[QUESTION] Creating waves of enemies with arrays or external file

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Stupinator

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Posted: 14th Sep 2015 23:29

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So here's the dealio: I'm working on a top-down 2d shooter, arcade-ish style. I need to implement a simple way of creating waves.

I thought about doing arrays, but there would need to be two per wave, or a good way of parsing different array parts to different things (first number does this, second number does this, third does same as first, fourth does same as second, etc. etc.) Same issue with an external file.

Simply put: I need a way to make 0 1 0 1 to mean 0 is the enemy type, 1 is the amount of time before spawning the next enemy.

any thoughts?

-Stupinator

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BatVink

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Posted: 15th Sep 2015 10:59

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2 Arrays and 2 Types

Something like this...

+ Code Snippet

type tEnemy
	enemyType as integer
	health as integer
	speed as integer
	strength as integer
endtype

type tWave
	id as integer
	spawninterval as float
	enemy as tEnemy[10]
Endtype


global arrWave as integer[10]

arrWave[1].spawninterval = 5
arrWave[1].enemy[1].enemyType = badGuy
etc...

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur
TutCity is being rebuilt

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Stupinator

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Posted: 15th Sep 2015 16:16 Edited at: 17th Sep 2015 02:26

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Brilliant! Now to go find that tutorial you mentioned in the other thread.

Why the heck didn't I think of using an array inside an array... I've done that so many times...

Brain wasn't braining I suppose.

Also, I'm assuming you meant twave instead I A integer.

-Stupinator

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Stupinator

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Posted: 17th Sep 2015 03:39

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Well here's what I got so far:

// Project: enemyloadingattempt 
// Created: 2015-09-14

// set window properties
SetWindowTitle( "enemyloadingattempt" )
SetWindowSize( 1024, 768, 0 )

// set display properties
SetVirtualResolution( 1024, 768 )
SetOrientationAllowed( 1, 1, 1, 1 )
global oldtime#
global newtime#
oldtime# = timer()
//enemy types
type tenemy
	etype as integer
	health as integer
	damage as integer
	shotinterval as float
	spr as integer
endtype

type twave
	id as integer
	spawninterval as float
	enemy as tenemy[10]
endtype

global line = 0
global circle = 1
global arrWave as twave[1]
initEnemies()

do
	spawnEnemies()
    newtime# = timer()
	print(oldTime#)
	print(newtime#)
	print(i)
	print(j)
    Print( ScreenFPS() )
    Sync()
loop

function initEnemies()
	//wave 1
	arrWave[1].spawninterval = 1
	arrWave[1].enemy[1].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[2].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[3].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[4].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[5].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[6].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[7].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[8].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[9].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[10].etype = circle

endfunction
global i = 1
global j = 1
global x = 0
global y = 0
function spawnEnemies()
	if i < arrWave.length and j >= arrWave[i].enemy.length
		inc i, 1
	endif
	if newtime# > oldtime# + arrWave[i].spawninterval and j <= arrWave[i].enemy.length
		arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr = CreateSprite(0)
		SetSpriteOffset(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr, GetSpriteWidth(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr)/2, GetSpriteHeight(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr)/2)
		SetSpritePositionByOffset(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr, x, y)
		x = x + 50
		y = y + 50
		if j < arrWave[i].enemy.length then inc j, 1
		oldtime# = newtime#
	endif
endfunction

+ Code Snippet

// Project: enemyloadingattempt 
// Created: 2015-09-14

// set window properties
SetWindowTitle( "enemyloadingattempt" )
SetWindowSize( 1024, 768, 0 )

