Gravity Engine - dev blog

[Alex]

What I'll probably do is when an asteroid is moved, the seedlings will move by the same amount.

[annikk.exe]

That'd do it.. :>  That is their behaviour when orbiting, so that should look and function perfectly :D

[annikk.exe]

Did a few more updates to the engine itself tonight, to try to make it easier to create asteroids that are affected by gravity in different ways.


There are three categories.

1.  First you declare asteroids that have a gravity well, but do not themselves move.
2.  Then you declare asteroids that have a gravity well, and are also moved by gravity.
3.  Finally, you declare any asteroids that you do not want to be affected by gravity, nor have a gravity well.


Here's a template I put together to illustrate asteroid creation for the gravity engine:

(click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

-- ****************************************
-- **********Asteroid Creation*************
-- ****************************************
--




-- ***
-- 1.  THE BELOW ASTEROIDS HAVE A GRAVITY WELL BUT DO NOT THEMSELVES MOVE
-- ***


-- Asteroid 0
-- gravity variables
roid = 0
AccelerationX[roid] = 0
AccelerationY[roid] = 0
MomentumX[roid] = 0
MomentumY[roid] = 0
density[roid] = 50
CoordX[roid] = 0
CoordY[roid] = 0
roidradius[roid] = 1750

-- Creation
a = AddAsteroidWithAttribs(CoordX[roid],CoordY[roid],0.5,0.5,0.5)
a.Owner = 1
a.TreeCap = 0
a:SetRadius(roidradius[roid])
a:Reveal(1)
a.Moveable = False


-- Asteroid 1
-- gravity variables
roid = 1
AccelerationX[roid] = 0
AccelerationY[roid] = 0
MomentumX[roid] = 0
MomentumY[roid] = 0
density[roid] = 0.1
CoordX[roid] = 3170
CoordY[roid] = 275
roidradius[roid] = 350

-- Creation
a = AddAsteroidWithAttribs(CoordX[roid],CoordY[roid],0.5,0.5,0.5)
a.Owner = 1
a.TreeCap = 4
a:SetRadius(roidradius[roid])
a:Reveal(1)
a.Moveable = False







wellonlythreshold = roid + 1
-- ***
-- 2.  THE BELOW ASTEROIDS HAVE A GRAVITY WELL, AND MOVE
-- ***


-- Asteroid 2
-- gravity variables
roid = 2
AccelerationX[roid] = 0
AccelerationY[roid] = 0
MomentumX[roid] = 0
MomentumY[roid] = 0
density[roid] = 0.1
CoordX[roid] = -1200
CoordY[roid] = -3700
roidradius[roid] = 475

-- Creation
a = AddAsteroidWithAttribs(CoordX[roid],CoordY[roid],0.5,0.5,0.5)
a.Owner = 1
a.TreeCap = 4
a:SetRadius(roidradius[roid])
a:Reveal(1)
a.Moveable = False





gravroidsthreshold = roid
-- 3.  THE BELOW ASTEROIDS DO NOT MOVE AND DO NOT HAVE A GRAVITY WELL

-- Asteroid 3
-- gravity variables
roid = 3
AccelerationX[roid] = 0
AccelerationY[roid] = 0
MomentumX[roid] = 0
MomentumY[roid] = 0
density[roid] = 0.1
CoordX[roid] = -4000
CoordY[roid] = -3050
roidradius[roid] = 425

-- Creation
a = AddAsteroidWithAttribs(CoordX[roid],CoordY[roid],0.5,0.5,0.5)
a.Owner = 1
a.TreeCap = 4
a:SetRadius(roidradius[roid])
a:Reveal(1)
a.Moveable = False




roidnumber = roid
-- END ASTEROID CREATION

[annikk.exe]

After my first gravity-based level is released I will publish a nice, user-friendly version of the gravity engine aimed at novice-to-intermediete level designers.

