Where The Fun Begins

When your face aligned with my fist, did you feel the connection? 👊

Collision has arrived! Right now only cuboid-cuboid intersection is implemented, but it demonstrates the concept.

Let’s have a look:

Play

What’s new:

Collision detection and reaction.
Character health points (HP).
Winning condition – last person standing wins.

Finally we can play.

Create

As with every new feature, we need configuration and artwork to make it look good.

When an object is hit, we need to give it a hurt animation. For characters, there are 6 new sequences:

flinch_0: Sequence when hit.
flinch_1: Alternative sequence when hit.
fall_forward_ascend: Falling, but vertical movement is upwards.
fall_forward_descend: Falling, vertical movement is downwards.
fall_forward_land: Character has hit the ground.
lie_face_down: Character is lying on the ground.

The following sprite sheet shows the sprites used in these sequences:

Sprites used when a character is hit. — heat_interaction.png

The corresponding object configuration is as follows:

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# Flinch when character is hit.
#
# * `flinch_0`: Got hit when on ground.
# * `flinch_1`: Got hit when on ground - alternate sequence.
[sequences.flinch_0]
  frames = [
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 24, wait = 2, body = [ .. ] },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 25, wait = 2, body = [ .. ] },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 24, wait = 2, body = [ .. ] },
  ]

[sequences.flinch_1]
  frames = [
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 26, wait = 2, body = [ .. ] },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 27, wait = 2, body = [ .. ] },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 26, wait = 2, body = [ .. ] },
  ]

# Fall when knocked down.
[sequences.fall_forward_ascend]
  frames = [
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 6, wait = 2 },
  ]

[sequences.fall_forward_descend]
  frames = [
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 7, wait = 3 },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 8, wait = 4 },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 9, wait = 2 },
  ]

[sequences.fall_forward_land]
  frames = [
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 10, wait = 2 },
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 11, wait = 2 },
  ]

[sequences.lie_face_down]
  frames = [
    { sheet = 3, sprite = 10, wait = 30 },
  ]

What’s Next

This update doesn’t have that many feature changes, and this will be the case for the next one or two updates – there is a lot of maintenance and behind-the-scenes work to allow for faster development in the future. Planned features include:

Collision shapes: Collision zones defined as spheres, cylinders, and other shapes.
Dynamic interaction: Characters become dizzy after being hit a number of times.
Additional sequences: Jump while running, attack while jumping, etcetera.
Better Menu: The current one doesn’t show what state it’s in, or what to do.

But, before we can get to that, these things must be done:

Reorganize runtime data and logic.
Rewrite asset loading.
Use physics library for optimized collision detection.
Automate collision tests.

The fun is just beginning; and it’s a long way to the end.

Peace ✌!

development