Help me comprehend some (SIMPLE) Pong coding

[Aange10]

I've spent half of last night and nearly all day today trying to figure out why my timer isn't working. I've taken what you've said, and took in to account what the guy a couple posts above me said, and I came up with this code.

Turing:

View.Set("offscreenonly, graphics:maxx;maxxy, nocursor") var mainmenu : boolean % Using this varriable to tell wether or not to pull up the main menu. var fontTNR : int % A to allow me to make a font style into a variable var mainmenuexit : string % The varriable i am using to exit the main meny/ skip past it var oval_x1,oval_y1,oval_xr1,oval_yr1 : int % I made the drawoval syntax as variables var oval_speed : int %This is to set my oval's speed var oval_directionx, oval_directiony : int % To set my ovals trajectory direction var box1_x1, box1_x2, box1_y1, box1_y2 : int var chars : array char of boolean % Not sure what this is, just know you have to have it to use keys var continue : string % Get the y/n asking if the player would like to continue var score : int % Keeps track of the score var timesincethen, timestart, timenow : real % Trying to reset timer... oval_x1 := 70      % the x cord for the ball oval_y1 := 70      % the y cord for the ball oval_xr1 := 10     % the radius x for the ball oval_yr1 := 10     % the radius y for the ball oval_speed := 2    % the speed of the ball pfp (Pixles per frame ;) ) oval_directionx := 1 % Direction of the x cord of the oval (1 = right, -1 = left) oval_directiony := 1  % direction of the y cord of the oval ( 1 = up, -1 = down) box1_x1 := 85 % Box x1 cord box1_x2 := 200 % box x2 cord box1_y1 := 20 % box y1 cord box1_y2 := 40 % box y2 cord mainmenu := true %a varriable to control the main menu continue := "y" %a varriable to tell wether or not to continue score := 0 timestart := Time.Elapsed loop % Main loop     cls       Input.KeyDown (chars)         loop % main menu debugging loop             if mainmenu = true then             View.Set("nooffscreenonly, graphics:maxx;maxxy")                 fontTNR := Font.New ("TimeNewRoman:14")                 Font.Draw ("Game O' Paddle Ball!", maxx div 2, maxy div 2, fontTNR, green)                 delay (1000)                 fontTNR := Font.New ("Courier:8")                 Font.Draw ("Use AD or Arrow Keys to move! Press b to begin!", maxx div 2 - 100, maxy div 2 - 20, fontTNR, red)                 score := 0 % Just to prevent people from spamming the debug system to gain points                 get mainmenuexit % It asks the user for input             View.Set("offscreenonly, graphics:maxx;maxxy, nocursor")             else                 exit             end if             if mainmenuexit = "b" then %When user inputs b, it changes mainmenu to false so that the loop will skip the main menu if statement                 mainmenu := false             else                 cls                 put "Invalid key."                 View.Update                 delay (2000)                 exit             end if         end loop % Ends the main menu de bugging loop          timenow := Time.Elapsed() % So I can measure the time elapsed from this point          timesincethen := timenow - timestart     cls     if oval_y1 >= 400 then %if y cord of oval goes >=400 then it inverses the direction of the y         oval_directiony := oval_directiony * -1     end if     if oval_x1 >= 630 then %if the x cord of the oval goes >= 630 then it inverses the direction of the x         oval_directionx := oval_directionx * -1     end if     if oval_x1 <= 0 then %  x cord direction inverse         oval_directionx := oval_directionx * -1     end if         loop % Loop to de bug the continue system             if oval_y1 <= 20 then %  if y cord hits <= 20 it asks if you'd like to continue (reseting score)                 cls                 put "Would you like to continue? y/n: " ..                 get continue   % if you'd like to continue..             else                 exit             end if             if continue = "y" or continue = "n" then                 cls % Clears the screen after you type in a valid answer                 oval_x1 := 328                 oval_y1 := 228                 oval_directionx := 1                 oval_directiony := 1 % Reset the direction & placement of the ball                 score := 0 % Resets the score                 timenow := 0                 exit             else                 put "Invalid answer."                 delay (2000)                 cls             end if         end loop % End the debugging loop     if continue = "n" then         put "Good Bye!" %Says goodbye and closes if you chose not to keep going         delay (2000)         break     end if     oval_x1 += (oval_directionx * oval_speed) % adds the direction *speed to the x cord of the ball     oval_y1 += (oval_directiony * oval_speed) % " but with the y cord             if chars (KEY_RIGHT_ARROW) then %Right key move the paddle to the right                 box1_x1 := box1_x1 + 3                 box1_x2 := box1_x2 + 3             end if             if chars ('d') then % " but d                 box1_x1 := box1_x1 + 3                 box1_x2 := box1_x2 + 3             end if             if chars (KEY_LEFT_ARROW) then % left key move paddle to the left                 box1_x2 := box1_x2 - 3                 box1_x1 := box1_x1 - 3             end if             if chars ('a') then % " but a                 box1_x2 := box1_x2 - 3                 box1_x1 := box1_x1 - 3             end if         if box1_x1 >= 630 - 115 or box1_x2 >= 630 then %Sets the far x bounds for the paddle             box1_x1 := box1_x1 - 5             box1_x2 := box1_x2 - 5         end if         if box1_x1 <= 0 or box1_x2 <= 15 + 115 then %Sets the near x bounds for the paddle             box1_x1 := box1_x1 + 5             box1_x2 := box1_x2 + 5         end if         if oval_x1 <= box1_x2 & oval_y1 <= box1_y2 & oval_x1 >= box1_x1 & oval_y1 >= box1_y1 then %If collision occurs, the ball moves in the oposite direction             oval_directiony := oval_directiony * -1             score := score + 1         end if     colourback(0) put "Score:", score         colourback(0) put "Time elapsed:", round(timesincethen / 1000) % How much time has elapsed since exiting the menu         drawfillbox (box1_x1, box1_y1, box1_x2, box1_y2, red) %Draw the changes to the box         drawfilloval (oval_x1,oval_y1,oval_xr1,oval_yr1,yellow) %draw the ball     View.Update % Supposed to fix screen flickering     delay (5) end loop

