Referencing tables before they are created

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:32:02 UTC

Hello, considering the following:

Trying to remake Vampire Survivors and a fun project
I have a character class
Characters have effects that are applied to a target. In this example my target = player
I have a character that is an instance of that class. Let's call him "Antonio"
I have a "run", Antonio is copied into run.player
I set player to be run.player

My problem is that I have to initiate the character class and Antonio before I create "player". But player is not yet created so player referenced on the character class is nil.

I hope this makes sense, I have a workaround but it feels clunky and I'm wondering if there are other solutions.

Here is my code before the workaround:

character = {}
character.__index = character
function character:new(name)
    local o = setmetatable({}, character)
    o.name = name
    o.x = 0
    o.y = 0
    o.sp_scale = 1
    o.w = 16
    o.h = 16
    o.effects = effects
    o.original_invincibility_frames = 10
    o.invincibility_frames = 0
    o.max_health = 100
    o.health = 20
    o.recovery = 0
    o.armor = 0
    o.move_speed = 1
    o.might = 1
    o.weapon_projectile_speed = 0
    o.weapon_duration = 0
    o.weapon_area = 0
    o.weapon_cooldown = 0
    o.weapon_projectiles_amount = 0
    o.revival = 0
    o.magnet = 0
    o.luck = 0
    o.growth = 0
    o.greed = 0
    o.curse = 0
    o.reroll = 0
    o.skip = 0
    o.banish = 0
    return o
end

function character:set_effects(effects)
    self.effects = effects
end

function character:apply_effects(level)

    local effects = self.effects
    for _, effect in pairs(effects) do
        if level % effect.level_increment == 0 and 
            level <= effect.max_level_increment then 
            local target = effect.target    
            if effect.mode == "percent" then
                target[effect.stat] += (target[effect.stat] or 0) * effect.value
            else
                target[effect.stat] = (target[effect.stat] or 0) + effect.value
            end
        end

    end
end

antonio = character:new("antonio")
antonio.recovery = 0.5
antonio:set_effects( {

                    {   description="Gains 10% Might every 2 Levels",  
                        stat = "might", 
                        value = 1,
                        target = player, -- here is the problem, player doesn't exist
                        level_increment = 2,
                        max_level_increment = 10,
                        mode = "percent"
                    },
                    {   description="Gains 0.5 Recovery every 1 level", 

                        stat = "recovery", 
                        value = 0.5,
                        target = player,
                        level_increment = 1,
                        max_level_increment = 5
                    }

                }

)

function _init()
    t = 0
    run = {}
    run.player = {}
    run.level = 1
    add(run.player, deepcopy(antonio))

    player = run.player[1]

end

function _update()

    if t % 60 == 0 then player.health += player.recovery end 
    if btnp(4) then
        run.level += 1
        player:apply_effects(run.level)
    end
    t += 1
end

function _draw()
    local y = 0
    cls(0)
    for entry in all(run.player) do
        for k, v in pairs(entry) do
            if type(v) == "number" then
                print(k..":"..v, 0, y)
                y += 8
            end
        end
    end
    local y = 0
    print("Level: "..run.level, 240, y)

end

function deepcopy(orig)
    local orig_type = type(orig)
    local copy
    if orig_type == 'table' then
        copy = {}
        for orig_key, orig_value in next, orig, nil do
            copy[deepcopy(orig_key)] = deepcopy(orig_value)
        end
        setmetatable(copy, getmetatable(orig))
    else -- for numbers, strings, booleans, etc
        copy = orig
    end
    return copy

end

And here is my code with the workaround, in short, once player is created I go and apply player as the target of the effects: player:update_effects_target(player)

character = {}
character.__index = character
function character:new(name)
    local o = setmetatable({}, character)
    o.name = name
    o.x = 0
    o.y = 0
    o.sp_scale = 1
    o.w = 16
    o.h = 16
    o.effects = effects
    o.original_invincibility_frames = 10
    o.invincibility_frames = 0
    o.max_health = 100
    o.health = 20
    o.recovery = 0
    o.armor = 0
    o.move_speed = 1
    o.might = 1
    o.weapon_projectile_speed = 0
    o.weapon_duration = 0
    o.weapon_area = 0
    o.weapon_cooldown = 0
    o.weapon_projectiles_amount = 0
    o.revival = 0
    o.magnet = 0
    o.luck = 0
    o.growth = 0
    o.greed = 0
    o.curse = 0
    o.reroll = 0
    o.skip = 0
    o.banish = 0
    return o
end

