Why are the players speeding up when shooting?

[STLearning]

What is it you are trying to achieve?
I am trying to ensure speeds stay the same even if they are shooting.

What is the problem you are having?
When the opposing player shoots, the other player slows down. However when the player shoots and moves at the same time, they go incredibly fast. When both players are shooting at the same time, and moving as well, it seems to go back to normal speeds.


Describe what you have tried to solve this problem
I've tried tinkering with delays and just about everything I could think of to make it normal, but I just can't get it right. (I also have no idea why its occurring.)
I've also tried to get rid of the processes in general, since I have a feeling that is what causing the randomness, but I completely failed at figuring out a method of doing that without bugging the entire code.

Post any relevant code (You may choose to attach the file instead of posting the code if it is too long)

Turing:

%Developer : %Program Title: Dodgeball %Version Number : 1.00 %Creation Date : May 27, 2010 %---------------------------------------------------------------------- %STARTING MENU + START BUTTON %---------------------------------------------------------------------- import GUI                            %Required to set up GUI setscreen ("graphics:500;400")        %Resolution View.Set ("offscreenonly")            %Required to remove flickering procedure hello (ch : char)     if ch = "x" or ch = "X" then      %What happens when button is pressed -> Goes to Credits         GUI.Quit     end if end hello var quitButton : int := GUI.CreateButton (175, 50, 0, "press here when  ready", GUI.Quit)  %Creates Button GUI.SetKeyEventHandler (hello) View.Update loop     exit when GUI.ProcessEvent                %Keeps screen at button until it is clicked end loop %-------------------------------------------- %Credit Screen %-------------------------------------------- cls var font : int font := Font.New ("Castellar:28")           %Sets font size and type for Load Bar var loadbar : int := 50 put "Developer : put "Program Title: Dodgeball" put "Version Number : 1.00" put "Creation Date : May 27, 2010" put "With thanks to, Compsci.ca and its members put " " put "Please wait while the game loads" View.Update for count : 1 .. 5                              %Load Bar     Font.Draw ("LOADING", 150, 155, font, black)     drawbox (150, 100, 350, 150, black)     drawfillbox (150, 100, 100 + loadbar, 150, green)     View.Update     loadbar += 50     delay (1000) end for delay (1000) %------------------------------------------------------ %GLOBAL VARIABLES var speed : int := 0 %------------------------------------------------------ %------------------------------------------------------ %Asking for Game Speed %------------------------------------------------------ cls put "Please choose your game speed" put "For a good computer please, enter a speed from 3 to 6, depending on the speed you wish the game to run at" put "For weaker computers, please put a delay of 1 to 2" put "After typping in your number, please press enter " View.Update get speed %--------------------------------------------------- %VARIABLES FOR MOVEMENT var x, y : int          %stores coordinates for right player x := 400 y := 200 var a, b : int          %stores coordinates for left player a := 100 b := 200 var bulletx1, bulleta2, bullety1, bulletb2 : int  %Stores Bullet coordinates var shot1, shot2 : int := 0 forward proc player1movement forward proc player2movement %--------------------------------------------------- %--------------------------------------------------- %Process %--------------------------------------------------- process movement1     player1movement end movement1 process movement2     player2movement end movement2 %---------------------------------------------------- %PROCEDURES %---------------------------------------------------- proc draw     drawfillbox (0, 0, 50, 50, gray)     drawbox (0, 0, maxx, maxy, black)        %Boundaries     drawline (250, 0, 250, maxy, black) end draw proc shoot1     loop         shot1 := 1                                  %Fuifills condition to draw bullet         bulletx1 -= 1                               %Moves location of bullet         exit when bulletx1 + 20 < 0                %exits loop after bullet leaves screen         player1movement     end loop     shot1 := 0                                     %resets bullet loop end shoot1 proc shoot2     loop         shot2 := 1                          %Fuifills condition to draw bullet         bulleta2 += 1                       %Moves location of bullet         exit when bulleta2 + 20 > maxx      %exits loop after bullet leaves screen         player2movement     end loop     shot2 := 0 end shoot2 body proc player1movement     var chars : array char of boolean         %Movement right Player     Input.KeyDown (chars)     if chars (KEY_UP_ARROW) and y <= maxy then %Up Button         y := y + 1     end if     if chars (KEY_DOWN_ARROW) and y >= 0 then  %Down Button         y := y - 1     end if     if x = 250 then                             %Middle Boundary         x := x + 0     elsif chars (KEY_LEFT_ARROW) and x >= 0 then  %Left Button         x := x - 1     end if     if chars (KEY_RIGHT_ARROW) and x <= maxx then  %Right Button         x := x + 1     end if     if chars (KEY_CTRL) and shot1 = 0 then                  %Starts Shoot Procedure and sets bullet start location where player is         bullety1 := y         bulletx1 := x         shoot1     end if         if shot1 = 1 then         drawoval (bulletx1 + 35, bullety1 - 1, 10, 10, 0)           %Removes bullet trail         drawoval (bulletx1 + 35, bullety1, 10, 10, 7)               %Draws Bullet         drawoval (bulletx1 - 35, bullety1 - 1, 10, 10, 0)           %Removes bullet trail         drawoval (bulletx1 - 35, bullety1, 10, 10, 7)               %Draws Bullet     end if     draw     drawoval (a, b, 10, 10, red)     drawoval (x, y, 10, 10, red)         %Draw Location of Player     View.Update end player1movement body proc player2movement     var char1 : array char of boolean  % Movement left Player     Input.KeyDown (char1)     if char1 ('w') and b <= maxy then %Up button         b := b + 1     end if     if char1 ('s') and b >= 0 then     %Down Button         b := b - 1     end if     if char1 ('a') and a >= 0 then       %Left Button         a := a - 1     end if     if a = 250 then                        %Middle Boundary         a := a + 0     elsif char1 ('d') and a <= maxx then  %Right Button         a := a + 1     end if     if char1 (KEY_SHIFT) and shot2 = 0 then             %Starts Shoot Procedure and sets bullet start location where player is         bulletb2 := b         bulleta2 := a         shoot2     end if     if shot2 = 1 then         drawoval (bulleta2 + 35, bulletb2 - 1, 10, 10, 0)           %Removes bullet trail         drawoval (bulleta2 + 35, bulletb2, 10, 10, 7)               %Draws Bullet         drawoval (bulleta2 - 35, bulletb2 - 1, 10, 10, 0)           %Removes bullet trail         drawoval (bulleta2 - 35, bulletb2, 10, 10, 7)               %Draws Bullet     end if     draw     drawoval (a, b, 10, 10, red)   %Draw Location of Player     drawoval (x, y, 10, 10, red)     View.Update end player2movement %--------------------------------------------------------------------------- % Main Loop - Everything that needs to be repeated %--------------------------------------------------------------------------- loop         fork movement1              %Allows both movements to run at same time     fork movement2     %View.Update     %gets rid of flickering     delay (speed)  %sets rate of game speed     cls             %clears screen to get rid of previous frames     %View.Update end loop

