Gravity Engine - dev blog

[kennywalker1q2q3q]

hey annikk what time zone are you in?

[annikk.exe]

GMT :>

[annikk.exe]

I've taken a few days break after the mammoth learning/coding session that was required to build the gravity engine and Fluffy's Comet.
Now I am contemplating where to take things next.
Here are my priorities:

1. Create new gravity map.  Details of this soon
2. Post a tidied-up template of the Gravity engine for others to use in their maps, along with detailed instructions
3. Upgrade the gravity engine to feature collision detection... will do asteroid merging for sure, and possibly asteroid bouncing as well.
4. Big Bang map.



These plans will be hastily postponed if the bug with seedlings trying to plant on a moving asteroid is fixed..and especially if the bug with naming your asteroids is also fixed.  This is so that I can complete the half-finished Sol map.

[annikk.exe]

Incidentally I have a bet on with my cousin that I wouldn't be able to create a gravity engine and simulate the solar system, without resorting to getting planets to move in predefined circles.

So far I have Mercury, Venus, Earth, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Io and Europa.

Yeah, he's gonna lose that bet.  Heh.

[Nightcro]

Incidentally I have a bet on with my cousin that I wouldn't be able to create a gravity engine and simulate the solar system, without resorting to getting planets to move in predefined circles.

So far I have Mercury, Venus, Earth, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Io and Europa.

Yeah, he's gonna lose that bet.  Heh.

lol.good for you
how much did he bet ?

[annikk.exe]

No money... instead he will be forced to eat my proverbial hat, which I threw over a gigantic wall at the beginning of April.  :>

[annikk.exe]

Coding for a new level is in progress as of last night.

Similarly to the last, this map will feature the Infected AI Engine, as well as the Gravity Engine.

I intend to make more comprehensive and interesting use of the Gravity Engine for this level.  The map will feature 4 "suns", which are special asteroids that have a gravity well but do not move.  There will also be 2 fully-active asteroids which, when finished, should create interesting gravitational interactions as well as producing entirely symmetrical orbital patterns.  Yes I know that's a bit vague...but I don't want to give it all away just yet.. ;)

It is an extremely fine balancing act, though... the desired orbits are only possible with extremely precise values.  This will take a huge amount of fine-tuning, however as ever I am bloody-mindedly confident that I will eventually crack it.  The rest of the coding will be relatively easy.  The release date for this map depends entirely on how difficult it proves to attain the desired orbits.

[annikk.exe]

Going well now.  3 interactions and 5 suns round the orbital path, which is about 15 minutes worth of gameplay before the comets fly off into space.


The magic number is 0.606709...

[Nightcro]

No money... instead he will be forced to eat my proverbial hat, which I threw over a gigantic wall at the beginning of April.  :>

lol
i hope you will win

[annikk.exe]

Got the 4th interaction working.  Trying for a 5th...

[annikk.exe]

5th interaction almost there...  0.6067096207

[annikk.exe]

5th interaction working good.
Lining things up for a 6th interaction now :>

Hoping to hit 10 interactions by the end of the weekend, possibly a bit ambitious but we'll see how we go.

[annikk.exe]

New gravity map will be released in about 2 weeks time.

[annikk.exe]

0.60670962017185

[annikk.exe]

Created a distance meter, a timer, and an interaction counter to help with the fine tuning...