function character:set_effects(effects)
    self.effects = effects
end

function character:update_effects_target(target)
    for _, effect in pairs(self.effects) do
        effect.target = target
    end
end

function character:apply_effects(level)

    local effects = self.effects
    for _, effect in pairs(effects) do
        if level % effect.level_increment == 0 and 
            level <= effect.max_level_increment then 
            local target = effect.target    
            if effect.mode == "percent" then
                target[effect.stat] += (target[effect.stat] or 0) * effect.value
            else
                target[effect.stat] = (target[effect.stat] or 0) + effect.value
            end
        end

    end
end

antonio = character:new("antonio")
antonio.recovery = 0.5
antonio:set_effects( {

                    {   description="Gains 10% Might every 2 Levels",  
                        stat = "might", 
                        value = 1,
                        target = player, -- here is the problem, player doesn't exist
                        level_increment = 2,
                        max_level_increment = 10,
                        mode = "percent"
                    },
                    {   description="Gains 0.5 Recovery every 1 level", 

                        stat = "recovery", 
                        value = 0.5,
                        target = player,
                        level_increment = 1,
                        max_level_increment = 5
                    }

                }

)

function _init()
    t = 0
    run = {}
    run.player = {}
    run.level = 1
    add(run.player, deepcopy(antonio))

    player = run.player[1]
    player:update_effects_target(player)
end

function _update()

    if t % 60 == 0 then player.health += player.recovery end 
    if btnp(4) then
        run.level += 1
        player:apply_effects(run.level)
    end
    t += 1
end

function _draw()
    local y = 0
    cls(0)
    for entry in all(run.player) do
        for k, v in pairs(entry) do
            if type(v) == "number" then
                print(k..":"..v, 0, y)
                y += 8
            end
        end
    end
    local y = 0
    print("Level: "..run.level, 240, y)

end

function deepcopy(orig)
    local orig_type = type(orig)
    local copy
    if orig_type == 'table' then
        copy = {}
        for orig_key, orig_value in next, orig, nil do
            copy[deepcopy(orig_key)] = deepcopy(orig_value)
        end
        setmetatable(copy, getmetatable(orig))
    else -- for numbers, strings, booleans, etc
        copy = orig
    end
    return copy

end

Grid based partitioning for collision detection

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 15:45:15 UTC

Hello,

For fun, I'm building a Vampire Survivors style game. There will be a lot of mobs on screen, so I've built a grid partitioning system and each weapon only checks for collisions with mobs nearby.

The grid size is 30, so that's a 16 x 9 grid.

My question is this, currently, I'm initialising the grid on every frame and re-populating all the mob positions into their grids.

Should I move to initialising just once and updating mob positions in the grid on every frame? I'm not sure whether that will actually be quicker because I will have to delete the mob from one grid position and add it to another.

Also, that seems hard to implement :-)

Thanks in advance

Russ

Knuckle Dice v1.3

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:14:07 UTC

Knuckle Dice v1.3

by supercurses

[Click to Play]

Knuckle Dice v1.3

Knuckle Dice is an attempt to recreate Knuckle Bones from Cult of the Lamb. This is my first programming project ever so there's no AI yet - it's two player only to begin with.

In the future I will try to add:

CPU AI (DONE)
I want to experiment with perfect information. In other words, remove the randomness and tell the player exactly what the opponent is about to play.

Controls

z to start/restart
x to play a dice

Rules/Game Logic

Maximum 3 dice in one column
Playing a die in a column that matches dice in the opposing player's column removes all instances of that dice
When nine dice are played by either player the game ends

Scoring

You receive points equivalent to the die played multiplied by the number of instances of that dice. (e.g a 5 played twice in one column will give you twenty points - 2*(5+5)
The player with the most points wins

v1.1 Updates

Changed GFX to more of a 1bit style

v1.3 Updates

Now it's a single player game with some rudimentary AI for P2

supercurses [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Referencing tables before they are created

Grid based partitioning for collision detection

Knuckle Dice v1.3

Knuckle Dice v1.3