all the blocks(around 10.000) when created and updated....

*vomits*

[Aino]

Hmm, the biproduct of me dilly dalling around in lua is a score board, it shows the score for every AI(including the player ;P) except the greys. I have plans for making it only show factions alive, but that is for later times

It's also closeable, it got this one button to open and close the board

[Aino]

Got an awesome idea for a map, going to RingDesigner to make the map

[Aino]

Ok, fixed most of the map

It's you, a military veteran of Crow Mining Corp, and Crow Corp has been attacked during a peaceful mining operation on an asteroid field with no name(gimme some ). Then Crow Corps Mining Operator had to send in military forces to fend off the attack. This wasn't a success, because the leader of the military sucked. They then sent down another Military force, to fend off and protect their home on the field. They also sent you to help with strategies.

This is just some back story, I'll flesh it out more if some of you really read that

But the gameplay is new, you have an AI controlling your forces(you can also control the forces) and it uses the Merchant AI. The only thing the AI controlling your forces can't do, is decide where to attack, thats your thing to do! You must click an asteroid, then make it an attack node.

I need beta testers, so I'm gonna make a new topic

[Aino]

Got a new proj. and hoping it will last out till Skyrim arrives, probably won't happen, but can hope

This has also been the most boring weekend of mine, so I'll ask: What are you workin' on?

And Bonobo, finish up testin' my map?

[collapsoul]

Code: [Select]

arr=Euflorium:GetForumAsTopicArray("User levels and modifications")

--this loop is obviously not infinite, however it's still in progress
for counter,value in ipairs(arr) do
 ReadTopicCarefully(value) --yep, all of them to the last one
end

while collapsoul:GetNumCreativeIdeas()>0 do
 collapsoul:CreateMoarMaps()
end

[Aino]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Nice one

[collapsoul]

Oh yes, also excuse my bad English, for my native language is... uhh... Clipper (Harbour) - our company's primary language for accounting software development 

But the whole life/evolution thing is supposed to drive one towards perfection at whatever objects one have chosen, so if anyone sees any mistake - feel free to aim a kick right at my teeth and beat some knowledge to me

[Aino]

Don't worry about your English, it's perfect ;P

Welcome to the forum btw, you made quite the nice intro!

[collapsoul]

Welcome to the forum btw, you made quite the nice intro!

Muchos Gracias.

BTW, while you're here - a quick question.
Required: compare roid's SendDistance to distance between this roid and another. Sure it's Pythagorean, so...

Code: [Select]

roid.SendDistance == math.sqrt(differenceX^2+differenceY^2)
BUT. As long as distance itself isn't needed there, it is possible to compare it this way either:

Code: [Select]

roid.SendDistance^2 == differenceX^2+differenceY^2
so... can second comparation be in any way faster than first one? Asking because it's planned to run it extensively inside a loop at LevelLogic()

[Aino]

The second one should be faster, as you get rid of sqrt(which is very CPU costly) and still have the core. The only thing you need to do is to ^2 everything compared to it, else things will go wrong. You probably knew that already

What are you making btw?

[collapsoul]

The second one should be faster, as you get rid of sqrt(which is very CPU costly) and still have the core. The only thing you need to do is to ^2 everything compared to it, else things will go wrong. You probably knew that already

Kudos! Heard about sqrt before, yet wasn't so sure about it (as this operation is not that widely used with accounting)

What are you making btw?

Well, seeing what community have achieved so far (love your minimap ang leaderboard gadgets in particular) plus imagining what can still be done, multiple ideas are swirling in my head...

First things to try are:
 - a semi-random (or fractal maybe) generated map, as I'm highly impressed at EverSwarm's replayability rate.
 - Own rally system integrated in it, as same EverSwarm gets me tired because of all seed sendings at Endspiel.
 - An occasionally discovered nebula-like visual effect may also happen to be included, if I'll manage to make it look fine all the time and not just sometimes (consists of a bunch of huge, highly transparent, partially overlapping DrawSprite's with different colours - ID 1 and/or 5, and, sometimes, slow backdrop colour changes).

Next steps then would be to make a preview thingy for abovementioned map generator (ideally, with ability to change parameters used to generate it) and somewhat that could humbly be named as AI...

Most part of necessary knowledge has already been collected. Though it may happen so that I won't get much time daily to progress there, so it could be way too long before I release something.

