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Cart #55678 | 2018-08-25 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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What is this?

I plan to create a shmup for Pico-8, but I wanted an easy way to test different attack patterns. This started off as a simple toy to test creating a circle of bullets and expanded into a tool to play with several different variables in order to fine tune attacks.

What can I do with it?

  • Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the menu. On each menu item press left and right to change the value.

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  • Press Z to hide the UI. While hidden, you can use the arrows to move the bullet pattern's origin point.
  • Press X to reset the values to defaults.

Loop On

This changes which frame bullets/bullet waves are created. Basically, how often they appear.

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Cluster Count

This affects how many bullets appear per wave. This is only enabled for the "arc" and "radial" pattern types.

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Pulse

Defaults to 0. When greater than 0, it will create bullets for X frames, and then pause for X frames.

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Rotate

Defaults to 0. When greater than 0, it will rotate the bullets clockwise, less than zero, counter-clockwise.

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Bullet Type

Square, Circle, or 3 Different Sprites

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Pattern

Cycle through all bullet pattern types: Single, Cross, Spreadshot, Arc, Semi-Circle, and Radial

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So check out this code to learn or just load up the cart and play around!

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I would love any feedback on my first cart submission. Code on Github: https://github.com/rustybailey/bullet_pattern_tester

P#54400 2018-07-24 22:27 ( Edited 2018-08-27 01:57)

Nice toolkit -
Couple of comments:

  • add/del is not consistent. Make_bullet should add it to the set as ‘update’ removes it
  • draw uses a global bullet type value :/
  • thou shall not use for/all but for/i or for/pairs (way faster)
  • there is no provision for collision detection. Ideally each bullet should have a direction vector and position of the previous frame. Collision detection itself can then be delegated to a user supplied function.
P#54410 2018-07-25 08:01 ( Edited 2018-07-25 12:01)

@freds72

> add/del is not consistent. Make_bullet should add it to the set as ‘update’ removes it
Interesting. Where should I be calling add()?

> draw uses a global bullet type value
Good callout. This was one of the last features I added so I was just trying to get it done at that point. :/

> thou shall not use for/all but for/i or for/pairs (way faster)
Good to know! Thanks.

> there is no provision for collision detection. Ideally each bullet should have a direction vector and position of the previous frame. Collision detection itself can then be delegated to a user supplied function.
Can you explain this a bit more? I definitely didn't address collision detection at all in this tool, but I'm not sure what the thing you're explaining would do.

P#54418 2018-07-25 10:23 ( Edited 2018-07-25 14:23)

Simple, make bullet should simply add the bullet to the bullet set!!

function make_bullet()
 -- yada yada
 return add(bullets, bullet)
end

For collision, it is usually required:

  • to have velocity vector (for separation)
  • to have previous position to support fast intersection (e.g. bullets moving faster than their own radius!)
    (or a mix of position+velocity+velocity vector)
P#54428 2018-07-25 16:47 ( Edited 2018-07-25 20:47)

Ah ok, I see what you mean with the add() thing.

Re: collision. I think I understand conceptually what you are saying, but I am not sure how I would implement it (incredibly new to game dev). Do you have or know of an example of this I could look at?

P#54433 2018-07-25 23:29 ( Edited 2018-07-26 03:29)

Updated to v2. Main improvements:

  • Add more stats
  • Add rotation
  • Add arc pattern
  • Add 2 new sprites
  • Press Z to hide menu
    • When hidden, you can move the bullet origin
  • Press X to reset values
  • Refactor and comment so the code is more reusable
P#55680 2018-08-25 15:59 ( Edited 2018-08-25 19:59)

Marvelous !

Please add a RESET button so shots are facing down as they do initially, it's difficult to get back in a perfect position once you've rotated the cannon.

P#55683 2018-08-25 16:10 ( Edited 2018-08-25 20:10)

@dw817
You can press X to reset all values back to defaults.

P#55695 2018-08-25 23:18 ( Edited 2018-08-26 03:18)

Ah ! I didn't see that. Trying again. Ok, how about adding a horizontal line (shoots up and down) and a plus (shoots up, left, right, down).

You already have the T to shoot in 3-different directions, these would add 2-ways and 4-ways.

P#55744 2018-08-26 17:14 ( Edited 2018-08-26 21:14)

@dw817

You can actually already achieve that with the Radial pattern! :)
Boot up the cart, switch the pattern to Radial and then change the Cluster Count to 2 or 4.

P#55754 2018-08-26 21:23 ( Edited 2018-08-27 01:23)

Omy, never tried CLUSTER. Look at the lovely patterns. Welp, that's it.

This may not be the best shooter game I've played :) but it sure is the best engine to demonstrate complex movements I've seen so far that would be awesome for a great shooter. And it's really pretty to watch !

Nicely done, 💜Favorited!

P#55755 2018-08-26 21:57 ( Edited 2018-08-27 02:09)

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