String's Theory - Subtitle TBA

[Simon Pennycook]

Okay, so... I had a bit of a think on the way home. Besides the plot being that String (our protagonist) is on a quest to locate the love of his life (Princess Ribbon), I know very little about the game. This thread, as per Alan's suggestion, will be used to track my progress, rant about things that aren't working and delegate tasks to those who are more able than myself.

First things first, then... Sprites. Whilst I get to work on a basic game engine (read: graphics and physics) I need somebody (read: Sarah) to make the following (animated) sprites:

• 1 String:
  
  • One string, crawling along.
• 2 Strings:
  
  • Two strings flip-flopping to walk. a la: __ -> \ -> / -> __
  • Two strings tied in a circle.
• 3 Strings:
  
  • Three strings "walking"; two strings as legs, one as a torso!

That'll give us the following game mechanics:

• Crawling (so as to get through tight spaces).
• Rolling (so as to build up velocity and roll up curved walls / make jumps).
• Jumping (so as to, uh, jump).

We can think about extra mechanics (like using a fourth string as an arm) when the engine works and Alan's happy with the prototype.

Three cheers for the use of brackets for comedic effect!

[Alan]

Rob had some suggestions:

The string should be able to be cut in half by some enemies/obstacles, and then you would have to control both parts simultaneously until they were reunited.

You could be able to set the string on fire, and it would slowly burn down.

Tying the string to a moving part of the level to travel.

Obviously, you need a core engine (and some fun) first though.

[Brodders]

Surely if the main character is a string, you don't need sprites - you should be using procedural animation.

Everyone knows procedural animation is cool.

[Simon Pennycook]

Surely if the main character is a string, you don't need sprites - you should be using procedural animation.

Everyone knows procedural animation is cool.

Whilst I agree to a point, I don't have a clue in the slightest how I'd go about drawing a static string. Get me that far, and I'll consider animating it procedurally.

And don't just point at GL_LINES and wave your hands.

[Brodders]

Use the library.

(lol)

[Alan]

And don't just point at GL_LINES and wave your hands.

Well what more detail do you want? It really is as simple as:

Code: Select all

glEnable(GL_LINE_SMOOTH);
glLineWidth(2.5);
glColour3f(1, 1, 1);

glBegin(GL_LINE_STRIP);
for (int i = 0; i < vertexCount) {
    glVertex2f(vertices[i].x, vertices[i].y);
}
glEnd();

(Note: not tested)

[Simon Pennycook]

Well what more detail do you want? It really is as simple as:

Code: Select all

glEnable(GL_LINE_SMOOTH);
glLineWidth(2.5);
glColour3f(1, 1, 1);

glBegin(GL_LINE_STRIP);
for (int i = 0; i < vertexCount) {
    glVertex2f(vertices[i].x, vertices[i].y);
}
glEnd();

(Note: not tested)

My fault for not being clear, I think. I know how to draw lines and arbitrary polygons; problem is drawing something that doesn't just look like a single line (thick though it may be).

Doing it with sprites will give the thing a more cartoony feel; what I was getting at was it's going to be horribly hard to write a piece of code that draws something worth drawing.

I'll probably draw strings that way for now, but only until I've got a sprite.

[Sarah Marshall]

Just posting list of possible powers to consider (probably will think of more later on). Please free feel to edit in your own ideas:

Bucky Ball - Rolling and smashing obstacles
Bridge - Extends string over large gaps and then snaps back on the other side
Lasso - Used the host string over ledges, grapple on to object like hooks and levers
Spring - To jump vertically
(Bird - not so much anymore, more of a paper thing right?)
Bow and Arrow - To shoot string bits all over the screen and break small obstacles/enemies
Collapse - Breaks apart onto floor to avoid enemies, unable to move curing (could be interesting with low cutting devices over a conveyer belt or something)
Also, Whip, maybe as a part of the Lasso

[Alan]

My fault for not being clear, I think. I know how to draw lines and arbitrary polygons; problem is drawing something that doesn't just look like a single line (thick though it may be).

Ah, of course. Well you could map one of these sprites onto a thin, twisty polygon and then it would have the same graphical style but you'd have more control over it.

But I think the biggest problem would be not in drawing but in animating it, so probably best to save that for after you've discovered the fun.

[Brodders]

Well you could map one of these sprites onto a thin, twisty polygon

Is that how kraken worked? It might be a good idea to look at that...

[Alan]

Probably, but I don't remember. I wasn't too involved in the XNA version due to having an exam within that 48 hour period. The original Java prototype just had block colour.

[someone]

It was how kraken worked, though i think the geometry was a bit more complicated.

[Simon Pennycook]

I'm posting here because Phil doesn't seem to want to talk to me on GTalk .

Basically (either) Phil, if you could put up an SVN for "String's Theory" called stringtheory, that'd be great. I think Alan is tiring of me sending him .tar.gz files whenever I encounter a problem.

[Brodders]

SVN: http://svn.warwickgamedesign.co.uk/repos/stringtheory
Trac: http://trac.warwickgamedesign.co.uk/stringtheory

Enjoy!

[Simon Pennycook]

Just thought I'd let people see how things were going, so I took this rubbish screenshot.

Things that work:

• Movement.
• Texturing (ish)
• Physics (ish)

Things that don't work:

• Texture rotation (the ish).
• Acceleration!
• Most of the game mechanics.

Things other people need to do:

• Level format.
• Level design.

With Alan as my witness, this game will be fun.