Please specify what version of Turing you are using
4.11

[USEC_OFFICER]

It may have something to do with the fact the processes are messy. Having two processes run at the same time does not mean that they will run the same number of times. Try to redo your program without processes.

[STLearning]

Ah, could I please get a hint of how to do that? I've tried leading the two movement procedures into each other, but it completely messes up the shooting code =/

[USEC_OFFICER]

Frankly, the easiest way would be to move all the movement-related code into the main loop.

[Unnamed.t]

My suggestion is to change your two body procs. I'm not entirely sure, but rather than having a separate if structure for each input (e.g. KEY_UP_ARROW) use elsif to merge everything in one control flow statement. This should help the shooting and moving coordination a great deal.

Even though this may help, still experiencing minor problems like having an increase of speed randomly should be expected because of the weak capabilities Turing has.

[Cezna]

I would recommend that instead of using:

Turing:

delay (1000)

You use:

Turing:

Time.DelaySinceLast (1000)

This will ensure similar performance across computers with varying speeds.
For an explanation of how Time.DelaySinceLast works, you can click on the word in the code box above.

Also, I would recommend avoiding processes, as they are inherently unpredictable and random in Turing.

[Kharybdis]

It has to do with frame rate and memory usage, if you want to get really technical about it

[USEC_OFFICER]

Which is a result of using Turing Processes. So don't use them.

[chrisbrown]

Unnamed.t @ Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:23 pm wrote:

still experiencing minor problems like having an increase of speed randomly should be expected because of the weak capabilities Turing has.

So very untrue. Turing may have its flaws, but it does exactly what it is instructed to do.

"Unexpected behaviour" invariably stems from the assumptions, oversights, faulty logic and/or inexperience of the programmer.

[andrew.]

The problem in your code is that you're using processes. NEVER use processes. Instead, make them procedures and call them from within your loop. e.g.

Turing:

procedure movement1     % do stuff end movement1 procedure movement2     % do stuff end movement2 loop     movement1     movement2     delay(speed) end loop

This may not be exactly how you want to do it, but it's a general outline of how the main loop in a game works.

Oh and if you're wondering how it does 2 things at once, well, it doesn't. The computer processes it so fast that it appears to do it at once. I hope this clears up your problem.