Also, if anything that is to come from me has to be finished, it should be pretty much optimised. Currently using P4 2.8 (single core) / 1 gb ram / radeon x1600 pro(512). Default Eufloria runs just fine, but any lag coming from unefficient code is spotted easily and painfully

Knowledge about new PC Eufloria version that is to come doesn't bother much. I'm pretty sure that men who gave birth to the game will want at least to enable support to the levels that previously included Community Map Pack consists of. Maybe not right at release date, so what?

[Pilchard123]

First things to try are:
 - a semi-random (or fractal maybe) generated map, as I'm highly impressed at EverSwarm's replayability rate.
 - Own rally system integrated in it, as same EverSwarm gets me tired because of all seed sendings at Endspiel.
 - An occasionally discovered nebula-like visual effect may also happen to be included, if I'll manage to make it look fine all the time and not just sometimes (consists of a bunch of huge, highly transparent, partially overlapping DrawSprite's with different colours - ID 1 and/or 5, and, sometimes, slow backdrop colour changes).

---snip---

Also, if anything that is to come from me has to be finished, it should be pretty much optimised. Currently using P4 2.8 (single core) / 1 gb ram / radeon x1600 pro(512). Default Eufloria runs just fine, but any lag coming from unefficient code is spotted easily and painfully

There's a few rallying systems that shouldn't be too hard to drop into a map. Mine, I know shouldn't mess with the game.

Also, how does your computer still work? I though P4 chips were designed to overheat and explode?

Anyways, nice to see you here! Were always looking for fresh faces  ...hooded figures made of binary strings. I might dust of the old programmer's notepad and restart my AI experiments, too.

[Aino]

Anyways, nice to see you here! Were always looking for fresh faces  ...hooded figures made of binary strings.

Pilchard, a bot in a human disguise!

Anyways, cool to hear about your ideas, I'm here to help, unless I'm at school or sleeping, if you come to need help

[collapsoul]

There's a few rallying systems that shouldn't be too hard to drop into a map. Mine, I know shouldn't mess with the game.

Well, you may be right. Maybe it's better to start off with something less complex and to use some modules that already has been released to not be sunk down by own ambitions. In RPG, for instance, you never go for raid-boss if you're level one Gonna think on it.

Also, how does your computer still work? I though P4 chips were designed to overheat and explode?

Nah-uh. Old horse runs good and feels alright since mid 2006. The only part that required replacement since this time was power supply unit.

Anyways, nice to see you here! Were always looking for fresh faces  ...hooded figures made of binary strings.

Thx, and it's nice to see that community ain't hibernated completely. Such a pain being a slowpoke like me

I might dust of the old programmer's notepad and restart my AI experiments, too.

Been watching Merchant vs Infected and Merchant vs Mihhaelo's AI guy. Been, like, amazed. Wanting moar show. Dreaming of participation 

Pilchard, a bot in a human disguise!

A somewhat 'matricized' Darlok actually. They were my all-time favourites at MOO series.

Anyways, cool to hear about your ideas, I'm here to help, unless I'm at school or sleeping, if you come to need help

Hehe. Shall do my best to keep you busy 

[collapsoul]

ok. Tryng to generate random irregular convex polygon (next step will be to populate its edges by asteroids, overall goal is a spiderweb-like design consisting of several such polys and connectors between vertices)

Anyone knows a better way of doing this poly than to seed a plenty random points and pass them to one of the following algorythms: Gift wrapping / Graham's scan / Quickhull / whatewer there are else?

[Aino]

A web like this:



or anything else?

That web is incredibly easy to replicate, just use sin and cos and multiplay by size, there you have the points, now to connect them... Thats also easy xD

A little code showing howto:

Code: [Select]


local points = 6

for point = 1,points do
 
 local angle = (point/points)*(math.pi*2)
 local angle2 = angle
 
 DrawSprite(1,X[roid]+math.cos(angle)*size, Y[roid]+math.sin(angle)*size, 1, 1, 1, 1, size/points) --DrawSprite(ID,X,Y,R,G,B,A,Size)
 
 if (point == points) then
 
  angle2 = (1/points)*(math.pi*2)
 
 else
 
  angle2 = (point+1/points)*(math.pi*2)
 
 end
 
 DrawLine(X[roid]+math.cos(angle)*size, Y[roid]+math.sin(angle)*size, X[roid]+math.cos(angle2)*size, Y[roid]+math.sin(angle2)*size, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, (size/points)/1.33)
 
end

Hope you get what I mean, there are variables missing and stuff, but that's how

[collapsoul]

or anything else?