[annikk.exe]

New level is going well...  Asteroids are placed, comet orbit is 100% stable, cloaking/decloaking and wave-add works good also.  About 60% of the functionality is in place now.
I am having some trouble integrating the AI from Infected Empire into the map.  The AI seedlings don't seem to want to expand to their empty asteroids..

Hmm, maybe I can't check values with == GetAsteroid().TreeCap ...

Will try setting treecap with a declared variable tomorrow...

[Bonobo]

[..]

I am having some trouble integrating the AI from Infected Empire into the map.  The AI seedlings don't seem to want to expand to their empty asteroids..

[..]

Sounds like a GOOD THING to me

Greetings from insomniac Tom

[annikk.exe]

Hmm, maybe I can't check values with == GetAsteroid().TreeCap ...

Will try setting treecap with a declared variable tomorrow...

Note to self.

This wouldn't fully explain the behaviour.  When the comet is first sweeping in, seedlings only seem to want to take over player asteroids; not interested at all in colonising their own, empty asteroids.  It is as if when checking for targets the AI doesn't realise their empty asteroids belong to them.  This matches the problems seen in the wider AI engine.


Is the code to send them being run?
Is it being applied to the correct empire?
Is it being applied to the correct checkedroid, and a valid target?
Are the checks for friendly asteroids to jump to being carried out?
Is the normal AI interfering somehow?
Have I made some other random schoolboy error?

Mysterious mysteries of unexplained mystery...

[annikk.exe]

By the way the level is currently 1600 lines and 42kb making it the largest ever level, again :P

[Nightcro]

By the way the level is currently 1600 lines and 42kb making it the largest ever level, again

When will it be realesed
 

[annikk.exe]

This weekend!!  Friday or Saturday at the very latest.  :>
I should warn you though, this first level will have a very simple gravity implementation, with most asteroids static.
I will make another level shortly afterwards with a bit more going on.

I figured out what was causing the problem with the AI.  I had forgotten to Reveal the asteroids to him :>

[annikk.exe]

All functional elements of the new level are working now.  AI Engine and Gravity Engine seems to play nice with one another :>


As the level is almost complete, I will now briefly describe it.

The level places you in a relatively small asteroid field, with a large "Sun" asteroid nearby.  The Sun has a gravity well, and every 7 minutes or so a comet orbits very close to it.  The comet is heavily guarded and not meant to be attacked by the player.

Every time the comet comes past, hundreds of new enemy seedlings jump off, invading the galaxy, creating a serious problem for the player, and decisively changing the balance of power.

The object of the level is to take over the whole galaxy (excluding the Sun and the Comet).  In order to accomplish this, the player must recover swiftly from the previous Comet attack, and then take over the galaxy within 7 minutes before the next attack arrives.


The level will be of Medium difficulty.  This compares with all my previous maps which were Hard or Very Hard difficulty.

Release date is 2010/05/14 - 21:00

[Bonobo]

<salivating> and will you please put in some comment like

Code: [Select]

Tom, you can change THIS HERE if you need to cheat again

[annikk.exe]

Got 4-5 hours of balance testing done.  Going well, but still wild changes in seedling numbers, tree caps, etc... not quite down to small refinements yet.

I added a new feature - the Sun is not currently used by either the player or the AI, it just sits there providing a gravity well for the comet.  So I gave it a new job - now it's Core Energy changes according to how far away the comet is.  At the furthest point of the comet's highly eliptical orbit, the Sun's core energy is about 375....when the comet is orbting right up close to the Sun, the core energy drops all the way to 1.  It's like a distance counter.  :>  This lets the player check how long it will be until the next invasion - so far a method of telling the time has been lacking in all other levels.


Bonobo, the map shouldn't be that hard...hopefully you will be able to win without cheating this time :>

[Smokey]

New Map is cool ! try it !

[annikk.exe]

Level is good to go.  Just need to do the write-up.  On schedule for release at 21:00 as planned.
Smokey is a RL friend and beta tester, by the way...