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| Skill Crane Test |
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Saturday, June 28 2003 @ 03:41 AM EDT, Matthew
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Continuing the theme of things that rip you off, I decided to do a skill crane. I realized I haven't actually done much with the constraint system in the physics pack, and figured this is a good way to learn. I have a rough test done for now, and I'll post an updated version along with the source CMO tomorrow (arrow keys to move, space to drop the crane).
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| Those Damn Coin Drop Things |
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Friday, June 27 2003 @ 02:51 AM EDT, Matthew
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Here's a rough approximation of those coin drop games found on counters everywhere (C to spawn a coin, S to disable shadows). There's one of these at the local Denny's, which is where I decided to do a quick test out of it. All the frustration of the real thing, but with nothing to win!
Source CMO is available, although it's a little sloppy and doesn't do anything particularly clever; the meat of this test was just tweaking physics numbers. I realize the setup is a little wobbly, although I think it reinforces the sense that you're being cheated.
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| Hopper Test |
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Monday, June 23 2003 @ 01:45 AM EDT, Matthew
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Here's a simple test that demonstrates a hopping physical creature. Legs are attached with contraints, and a stiff spring between the legs is used for locomotion. Mouse controls motion, and R key respots if you tip over.
Dexterity is currently very poor; it's difficult to intentionally do much except hop straight up and down. I'll revist the concept for a future update, with the goal of increasing the skill ceiling.
For now, though, check it out here (13k file).
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| libcURL Building Blocks |
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Tuesday, June 17 2003 @ 05:59 PM EDT, Matthew
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This is a simple interface to the cURL library. It has two building blocks: Fetch URL and URL Encode. From the readme:
Quick and dirty readme.txt
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I did a quick implementation of libcurl (http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/) for a
recent project. This is fairly barebones; there isn't much intelligent
functionality here. It was created to fetch tokenized data (high score tables,
etc). Feel free to email me with comments at mwegner@flashbangstudios.biz
Put the cURL.dll in your buildingblocks directory, and libcurl.dll in your
Virtools Dev or stand-alone player directory. Built for Dev 2.5, I may get
around to compiling for 2.1 as well.
...............................................................................
There are two building blocks:
- Fetch URL:
Takes in a string as the URL to fetch, returns a string with the data from that
URL. Outputs the Success bOut or Failure bOut. Currently, failure cause is not
reported (bad dns, connect error, etc).
- URL Encode:
Takes in a string as data to encode, and outputs encoded data suitable for use
with GET or POST. Escapes special characters with their character codes (space
to %20, etc).
...............................................................................
Known problems:
- Fetch URL usually returns a few extra bytes of data.
...............................................................................
Revision history:
05/30/2003 1.00 -- Initial release
Download is available here, currently only compiled for Dev 2.5.
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| Been Busy |
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Tuesday, June 17 2003 @ 03:00 AM EDT, Matthew
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I realize I haven't posted anything new here in a few days. I've been a little busier than usual with a deadline, but should have time tomorrow to post some new stuff. I'm also working on an in-depth article for the Smallball AI, too, and should have that ready by the weekend.
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| Boids Flocking |
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Friday, June 13 2003 @ 04:10 PM EDT, Matthew
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Here's a VSL implementation of steering behaviors, including boids-style flocking. Mouse position controls an object the flocking entities flee from.
If you're feeling frisky, a version with 500 flocking entities is available here.
Steering behaviors are a great way to control autonomous characters. For more information on implementing steering behaviors with Virtools, check out my articles in the Dev 2.5 Mini-Site documentation (Demos->Muridae Massacre).
Sources will be posted soon. I actually have an older implementation of flocking created entirely with schematic that I'll post, as well as the current VSL implementation.
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| Swinging Around |
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Tuesday, June 10 2003 @ 12:44 PM EDT, Matthew
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This was done as a design test several months ago, but it has enough technically interesting aspects to post here. Control is simple--click and hold the mouse over a red sphere to swing off it. Spheres in range are highlighted with a targeting reticle.
A big problem with any mechanic like this is enabling spatial perception for the player. My quick-and-dirty solution is the orbiting camera. It's a little dizzying, I know, but without it you really can't tell where you are in relation to depth.
Source CMO is available here. Be warned, though, it's a little on the messy side.
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| Simulating Gravitational/Magnetic Forces |
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Saturday, June 07 2003 @ 02:42 PM EDT, Matthew
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Another experiment in the same vein as the previous, more fun with particles. This uses the physics pack to solve collisions and motions, by disabling gravity and using impulses to apply forces.
Click here to check it out. Controls are:- B - spawn a ball
- T - change gravity type
- S - change gravity strength
- M - change time scale
Unstable gravity is achieved by displaying the source of the gravitional pull somewhat. Give it a shot--it produces an interesting effect.
Source CMO is available here. As usual, let me know if you do anything interesting with it.
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| Springs and Balls |
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Thursday, June 05 2003 @ 09:40 PM EDT, Matthew
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This is my first experiment created specifically for DevLab. It's an idea that came to me today--I was mostly curious to see how a system like this would behave.
Controls are minimal: B to add a ball, T to add a new thread (which adds/removes the springs), and M to change the criteria for new springs (either nearest ball or random ball).
Click here to try it out. One thing I was suprised at is the remarkable stability when the connect mode is set to nearest. I suppose it makes sense, but I had somehow expected the system to be a little more chaotic. To really see some interesting behavior, spam a ton of balls/threads and make sure to change to random connections (the M key).
Source CMO is available here (Dev 2.5, Physics Pack). If you end up with some new behavior by fiddling with the settings, please let me know about it.
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| String Permutation VSL |
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Thursday, June 05 2003 @ 04:56 PM EDT, Matthew
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Here's a piece of technology other Virtools users may find a use for: a simple VSL script to loop through the permutations of a string. It's fairly fast, and uses a sort/swap method for permutation.
A practical application may be to test if each possible permutation is in a dictionary. I did a rough implementation of this as a test--enter a short word and press enter. Be warned, though, anything over 6 characters will take an astronomically long time.
Feasible implementation of dictionary-checked longer permutations really needs to be precomputed, particularly in the casual market where computer specifications are low. Real-time uses for word games or otherwise are fairly limited.
A .CMO with the VSL included in a simple example is available here.
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| Submit Tests |
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Interested in submitting your own test to DevLab?
Click here.
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| About DevLab |
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DevLab contains Virtools Dev experiments, examples, and musings by Matthew Wegner of Flashbang Studios, LLC.
For more information on Virtools, check out their website.
Feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions for the site.
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