Something else actually

Hope you get what I mean, there are variables missing and stuff, but that's how

The code is clearly understandable, thanks. Though it's not quite what I meant, it will certainly come handy at some point anyways.

Now, moving to what I'm trying to achieve here...
This web of yours consists of regular polygons. I meant irregular ones, i.e. they should have sides unequal to each others, therefore same applies to their angles.

Attached is a sketch example of what my goal sequence is.

Line 1: generate random convex poly
Line 2: concentrically replicate it inside/outside itself random number of times
Line 3: connect vertices accordingly
Line 4: populate this calculated carcass with asteroids - more or less regularly. There are three options:
 - asteroids lie on vertices only (first image of line 4)
 - asteroids lie alongside lines only (second)
 - vetices AND lines are used (third)

The reason behind all of this vanity is that I wanna get a stylish-looking map either with sufficient number of organically placed dead-ends (vertices only option) or without any dead-ends at all. Dead-ends are very strong strategical bonuses when there are more than two competitors aboard - they need no defence, all seedlings may freely be drawn from them. When I find myself surrounded by some enemy empires in such a way that all of them cant compete anyone else but me - well, it's chalenging... but still way too unfair. That's how this layout invaded my brain =-)

Anyhow, the algorithm creation is underway currently (chosen simple "Gift Wrapping" route). Dunno how much time it will take. I'm a coder, but all my previous experience lies within relational data base manipulations area - nothing game-related or just graphical. (Oh, FoxBASE, FoxBASE, old friend, where have you gone? What have you become since? All that left are nostalgic teenage memories...)

[Aino]

just use the example I gave you and just make an array for the sizes, arrange them from 5000 to 20000 and you get the web.
To achieve the multilayered web, just do a for loop inside the for loop with the amount of layers, and then just do size+(layer*layer size)

Easily achievable

Edit: Oh, didn't see the asteroid in between :/

Anyways, you can just do atan2 between them and use sin and cos. That's how I'd do it though

How to do atan2: math.atan2(roid1.Y - roid2.Y, roid1.X - roid2.X)

[Lost Seedling]

I had an idea for a "web" - based map with spider animation a while back, and tried to generate concentric circles with spokes using a simple looped formula versus drawing the whole thing mechanically. Although successful, it became apparent to me that rendering the number of line-segments necessary for my vision created quite a bit of lag, and so I abandoned the effort. Since I am not a programmer or mathematically gifted, maybe I was just being inefficient with my code. My computer is also very slow so that could've been part of the problem, too.

From that experiment I eventually just created this little program for animating a wheel or regular polygon. You can adjust the parameters to achieve different effects and appearances. I'm easily amused like that!

[collapsoul]

Oh well. I simply done it the way I originally assumed to do it, and it works exactly as I want it to. Done so because school and university are past. Since then I accidentally managed to forget most part of the trigonometry. In other words, I left her. Now this Trigonometry chick seems to be sooo offended... Bites and kicks me randomly I have yet to befriend and tame her once more That seems to be inevitable though if I decide to stick with mapping/modding.

So here's a demo. Step 3 from my pic done so far. Selecting any asteroid generates new pattern. Thought about some optimization first, but my single-cored granny processes those nasty nested loops in milliseconds anyway, so this part is considered done.

Next I'll just populate lines and intersections with asteroids. SendDistances, Radiuses, mutual reachabiities, their dependencies on minimum line lenghts, proper randomizations etc... Seems not too complicated (holding fingers crossed )

As for spider... Several different thoughts, none finished 

<edit> foud rare happening bug. Line 188.

Code: [Select]

webangle = 0should be

Code: [Select]

webangle = -1to be sure that all works as intended. Anyway, it happens approx 1 time out of 50...

[Lost Seedling]

Wow! Very nice. My head is spinning but I had a good laugh at 287.

[Aino]

Wow! Very nice. My head is spinning but I had a good laugh at 287.

Haha

Good job, Collapsoul

[collapsoul]

Next I'll just populate lines and intersections with asteroids. SendDistances, Radiuses, mutual reachabiities, their dependencies on minimum line lenghts, proper randomizations etc...

...and that's when I must thank RingDesigner and its authors for its existence! Currently implanted the web-drawing thingy into it and estimating variations of roid values of all sorts, writing down reasonable boundaries =-)

Arts Project will do later on too. Got bold plans for visuals.