I really enjoy this game and I plan on turning it into a brick breaker game, but it is absolutely bugging me that my timing doesn't work! I just can't figure out why. I've done just about everything I could think of, and iIve searched on here for somebody with the same problem for hours. The example I was giving earlier just doesn't seem to be working. No matter what variable i set to 0 or what variables i subtract from one another the time never restarts. The most I've done is destroy the time all together =( Please help <3

[Insectoid]

You never need set anything to 0.

Since you seem to be putting in a decent effort I'll help you out in more than hints.

timeSinceReset = Time.Elapsed() - startTime. startTime is taken when you 'reset' the timer. Whenever you want to display the time, use this formula. If you want to reset, do startTime := Time.Elapsed. For the sake of clean code, put startTime := Time.Elapsed at the top of the main loop. You *Do NOT* want to put this in your "If continue = 'y' or continue = 'n'. DO NOT DO THIS. Honestly, that if statement doesn't even have to be there- all that stuff can be put in the top of the loop.

Play around with this if you still don't get it:

code:

var startTime : int var reset_flag : char startTime := Time.Elapsed() loop     put Time.Elapsed() - startTime     put "Reset? y/n: "..     get reset_flag     if reset_flag = "y" then         startTime := Time.Elapsed()     end if end loop

Note that I don't have a copy of Turing available atm, so I haven't been able to test that code, so I can't guarantee it's error-free.

[Aange10]

Oh my goodness. Thank you so much Insectoid! It works! Ahh. You should have seen the expersion on my face when my timer went from "25" to "0"!!!

Thanks a ton!!

How do I get bits? I'd like to donate <3

[Insectoid]

No need to donate (bits come from posting). Karma's cool though!

[Aange10]

Hehe when I get 8 more posts, I will be allowed to karma, which I shall do!
(and look, this post goes 1 towards that.. 7 left!)

