Thanks guys, I hadn’t heard of the Perspective module before. I’m excited to play around and incorporate it into my code. I’ll post back after I get a chance to try it out.
Chris [import]uid: 146966 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 137791[/import]
@Caleb wrote:
@xnailbender: You really seem to like it 
Now I’m wondering if parallax scrolling can be integrated into the module.
It would be a complete platfrom scrolling solution in a single module.
I’m just starting to look into parallax scrolling, it will be a big visual improvement for my platformer’s Ver 1.2.
Just a little more testing and I’ll submit Ver 1.0
I’ve been making little improvements, like allowing users to drag/ place the “Left”, “Right” and “Up” controller buttons where ever they like them best.
My boys, 7 & 12, were complaining they didn’t the controller positions, but I liked them where they were, so to stop the bickering I coded in the moveable buttons. :). All my beta testers are happy now. 
Hopefully if my app gets any users, they will use/like the feature.
Nail
[import]uid: 106779 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 137809[/import]
Hmm… I’m wondering if I ought to say this, thinking of the previous time I said it…
Parallax scrolling is simplicity in it’s utmost to do.
(that means I’ll add it sometime in the future)
EDIT:
After much labor (almost 45 minutes!) I’ve come out with Perspective 1.2, which supports parallax tracking
Caleb [import]uid: 147322 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 137864[/import]
@Caleb wrote:
Parallax scrolling is simplicity in it’s utmost to do.
Crack’n me up there…
Nail [import]uid: 106779 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 137968[/import]
Ok, I’ve had a chance to play around with Perspective a bit. First off, great stuff … thanks Caleb!
Below is a test case I made (plug n play code):
[lua]display.setStatusBar( display.HiddenStatusBar )
local physics = require “physics”
physics.start()
physics.setDrawMode( “hybrid” )
local perspective=require(“perspective”)
local camera=perspective.createView()
local ground = display.newRect( 0, 300, 480, 50 )
ground:setFillColor( 0, 255, 0 )
camera:add(ground, 3, false)
physics.addBody(ground, “static”, { density=1.0, friction=0.4, bounce=0})
local hero = display.newRect( 150, 300, 15, 50 )
hero:setFillColor( 255, 0, 0 )
camera:add(hero, 1, false)
physics.addBody(hero, “dynamic”, { density=1.0, friction=0.4, bounce=0})
hero.isFixedRotation = true
local crate = display.newRect( 200, 300, 15, 15 )
crate:setFillColor( 0, 0, 255 )
camera:add(crate, 2, false)
physics.addBody(crate, “dynamic”, { density=1.0, friction=0.4, bounce=0.3})
local forwardBtnPressed = false
local backBtnPressed = false
local function moveCharacter(event)
if forwardBtnPressed then
hero.x = hero.x + 3
elseif backBtnPressed then
hero.x = hero.x - 3
end
end
function forwardBtnPressed(event)
forwardBtnPresssed = false
backBtnPressed = false
if event.phase == “began” then
forwardBtnPressed = true
Runtime:addEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
elseif event.phase == “ended” then
Runtime:removeEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
forwardBtnPressed = false
end
print(hero.x)
return true
end
function backBtnPressed(event)
forwardBtnPresssed = false
backBtnPressed = false
if event.phase == “began” then
backBtnPressed = true
Runtime:addEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
elseif event.phase == “ended” then
Runtime:removeEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
backBtnPressed = false
end
return true
end
local forwardBtn = display.newRect(display.contentWidth/2,display.contentHeight/2,display.contentWidth/2,display.contentHeight)
forwardBtn:setFillColor(0, 0)
local backBtn = display.newRect(0,display.contentHeight/2,display.contentWidth/2,display.contentHeight)
backBtn:setFillColor(0, 0)
camera:setFocus(hero)
camera:track()
camera.damping=30
camera:setBounds(0, display.contentWidth*4, 0, display.contentHeight)
forwardBtn:addEventListener( “touch”, forwardBtnPressed )
backBtn:addEventListener(“touch”, backBtnPressed )[/lua]
You can touch the left or right side of the screen to move the “hero” (red block) around.
My issue is that you can see when the red block moves into the crate, they interfere or overlap each other before being pushed apart. I know this is happening because of how I have the code setup to move the red block (x = x+3 on enterFrame)… so when the red block is next to the crate, it is instantaneously being overlapped by 3 pixels on the crate … then the physics engine detects the collision and pushes them apart.
This becomes less apparent the smaller you increment the chance (x = x+.5 for example), but this makes the character movement unacceptably slow.