[collapsoul]

Anyways, cool to hear about your ideas

It appears that you have already done something very similar to Nebula which I've listed as planned. Holy Pluck. Sorry. Didn't mean any plagiarism. The only difference is that my plan was to bind those coloured transparent sprites to/near asteroids and make em big and dynamic (pulse/move slowly). Like, Nebula's insides. Well, I understand that those are released for public use. Just won't state anymore that such effects were my idea at first place.

[Aino]

Heh, don't worry about that. Even if I made it, it's always cool to see more

[collapsoul]

Next I'll just populate lines and intersections with asteroids. SendDistances, Radiuses, mutual reachabiities, their dependencies on minimum line lenghts, proper randomizations etc... Seems not too complicated (holding fingers crossed )

Indeed, it's not any much hard to position roids at where they belong to - along web lines if you use this:

x=(x₁+λx₂)/(1+λ),  y=(y₁+λy₂)/(1+λ).
where λ=L₁/L₂
where L₁ and L₂ are lenghts of two lines we get by splitting initial one with point we calculate.

Max roid radius is also easy to calculate - it depends either on minimum web line length or, more often, on minimum distance between two parallel lines of the web (calculated as a height of the trapezoid shaped by four adjacent vertices)

Now to what is really challenging here... Surprisingly or not, it's task of reducing overall resulting asteroid count. I'm trying to arrange send distances in such way that you can't hop from one line to the parallel one, only using the "node" roids at vertices. So layout is happening to be somewhat condensed because of SendDistance severe reduction. Who for his life's sake would play a map consisting of 200-300 asteroids - even with proper rally system? 4k seedling limit is too easily hittable.

So atm I'm tweaking web generation parameters, hoping to find the balance between roid count and pattern diversity.

[collapsoul]

Whew. Last week (weekend included) were very busy. Now back to it. Finally all calculations are made. Took 31 804 bytes (782 lines) to justify it all as it should be. I consider that 'total done' percentage counter is somewhere about 45..50% now.

Now ready to place actual roids and go on with rally system (notice roid counts, less cause the mess (tree caps will not be big though); so rally is inevitable, I dont' want players to get upset of all clicking). From all rallys that are already existing, Pilchard's one is which I like the most, as simpliclty is the key to user's well-being.

Planned is something mathematically average between Pilchard's and Aino's ones, but I got a different UI paradigm for it in my mind.

[Pilchard123]

Code: [Select]

--this loop is obviously not infinite, however it's still in progress
for counter,value in ipairs(arr) do
 ReadTopicCarefully(value) --yep, all of them to the last one
end


You may know this by now, but if you want an infinite loop, use

for i = 0,math.huge do
--blahblahblah
end

However, your method is probably better for what you used it for.

[Aino]

No, infinite you want?

Code: [Select]

v = true
while v do
 -- Derp?

 Coroutine.yield()
end
But you get that loop with the classic "while GameRunning() do - end", and I'm not sure you can nest them and get the effect.

[collapsoul]

for i = 0,math.huge do
--blahblahblah
end

Loop that'll force an entity to live forever:

Code: [Select]

while true do
   Live()
end
Heh, Aino is faster =-)

As for math.huge, the best use of it I can think of so far is to use it to initialize variable used to store min/max values:

Code: [Select]

CompareVar = math.huge -- (or '-math.huge' if used with math.max)

for x = y , z do
   CompareVar = math.min(CompareVar, arr[x])
end

<added>
As I progress with webs, a new idea makes me to scratch my skull fiercely.
What if I make a no-tree asteroid populated by Grays?
What if next I draw a huge seedling body on top of it (huge enough to close that roid completely)?
What if I force this whole construction to follow mouse clicks and, if another asteroid is selected, our Grays go out to attack it?
I think it is even possible to make it destroy smaller asteroids by shooting them (like it is done in RoidForge/RingDesigner)
The hardest part of it all would be not technical but challenge providing and storyline-related.
Of course this will be another map, don't want to do these webz forever.
So... How could this abomination be called then? Seednought? Seedcruiser? Roflcopter? Any ideas?

[Pilchard123]

Ah, but for i=0, math.huge is better for things where you have to keep count of how many times the loop has run.

[Avaguard]

ima leave this map makeing stuff to the geniusses i cant compute any of this oh whats that thing calld peoplke do to test maps .lol :tester thats right Please send me any map i can test or try out  i might not get back to u about it in a lil

[collapsoul]

ima leave this map makeing stuff to the geniusses i cant compute any of this oh whats that thing calld peoplke do to test maps .lol :tester thats right Please send me any map i can test or try out  i might not get back to u about it in a lil

Beta (or what can be called so) is underway. I absolutely don't see any reason why stuff made for the community (and own amusement of course ) should be closed at any stage of its development. So look for a new topic regarding open beta-test in next 24-36 hours if interested.