I'm very much enjoying this game, and I absolutely love watching this expand. (If you knew me personally, you'd know that seeing progress is just absolutely fantastic to me.)

I've come to a minor problem (doesn't bother me nearly as bad as the timer) that I'm not sure how to fix. My problem is with the collision of my ball and paddle. My ball will occasionally go into one of the sides of my paddle.

Before I attempted to fix the problem, I decided I needed to actually learn (not follow a formula) what my collision equation was saying. So I drew a box and a square on a piece of paper and found out exactly what my program was saying. Now the reason I am confused and unable to fix this, is because what i found was that the = signs in my formula drew the border of my box, and the > and < signs "filled it in". So with that being said I have no idea how my ball is going inside my paddle. (Goes in one end comes out the other)

So I decided instead of just coming and asking, I would go to your tutorial on how to make a game and re-read the collision section. After re-reading it, I felt that my hypothesis of how my formula worked was true, but I didn't find the answer to my problem. Though I got two links!

After reading the collision section of your tutorial I decided to go back over the Turing Walkthrough and re-read their collision tutorial. I read it and it honestly didn't teach me anything. I've read the thing a bunch of times and I didn't really feel like it told me anything relevant to my problem. However, I noticed it told about a problem very similar to mine. Which happened to be with ball collision.

So long story short, I went and read the advanced guide. To be honest I'm very happy to say I comprehended the majority of what he was saying. I'm not going to lie; I didn't grasp every bit of it, especially considering I only read it once and then skimmed it once more, but I got the gist.

Where all this is leading to, and the reason I am here now is that I still haven't found a solution to my problem. To be honest I doubt my problem will need anything to do with advanced circular collision (though I will do it, if need be). But it still leaves me with one question: What's not right?

Current coding for collision detection (full coding is a couple posts up...)

Turing:

if oval_x1 <= box1_x2 & oval_y1 <= box1_y2 & oval_x1 >= box1_x1 & oval_y1 >= box1_y1 then %If collision occurs, the ball moves in the opposite direction             oval_directiony := oval_directiony * -1             score := score + 1         end if

[Aange10]

Also this is my current coding for a pause. Obviously, I ran into the problem of not being able to use 'p' for both chars statements, so i used v for one. However this is bugging me, and I was wondering if I could get some help =/. I went to the turing help section and searched "pausing" and read all 20 forums that came up but... well I'm still here

Turing:

var gameState : boolean% If gameState true then it is paused var fontTNR : int % A to allow me to make a font style into a variable var chars : array char of boolean gameState := false procedure pausing         if gameState = true then             cls             fontTNR := Font.New ("Courier:14")                     Font.Draw ("Screen Paused. Press V to unpause.", maxx div 2 -150, maxy div 2, fontTNR, purple)                 loop                     Input.KeyDown (chars)                     if chars ('v') | chars ('V') then                         gameState := false                     end if                     exit when gameState = false                end loop                end if     end pausing loop     cls     Input.KeyDown (chars)        if chars ('p') | chars ('P') then              gameState := true             end if     put "It's not paused!"     put "gameState:", gameState     pausing     delay (1000) end loop

[DemonWasp]

Your first problem is that you should be using or, not a vertical bar.

[Aange10]

What is a verticle bar...?

[DemonWasp]

Turing:

...     if chars ('p') | chars ('P') then                    ^ that guy

[Aange10]

Okay, thankyou. I changed them all.... But that didn't fix the problem. What do I need to correct?

[DemonWasp]

Oh! If you were meaning the problem where you can't use 'p' for both pause and unpause, that's because you need to detect the key-down event, not the key-down state.

The state of key-down ( 'p' ) is whether or not that key is down right now.

The event of key-down ( 'p' ) is whether or not that key was just pressed down now. That is, whether 'p' is pressed now, but not on the last iteration.

The most straightforward way to detect this event is to keep the old keys array around and record into a new one on each iteration. Then, if new_keys_down ( 'p' ) and not old_keys_down ( 'p' ), then you know that p was pressed just this instant.