// set display properties
SetVirtualResolution( 1024, 768 )
SetOrientationAllowed( 1, 1, 1, 1 )
global oldtime#
global newtime#
oldtime# = timer()
//enemy types
type tenemy
	etype as integer
	health as integer
	damage as integer
	shotinterval as float
	spr as integer
endtype

type twave
	id as integer
	spawninterval as float
	enemy as tenemy[10]
endtype

global line = 0
global circle = 1
global arrWave as twave[1]
initEnemies()



do
	spawnEnemies()
    newtime# = timer()
	print(oldTime#)
	print(newtime#)
	print(i)
	print(j)
    Print( ScreenFPS() )
    Sync()
loop

function initEnemies()
	//wave 1
	arrWave[1].spawninterval = 1
	arrWave[1].enemy[1].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[2].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[3].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[4].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[5].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[6].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[7].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[8].etype = circle
	arrWave[1].enemy[9].etype = line
	arrWave[1].enemy[10].etype = circle

endfunction
global i = 1
global j = 1
global x = 0
global y = 0
function spawnEnemies()
	if i < arrWave.length and j >= arrWave[i].enemy.length
		inc i, 1
	endif
	if newtime# > oldtime# + arrWave[i].spawninterval and j <= arrWave[i].enemy.length
		arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr = CreateSprite(0)
		SetSpriteOffset(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr, GetSpriteWidth(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr)/2, GetSpriteHeight(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr)/2)
		SetSpritePositionByOffset(arrWave[i].enemy[j].spr, x, y)
		x = x + 50
		y = y + 50
		if j < arrWave[i].enemy.length then inc j, 1
		oldtime# = newtime#
	endif
endfunction

not quite working, was going to use for loops, but that wouldn't allow me to spawn them by a time variable. any thoughts?

-Stupinator

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BatVink

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Posted: 17th Sep 2015 10:58

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I'm not sure what isn't working? I see it creating a sprite every second.

It would be a good idea to incorporate some of the variables into your wave type. This will make them more autonomous and later on you can start to add variation such as different spawn times and different appearance times for each wave:

startTime - to allow differing start times rather than just one after the other. It also allows you to check the interval between enemy spawns more accurately against a base starting time.

lastSpawn - the element number of the last spawned enemy in this wave. Allows you to track the last enemy in each specific wave, giving you the freedom to have multiple waves spawning enemies at the same time.

nextSpawnTime - this is a performance thing. At the end of each spawn, calculate the time of the next one. Then you are not calculating this time every cycle, you can just compare timer() to this value.

Now, you can:

. Loop through Waves and check startTime. If < timer():
. . Check nextSpawnTime and if < timer():
. . . Spawn enemy
. . . Set nextSpawnTime
. . . If all enemies spawned, set startTime to 99999999 so that it is ignored in spawn function.

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur
TutCity is being rebuilt

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Stupinator

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Posted: 17th Sep 2015 17:59

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well initially I intended to have spawninterval be a variable of the enemy table, which would allow for different spawn times for each. I think that might allow for more flexibility than checking against nextspawntime?

-Stupinator

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BatVink

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Posted: 17th Sep 2015 20:39

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That's another possibility that is even more granular. You could also vary the nextSpawnTime with a random time (e.g 0.5 - 1.5 seconds)

nextSpawnTime# = (timer() - 0.5) + (random(0,10) / 10.0)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur
TutCity is being rebuilt

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Stupinator

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Posted: 18th Sep 2015 06:43

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gah, not sure why everyone uses # for floats, I understand it makes it a float automagically, but it's so much more of a hassle. I prefer just defining it as a float first

nextSpawnTime as float etc. etc.

Anyways, I'll make a wip thread with what I'm making now, that way I can log changes properly etc. etc. and you can see how I'm implementing this specific bit of code.

-Stupinator

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BatVink

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Posted: 18th Sep 2015 12:05

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Quote: "gah, not sure why everyone uses # for floats"

I don't, but you'd be amazed how many people copy and paste a snippet of code like this and wonder why it fails. Hence the #s and $s on the forums.

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Funnell7

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Posted: 18th Sep 2015 12:32

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Quote: "not sure why everyone uses # for floats"

I never used to do this... For some reason, it irritated me too lol, but now, I do it all the time, and the reason is because when you have a huge project and you are coding against loads of variables, it really helps to know what the variable type is without the need to go back and check your declarations all the time...

I actually do both; global Time# as float

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Stupinator

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Posted: 19th Sep 2015 17:14

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Well to each their own I suppose!

-Stupinator

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