[Lost Seedling]

I want to call a function at regular intervals- every 1 second, or every half-second, etc. Ideally, I'd be able to adjust the interval to less than a second if needed. This interval, once set, does not need to be changed during the game. My computer runs much slower than most, so the time should be based on the system clock vs. "Game Time" in Eufloria so that the time interval is not dependent on the speed of the computer. The result must be whole numbers in ascending sequence. In other words, I need to have a count, but possibly slower or faster than second-intervals. I also need to be able to reset the count back to "1" when reaching a certain number, so that, for example, on reaching 100 it will reset to 1 and count up again.

Does anyone know how I can achieve this?

[Aino]

I want to call a function at regular intervals- every 1 second, or every half-second, etc. Ideally, I'd be able to adjust the interval to less than a second if needed. This interval, once set, does not need to be changed during the game. My computer runs much slower than most, so the time should be based on the system clock vs. "Game Time" in Eufloria so that the time interval is not dependent on the speed of the computer. The result must be whole numbers in ascending sequence. In other words, I need to have a count, but possibly slower or faster than second-intervals. I also need to be able to reset the count back to "1" when reaching a certain number, so that, for example, on reaching 100 it will reset to 1 and count up again.

Does anyone know how I can achieve this?

A simple code:

Code: [Select]


t = GetGameTime()
myInterval = 1
if GetGameTime() > t+myInterval then
 
 --do stuff
 
 t = GetGameTime()
 
end


[Lost Seedling]

Thanks, but that's not quite what I was looking for. Never mind, though. I figured it out but ultimately decided to go another route as things were too jerky using clock time.

On another note...

So look for a new topic regarding open beta-test in next 24-36 hours if interested

I've been holding my breath for 45 hours and am turning purple!

[annikk.exe]

Hello everyone. :>

Hope you are all well and had a comfortable festive season.

A friend recently expressed an interest in learning to script Eufloria levels, so I showed him all the guides and stuff on here.  Hopefully he will get into it.. :>
What's been happening around here lately?

[Aino]

There you are!

I've been doing java coding, making my own games with LWJGL, the same engine Minecraft uses and I'm currently making an Eufloria inspired game.
And maybe you didn't know(hard do keep track of time) I've made a Leaderboard, Minimap and a new AI(MAI). I don't know if you know about any of them

And: Welcome back Annikk!

Oh and: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/885938-modloader100-volcanoes-10/ is just an example of java knowledge, MC is quite easy to mod though...

[collapsoul]

On another note...

So look for a new topic regarding open beta-test in next 24-36 hours if interested

I've been holding my breath for 45 hours and am turning purple!

Yeah, yeah, should read as '82 hours' actually
Quite a cool metabolism you have here BTW

Hello everyone. :>

Hello and I the first thing I wanted to say to you is: thank you. Your creativity is what led me to this forum, your awesome maps made me wanting to create something cool too.

What's been happening around here lately?

Two new modders happened recently. One is fast and creative, another is slow and heavy-minded

[Pilchard123]

Oh, and I still haven't got OHAI up here yet. I'm not sure where it is, or if I even finished it...

[Lost Seedling]

Welcome back! I hope you stick around- your knowledge has been sorely missed by all. Aino just hasn't been the same since you disappeared! I assume you've been spending your creative energies elsewhere, like your music, perhaps? Care to share? How is Fluffy?

(I've been corrected- BattleFluffy!)

[Aino]

Welcome back! I hope you stick around- your knowledge has been sorely missed by all. Aino just hasn't been the same since you disappeared! I assume you've been spending your creative energies elsewhere, like your music, perhaps? Care to share? How is Fluffy?

I guess I've been more away and more busy after Annikk left

[Pilchard123]

How is Fluffy?

Do you mean Annikk, or his cat?

[Lost Seedling]

Cat, actually, but I liked the open interpretation- sort of like "No Kill I" - if you're familiar with that reference. 

[Aino]

Seedling, it's BattleFluffy

Annikk is often refered to Fluffy, and his kitten he called BattleFluffy

[Pilchard123]

Back to working on OHAI, but I've got exams and stuff coming up, so...