Looks something like this:

Turing:

var paused : boolean := false var new_keys_down, old_keys_down : array char of boolean % Need initialized values! Input.KeyDown ( old_keys_down ) loop     Input.KeyDown ( new_keys_down )     if new_keys_down ( 'p' ) and not old_keys_down ( 'p' ) then         % Either pause or unpause, depending on whether we were already paused:         paused := not paused  % 'not' here switches true to false and false to true...or paused to unpaused and vice-versa     end if     if not paused then         % game stuff here -- call some methods, whatever.     end if     % Do NOT forget this bit, or you'll have some weird bugs     old_keys_down := new_keys_down end loop

[Aange10]

Alright, so I've been busy latley, but for the past 3 or 4 days i've been working on making the computer generate bricks. I'm kind of (as you can assume) lost.

My coding so far has been

Turing:

var brick_x1 :array 1 .. 100 of int %Arrays var brick_x2 :array 1 .. 100 of int var brick_y1 :array 1 .. 100 of int var brick_y2 :array 1 .. 100 of int var brick_color :array 1 .. 100 of int brick_x2(1) := 629 % far right x brick_y2(1) := 399 % top for i : 1 .. 1 brick_x1(i) := Rand.Int(brick_x2(i) - 115, brick_x2(i) - 20) % Random int to make the width of the brick brick_color(i) := Rand.Int (1,10) % random color for the brick end for brick_y1(1) := brick_y2(1) - 20 % width (constant) for e : 2 .. 10 end for put "brick_x1:", brick_x1(1) put "brick_x2:", brick_x2(1) put "brick_y1:", brick_y1(1) put "brick_y2:", brick_y2(1) %for b : 1 .. 2 drawfillbox (brick_x1(1),brick_y1(1),brick_x2(1),brick_y2(1),brick_color(1)) % draw da box, all the (1) will be % when the %for statement is made %end for

...
Pretty much all i was trying to make it do what generate bricks starting from the top right corner (629, 399) and having the computer generate a width (the x2) & color (brick_color). After it did that, it would generate another brick starting from where the brick behind it had ended.

Obviously I didn't do too well, and I was wondering how I should go about doing this. Is 4 arrays bad? Is multiple fors bad? Do I need a loop?

[Zren]

How would you draw a grid?
How would you draw a bunch of points spaced n pixels apart?

Start with a new program, and try drawing a grid from the bottom left (0,0). After you can, it's easy to translate it to the top.

Tip: Think of it as iterating through each column in a row.

Using a different array for x1, x2 isn't bad, you can't change that until you've learnt how to make your own data types (records/classes).

maxx and maxy are useful variables to find the maximum coordinates.

[Aange10]

Ok but why do i need a grid? I can find any cords i need with my Mouse.Where.. Not to mention i already found where i wanted my brick to start

[Zren]

Because the behaviour you were describing is similar to a grid. As your eventual output of bricks would look like it has columns and rows.

It's also very easy to draw a grid.

Turing:

var startX := 0 var startY := maxy div 2 var cellW := 40 var cellH := 10 var w := cellW - 1 var h := cellH - 1 for y : 0 .. 100 by cellH     for x : 0 .. maxx by cellW         Draw.Dot (x, y, black) %Starting point per brick         %Draw.Box (x, y, x + cellW, y + cellH, black) % Overlap!         %Draw.Box (x, y, x + w, y + h, black) % No more overlap         Draw.FillBox (startX + x, startY + y, startX + x + w, startY + y + h, Rand.Int (0, maxcolor))     end for end for % Alternatively: for y : 0 .. 19     for x : 0 .. 4         %Draw.Dot (x * cellW, y * cellH, black)     end for end for

I might have misinterpreted. I thought you were doing the game breakout where all the bricks are a fixed width. You seem to have some randomness in there. If you know how to make a for loop into a regular loop, then you can do a non fixed increment to the counter.

Turing:

var x := 0 loop     exit when x > maxx     Draw.Line(x, 0, x, maxy, black)     x += Rand.Int (5, 20) end loop