Ninja

[CDI]

Strings are good, but slow near the end, Mats have almost lossless until you get into the 20+ dims. I'd suggest lists for both the level and the events, and use decimals, that way you can say... Have 1.1 be a solid mine, and 1.2 be treasure, so when you get treasure it becomes 1.0, I was also wondering... why can't the TI-OS do a point change with an indicator number (the optional 3rd value)? (oh, idea (I don't like editing my sentances) why not use the plots is it...? with the lists to load and place treasure?)

[axcho]

There's not really any reason to use plots for the items, since changing the plot would automatically erase the whole screen. For loops work just as well for displaying the level initially.

I had an idea for the items. I noticed how in N, the gold serves to create a kind of path for the player, like a carrot dangled in front of them. You know how you go towards the gold? There also might be several paths to take. So I was thinking that there could be one gold piece on the screen at a time, and when you get it, the next one appears. Collision detection would be much easier! The sequence of gold piece positions would probably be stored in a list beforehand by the level designer, though I guess it could also be automatically generated. Something similar could be done with mines or enemies.

N is really about interacting with the environment as a whole, and I think it would be effective to abstract that fully in the calculator version. We don't need to track tons of objects at once! That's just what we're used to seeing; it is possible to capture the experience in a more optimized way. Now we just have to figure out how...

[CDI]

I love it! I never would have thought of that I think it's a gold idea

[kalan_vod]

Well I think lists would be a good way. I just thought you could split the map into four sections (or more) and use four lists. Then just see if X and Y are in w/e section. That could be faster if you used more objects on screen. Either way I think it would be great. I am not too sure how Bryan Tomas (spelling?) did it in Contra, but he had several objects on screen and they all worked (I think it was a combination of lists and mats.)

[axcho]

Hmmm, yeah, maybe I should see how Contra did it. Well, first I'll try it with one gold at a time, and see how that goes.

I'm glad you guys are liking this. I bet it could be one of the best TI-BASIC arcade games!

[Liazon]

definitely!

[CDI]

WOO! I can be t3h cheater... 2 things

[kermmartian]

haha, nice! I'm gonna play with this a bit...

[kalan_vod]

I couldn't get it working, where double jumping or w/e. I would like to see it were you could jump off walls!

[CDI]

Doble jumping IS hard, probably impossible on the 83+SE ^^ as for wall jumping, it's in there

[kalan_vod]

83+SE here , yeah I will try it again later.

[axcho]

I found out about infinite jumping as well. It's possible, as long as you get the rhythm right. (Press 2nd just before the apex of the jump, when there is no gap between the two pixels of the ninja.) It's not possible in any other direction, either.

The problem with changing the maximum speed to 3 pixels is that collision detection gets messed up. Of course, if you've figured out how to get around that, let me know.

By the way, CDI has posted some ninja sprites on MaxCoderz that could be used for an assembly version of the game.

I'm having some trouble coming up with a good style for levels. CDI, what do your levels look like? Are you using the Line() command or something else?

[CDI]

I'm using many commands acually, 4 to be exact, in a list... The setup is something like

{1,0,1,-1,2,0,2,1,2,94,2,93,3,6,-8,6,-62 ect.

Then I use a for loop to read it, and it loads pretty well acually, the set up leaves something to be desired though... Maybe you can optimize it or something I did get the hit detection to work on 2 and 1px thick walls, though (as you'll see with my test level) it's fun around single dots. I (at one time) had a launchpad working, but that wasn't too well, you couldn't see it and it didn't always take. I also had the laserbeam enemy in (all of these keep the speed) that uses your trail as an aiming device, when you are on your trail for more than 3 cycles it fires... "BOOM HEADSHOT" But that worked TOO well... I died every 10 seconds -.- So I went (for this one) the fact that now, if you fall for 31+ pixels you die... the code there isn't the greatest I know, but it's a quick fix ^^

Didja get all that? Run prgmN to start, 2nd is still jump (it's better for certan tricks) You start in the chimney, pound 2nd to wall jump up.

[Liazon]

impressive!!

[CDI]

Hrm... working on a level editor now... I <3 the F# keys, makes things so easy, especially to make a graphical level editor... it's small too... *working*

[alexrudd]

Looks pretty sweet, although I couldn't find my Ninja until I pressed 2nd a few times. The level loading was pretty fast!

[CDI]

Thanks ^^ almost done with level maker, just have to figure out deleting lines and such... the dot isn't TOO hard to find, I told you where it'd be :)

-----

Finished the level loader, it's pretty easy to use...

F1 make a horizontal line
F2 makes a virtical line
F3 starts and ends a line
F4 puts a dot
F5 marks where you start, I suggest using this last, but remember... you HAVE TO USE THIS AT SOME POINT
2nd + Arrow moved 5 px
ALPHA + Arrow moves 10px
CLEAR quits.

In order to implement a level, you have to acually edit the level program, just go into it, go past the first list, make a statement such as "If L=5:" (it's can't be less than 5, as there are already levels 1, 2, 3, and 4) then recall L1 and you're good!

Run prgmN to play, enter your level number (or any of the other numbers, the 4 levels that come with it are just test levels for diffrent things) and play your heart out ^^


-CDI


@axcho, sorry man... I'll stop now -.-

[katmaster]

This is a fun little toy to play with. *katmaster likes

[axcho]

So, I finally tried out your version, CDI. Overall, it was nice. Thanks for taking the time to test out and improve the program. There were a few optimizations to make, but hey, it's a prototype, isn't it?

I like the change to the running speed. It works better, and doesn't require any changes to the hit detection code. One thing I noticed, though, is that jumping is a lot higher. I am not sure what you changed to do that, since the running speed doesn't affect it. I had purposely made running jumps higher than jumps from standing, so you could do little jumps to avoid enemies overhead. But if you think it would be better another way, go ahead and explain your idea.

There is still the problem of infinite jumping. If you just rapidly press the jump button, you can keep jumping forever. We need to fix that.

The map editor is good. I think it would be helpful to include the box-shaped points, since those make handy platforms (or gold pieces). The cross-shaped points could also be useful. I'll try to think of a good encoding scheme for the levels, and how to do enemies and other objects.

:biggrin:

[CDI]

Ah, for those (the points) all I need is 1 modification to the programs really

As for the jumping?!?!? I really have no real clue... maybe I'll look into that further... it's probably with how friction works on your guy ya know?

Infinite jumping I think I can fix... maybe... all it needs is minor adjustments on the trail and it's good... I'll look into it ^^