RPG Character Control

[good_fella]

I'm making an RPG and i need help with the character control.

Okay, here's the problem:

I need the user to be able to press the keys. When a key is pressed, the little dude on the screen needs to move. But the picture needs to change for whatever direction he's facing.

Also, the picture needs to alternate. (ie. One with his right leg forward, one with his left leg forward, to create the impression of walking.)

The background image that the character is walking on top of also needs to stay the same.

And the Screen can't flash.

I've managed to get some of these things to work, but still having a hard time. Any help would be appreciated!

[I have Turing 4.0 so all the Input.KeyDown and other commands will work.]

Thanx!

[AsianSensation]

ok, to answer these questions:

1. You want the user to input, and have the guy walk. Also, he needs to face some direction.

Suggestion: have a integer variable called direction, and everytime you press one of the arrow keys, then you assign a value to direction. Example:

code:

var direction : int var chars : array char of boolean loop     Input.KeyDown (chars)     if chars (KEY_UP_ARROW) then         direction := 1     end if     if direction = 1 then         Pic.Draw (picup, x, y, picMerge)     end if end loop

this checks to see what direction the guy is facing, and then draws the corresponding picture.

2. To have the guy's legs alternate.

Suggestion: when you draw the guy moving, draw the left-legged pic, then delay for a small amount of time, and then draw the right legged pic, except that the right legged pic would have to have move a bit from the left legged one, depending on which direction he is facing, creating the "walking" effect.

3. To have the background stay the same.

Suggestion: don't change the background coordinates

4. Flicker-free animation

Suggestion: use View.Update, I beleive there is a very good tutorial in the tutorial section, there is no need for me to explain it.

[good_fella]

Okay. I got the guy to move by pressing the arrow keys. However there's still some major problems.

One, when you let go of the arrow keys, the pic of the guy dissapears!

Two, I still can't get the guys legs to alternate using 2 different pics!

Here's the code i have for the movement, can someone tell me whats wrong with it:

code:

loop View.Update         delay (100)     cls     Pic.Draw (town1, 0,0,0)         Input.KeyDown (chars)       if chars (KEY_DOWN_ARROW) then     count1 := count1 - 2     direction := 1     Pic.Draw (steppingforward1, count2, count1, picMerge)     end if         if chars (KEY_UP_ARROW) then     count1 := count1 + 2     Pic.Draw (steppingbackward1, count2, count1, picMerge)     end if         if chars (KEY_RIGHT_ARROW) then     count2 := count2 + 2     Pic.Draw (steppingright1, count2, count1, picMerge)     end if         if chars (KEY_LEFT_ARROW) then     count2 := count2 - 2     Pic.Draw (steppingleft1, count2, count1, picMerge)     end if     end loop

In the code above, town1 is the background picture i need to use. steppingforward1, steppingright1, etc. are all the pics of the character stepping in whatever direction. I need to somehow use the pics steppingleft2, steppingright2, to make his legs alternate.

I hope that somebody understands what im talking about.

[poly]

well first off, all those IF statements can be made into 1 If statement with Elsif's
To answer your question:
Well basically your code just shows the guy when a key is pressed. roughly you want something like this

code:

loop if %Inside here is your If statements end if % In here add draw regular characters stance View.Update end loop

[good_fella]

I'm still not getting it. Nothing seems to work

[AsianSensation]

Because Input.KeyDown check to see if a key is held down, therefore, when you draw the pictures for your guy, you need delays. When you don't have delays, you will see the guy go into one direction really really fast.

to make the guy step:

code:

Pic.Draw (steppingforward1, x, y, picMerge) delay (10) Pic.Draw (steppingforward2, x + a, y + b, picMerge) delay (100

where x and y are the coordinates, and a and b are some constants, depending on what direction you are facing, a and b take on different values.

[good_fella]

alrite i got it to work!
thanx alot!

[good_fella]

wait! i cant get the pics to alternate!
can someone tell me how to fix this code to display two different pics (one of each leg forward) everytime you hit a key!

code:

loop         View.Update         delay (30)         Input.KeyDown (chars)         if chars (KEY_DOWN_ARROW) then             count1 := count1 - 2             position := "steppingforward1"         elsif chars (KEY_UP_ARROW) then             count1 := count1 + 2             position := "steppingbackward1"         elsif chars (KEY_RIGHT_ARROW) then             count2 := count2 + 2             position := "steppingright1"         elsif chars (KEY_LEFT_ARROW) then             count2 := count2 - 2             position := "steppingleft1"         end if         if position = "steppingforward1" then             cls             Pic.Draw (town1, 0, 0, 0)             Pic.Draw (steppingforward1, count2, count1, picMerge)                     elsif position = "steppingbackward1" then             cls             Pic.Draw (town1, 0, 0, 0)             Pic.Draw (steppingbackward1, count2, count1, picMerge)         elsif position = "steppingright1" then             cls             Pic.Draw (town1, 0, 0, 0)             Pic.Draw (steppingright1, count2, count1, picMerge)         elsif position = "steppingleft1" then             cls             Pic.Draw (town1, 0, 0, 0)             Pic.Draw (steppingleft1, count2, count1, picMerge)         end if     end loop

[Mazer]

instead of instantly setting the position to "steppingforward1", you could first check what it was.

ie

code:

if position = "steppingforward1" then     position := "steppingforward2" else     position := "steppingforward1" end if

that's assuming you'll have only two pictures for the walking animation. if that's true, then you'll probably want a longer delay so the player can actually see the pictures.

[nis]

Create an array for each picture

code:

var steppingforward, steppingbackwards: array 1 .. 2 of int steppingforward(1) := Pic.FileNew("whatever your firstpicture is.bmp") steppingforward(2) := Pic.FileNew("whatever your firstpicture is.bmp") steppingbackwards(1):= Pic.FileNew("whatever your firstpicture is.bmp") steppingbackwards(2):= Pic.FileNew("whatever your firstpicture is.bmp") etc.... loop     for i : 1 .. 2          View.Update          Pic.Draw (town1, 0,0,0)              Input.KeyDown (chars)            if chars (KEY_UP_ARROW) then             Pic.Draw (steppingforward(i), x, y, picMerge)          end if          if chars (KEY_DOWN_ARROW) then              Pic.Draw (steppingbackwards(i), x, y, picMerge)          end if          delay(100)     end for end loop

Of course thats just up and down but you get the idea, good luck

[good_fella]

alrite i got it to work great. thanks ppl.