Sprites - Is There Another Way?

[Bacchus]

Sprites - A Tutorial for a New Way

Ok, here we go... as you may know, or just found out and looking for a reason why, Sprites in Turing v4.x have been disabled. They won't work. There are however alternatives to the default Sprite module, such as DanSprite. DanSprite was made by Hacker Dan, an Admin and the Owner I believe of compsci.ca. As you may know if you've tried DanSprite is that it has some bugs... In fact it has quite a few bugs. Dan gives the explanation for this:

Hacker Dan wrote:

Ok the truth about dansprits is that in all hosntly they suck, i made them when i was very borad one night. But they are all that u have if u whont to use sprites in turing (well there may be one by another user on the forum i whould have to check). They work ok in some cases but b/c i whonted them to be useable by baick users i made it to simple and it caused some unforseen bugs.

I encountered these bugs in DanSprite when I tried to start a RPG of my own, and then went on a rampage to create a more bug-free solution. Well I came up with BacchusSprite (Don't you just love my originality?). BacchusSprite is very similar to DanSprite and infact I used DanSprite as a guide when I got stuck every now and then. One difference is that every problem I have encountered has been fixed and hopefully should now work almost flawlessly.

The Commands

BSprite.New(x,y:int,filename:string):int
The New function is used to assign a Sprite to an Integer variable so that it can then be refered back to and moved around with that variable. ie: like Pic.FileNew
BSprite.Move(x,y,spriteID:int)
The Move procedure is used to move the Sprite around the screen. It will move the Sprite from it previous location to the specified x and y
BSprite.Change(filename:string,spriteID:int)
The Change procedure is used to Change the existing Sprite to a new Picture.
BSprite.Free(spriteID:int)
The Free procedure is used to free a Sprite and to just save space. ie: like Pic.Free
BSprite.Update(spriteID:int)
The Update procedure is used to redraw the specified Sprite above others
BSprite.UpdateAll
The UpdateAll procedure is to completly redraw all Sprites, starts and the first created
BSprite.ColorBack(spriteID,color:int)
The ColorBack procedure is to set the Transparent Color of the Sprite, default setting is white (0)
BSprite.Mirror(spriteID:int)
The Mirror procedure is used to Mirror the Sprite; flip the Sprite Horizontally
BSprite.Flip(spriteID:int)
The Flip procedure is used to Flip the Sprite; flip the Sprite Vertically
BSprite.Rotate(spriteID,angle,rotatex,rotatex:int)
The Rotate procedure is used to rotate the Sprite to a desired angle, the Rotation point is specified by the rotatex and rotatey. ie:similar to Pic.Rotate
BSprite.Mode(spriteID:int,mode:int)
the Mode procedure is used to specify the desired Picture mode for the Sprite (use like a normal Picture, picCopy, picXor, picMerge), default setting is picMerge *Thxs Cervantes
BSprite.Height(spriteID:int):int
the Height function returns the value in Pixels that the Height of the Sprite is
BSprite.Width(spriteID:int):int
the Width function returns the value in Pixels that the Width of the Sprite is

Lastly, I have also included an example of BacchusSprite in the form of Zero (from Megaman) running around. Some may remember this as a .exe that I poasted before, there are bugs, and I probably sould have written it better. But it is only an Example.
Keys:
Left->Left Arror
Right->Right Arrow
Jump->Up Arrow (can jump twice)
Z-Sword-> c (can slice 3 times, buggy though)

Hope they Help you out with whatever you're doing.

-Bacchus


*For BSprite.tu file, use the one poasted by Cervantes after this post

[Cervantes]

Nice Bacchus. Very well done. I have one minor improvement, though. Instead of making mode a string, make it an int. That way, people can type in "picMerge" (withouth the "s) or "picCopy" or "picXor", just as they would for a normal picture. They don't have to get used to the new method. But, more importantly then that (which doesn't really matter) is you save yourself lines. Instead of having a if .. elsif .. elsif .. end if everytime you want to draw something (for the various modes) just do this:

code:

Pic.Draw (sprite (picID).pic, sprite (picID).x, sprite (picID).y, sprite (picID).mode)

sprite (picID).mode should be either 0, 1, or 2. 0 = picCopy. 1 = picXor. 2 = picMerge.

code:

put picMerge put picCopy put picXor

Thanks for the submission Bacchus! +50 BITS

[Bacchus]

ic, i wasnt to sure about that b4 and i didnt test it as much, thxs

[windowsall]

Ok i got a question for you ummmm yeah which is better Bacchus Sprites or DanSprite i tried both and i like Bacchus but whats the difference?

[Suigi]

Ummm...I hate to be a nitpicker, but is there any chance you could repost the exemplar with Zero in it?
I could really use it to help me out.
Y'see, I'm trying to recreate the Special Stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for a Grade 12 CompSci project...and right now it's stinking.
And if I could use BSprite and the accompanying example, I could make my project that much better.

[Bacchus]

oops srry i havent checked this in a bit lol. ok the difference between DanSprite and BacchusSprite (arnt i so original with that name ) is if you try having a sprite go outside the window. in DanSprite it will leave a bit left over. BacchusSprite also has a check for if you draw a Sprite over another, it will still get the background. then just a few other things that i cant remember lol mostly preference for me (some of DanSprites command typos bugged me and i liked shorter command names). sure ill try posting the example again (i may have to clear some space i need more then 2 mb )

[Mr. T]

BSprite.ColorBack(spriteID,color:int) doesnt seem to change the pic's background colour.

[[Gandalf]]

I've never used BSprite, but it might just be treating the specified colour as the sprites background, not changing it.

[Bacchus]

Yes, thats correct. Its to set the trasperent color for the sprite.

[Mr. T]

Can u explain how to do collision detection with sprites?

[Bacchus]

Depends on how your doing your game. Side-camera View, Overhead-Camera View, etc.
For an overhead-camera view you would probably have tiles and a text file for the collision (accually I'm working on something like that atm)
For a side-camera view, you would most likely use x/y comparison.

[Mr. T]

is it a good idea (or even possible) to use whatdotcolour for this kind of collision?

[Bacchus]

It probably won't be that good of an idea to use whatdotcolor with sprites because most sprites are pictures with many different colors in them. There is a way of collision detection where you draw the color of everything before the main view and use that to detect the collision, but that would makes your program go slower and in my oppinion is unnecissary because I belive that x/y comparison would work better.

[[Gandalf]]

But I would warn you against using x/y comparison. It's really painful if you have a lot of obstacles. It could maybe work for a snake game, but something like a basic mario style game would require a lot of defining. One alternative way is just doing it using a grid system. Make small boxes if you need them, but its a pretty good way.

[maiku]

Ok, I know this topic is more than a year old and I probably won't get a reply, but I need help

It doesn't work for me...

It draws the first sprites but then when i try to move them it pops up the BSprite.tu code window and displays the error of Process "sprite_draw": Pic was freed.

sprite_draw is the name of the process I have it looks like this:

code:

process sprite_draw  BSprite.UpdateAll end sprite_draw

I don't know why this happens... I don't have it set to free the pic, and when i do, it does the same thing. I've tried re-writing my code about 4 different ways and it still doesnt want to work. Any help? please