[annikk.exe]

Welcome back Annikk! :D

Thanks! :>

Hello and I the first thing I wanted to say to you is: thank you. Your creativity is what led me to this forum, your awesome maps made me wanting to create something cool too.

It's awesome to hear that man.  :>  You are most welcome!  It's very fulfilling to see my work being put to use, and amazing to see all of the cool stuff that is being created these days. :>

Two new modders happened recently. One is fast and creative, another is slow and heavy-minded ;)

Excellent. :>

Welcome back! I hope you stick around- your knowledge has been sorely missed by all. Aino just hasn't been the same since you disappeared! I assume you've been spending your creative energies elsewhere, like your music, perhaps? Care to share? How is Fluffy?

Oh, she's just beautiful. :>

Footage of BattleFluffy:

In all honesty, a great deal of my energy lately has been spent on work!  Its proving quite lucrative though.  I've been able to finally afford my first car, which is a huge step for me.
I bought a Volkswagen Golf TDI GT and it's freaking awesome.
Pics:





I have done some creative stuff as well though..  I finished a new tune called Bass Grind, which you can listen to here: http://soundcloud.com/annikk-exe/bass-grind
I also made a song in collaboration with my friend James.  He recorded a bunch of sounds in his kitchen with some help from another friend from Sweden.. sounds like the "ping!" of the microwave as it finishes its cycle, the "click" of the cooker extractor fan being switched on, and the electric whining noise of the blender coming up to speed.  He then sent these sounds to me and I processed and sequenced them into a song called Onion Explosion.
Onion Explosion was then used to make a video, which James produced.  You can view James's video along with my song here:

Maybe I already told you guys about Onion Explosion... I forget. :>



Anyway.. work is gradually getting quieter, I only have 3 major operations to plan at the moment.. :P  So I shall be around in a sort of consulting capacity.
Now without further ado, bring on the insurmountable (hah!) programming challenges!

[Pilchard123]

Footage of BattleFluffy:

Oh look, a cat sat in some cables - there's a surprise. Does she always sit in awkward/weird places? My cats do. Like, on a newspaper, while I'm reading it.

Now without further ado, bring on the insurmountable (hah!) programming challenges!

Is P in NP?

[Aino]

Footage of BattleFluffy:

Oh look, a cat sat in some cables - there's a surprise. Does she always sit in awkward/weird places? My cats do. Like, on a newspaper, while I'm reading it.

Now without further ado, bring on the insurmountable (hah!) programming challenges!

Pilchard, she's from tech support

Is P in NP?

[Lost Seedling]

I had no idea she was so beautiful....those eyes!

Some day I hope to get a dog or a cat - the antics of cats are an endless source of entertainment!

Bass Grind- liked it quite a bit- sampling more now.

Your car- fast, sleek and black like BattleFluffy! It has your name written all over it....too bad the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

[Pilchard123]

Annikk, IIRC, lives in Scotland. They/we drive on the left side of the road, therefore right-hand drive.

[Aino]

Annikk, IIRC, lives in Scotland. They/we drive on the left side of the road, therefore right-hand drive.

Isn't Annikk living in England?

[Pilchard123]

Scotland and England are part of the UK. IDK what Annikk thinks of the whole independence thing so I thought I'd specify Scotland, rather than the UK.

At least, I think he's up in Scotland...

Annikk?

[Aino]

Scotland and England are part of the UK. IDK what Annikk thinks of the whole independence thing so I thought I'd specify Scotland, rather than the UK.

At least, I think he's up in Scotland...

Annikk?

Searched it up on the topic about Annikk's new House and indeed he is living in Scotland. I just remembered the sayings of UK and England was for some reason memorized(probably because I wen't to London just some weeks later?). But it's Aberdeen and it's in Scotland, I never really searched on the name.

Lesson learned

[Bonobo]

Could’ve been worse, Aino http://alphadesigner.com/project-mapping-stereotypes.html

[annikk.exe]

I live in Scotland, but I'm "from" the internet.

I'm not sure what I think about the idea of independence.  I don't think Scotland would do very well on its own, and I'm pretty sure the rest of the UK would suffer without the drilling rights in the north sea.  I like the idea of the world moving to city states eventually, I also see the advantages in massive unions such as the EU.  It's a tricky problem and not one I claim to know the answer to.

[Pilchard123]

You read xkcd, Annikk?

http://xkcd.com/256/    Read the mouseover text.

Which part?

Also,
http://xkcd.com/802/