I’m wondering if either of you know of a better way that I can have the character move (during a continuous touch event) that doesn’t cause this problem? [import]uid: 146966 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138001[/import]
My second issue is harder to demonstrate here so I thought I’d make another post.
In a chunk of my ‘real’ code I have tried to do essentially the same thing that I did in my test case except that I’m using images for the objects. On the character (spaceman2) and ground I have used the Physics Editor application to define the physical boundaries for the more complicated ground (rolling terrain) and character. That data is stored within “shapedefs.lua” … I’m not sure how familiar or not you are with Physics Editor? The crate object is the same as before, just a vector object.
When I fire up the simulator, all of the physics boundaries (that I can see through the “hybrid” draw mode) are present and work properly, but my images do not show on screen. Even the crate which isn’t an image object does not show… just the orange physics boundary.
Have you ever come across this issue before? I’ve been troubleshooting a lot trying to slowly reduce the complexity in this code to make it closer to the test code from my other post, but so far I haven’t been able to make any progress. As soon as I comment out the camera:add(object) lines, my images appear again.
I’ll post my code below even though it will be a bit harder to follow (and is not plug and play) than the last chunk I posted:
[lua]display.setStatusBar( display.HiddenStatusBar )
local physics = require “physics”
physics.start()
physics.setDrawMode( “hybrid” )
local perspective=require(“perspective”)
local camera=perspective.createView()
local background = display.newImage(“background_outdoor.png”)
local physicsData = ( require “shapedefs”).physicsData()
ground_lev_test = display.newImage( “ground_lev_test.png”, true )
ground_lev_test:setReferencePoint( display.TopLeftReferencePoint )
ground_lev_test.x = 0; ground_lev_test.y = 0
camera:add(ground_lev_test, 2, false)
ground_lev_test.myName = “ground_lev_test”
physics.addBody( ground_lev_test, “static”, physicsData:get(“ground_lev_test”) )
spaceman2 = display.newImage( “spaceman2.png” )
spaceman2.x = 240
spaceman2.y = 150
spaceman2.alpha=1
camera:add(spaceman2, 1, false)
spaceman2.myName = “spaceman2”
physics.addBody( spaceman2, “dynamic”, physicsData:get(“spaceman2”) )
spaceman2.isFixedRotation = true
local crate = display.newRect( 250, 100, 15, 15 )
crate:setFillColor( 0, 0, 0 )
crate.alpha = 1
camera:add(crate, 3, false)
physics.addBody(crate, “dynamic”, { density=1.0, friction=0.4, bounce=0.3, filter={categoryBits = 8, maskBits = 7} })
local forwardBtnPressed = false
local backBtnPressed = false
local jumpBtnPressed = false
local function moveCharacter(event)
if forwardBtnPressed then
spaceman2.x = spaceman2.x + 3
elseif backBtnPressed then
spaceman2.x = spaceman2.x - 3
end
end
function forwardBtnPressed(event)
forwardBtnPresssed = false
backBtnPressed = false
if event.phase == “began” then
forwardBtnPressed = true
Runtime:addEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
elseif event.phase == “ended” then
Runtime:removeEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
forwardBtnPressed = false
end
print(spaceman2.x)
return true
end
function backBtnPressed(event)
forwardBtnPresssed = false
backBtnPressed = false
if event.phase == “began” then
backBtnPressed = true
Runtime:addEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
elseif event.phase == “ended” then
Runtime:removeEventListener( “enterFrame”, moveCharacter )
backBtnPressed = false
end
return true
end
local forwardBtn = display.newRect(display.contentWidth/2,display.contentHeight/2,display.contentWidth/2,display.contentHeight/2)
forwardBtn:setFillColor(0, 0)
local backBtn = display.newRect(0,display.contentHeight/2,display.contentWidth/2,display.contentHeight/2)
backBtn:setFillColor(0, 0)
camera:setFocus(spaceman2)
camera:track()
camera.damping=30
camera:setBounds(0, display.contentWidth*4, 0, display.contentHeight)
forwardBtn:addEventListener( “touch”, forwardBtnPressed )
backBtn:addEventListener(“touch”, backBtnPressed )[/lua] [import]uid: 146966 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138003[/import]
Problem # 2 has been solved
The culprit was the line:
[lua]local background = display.newImage(“background_outdoor.png”)[/lua]
It wasn’t in a layer and was sitting in front of all of the other objects that had been put in Perspective layers.
Embarrassed it took me 2 nights to figure that out!
Thanks,
Chris [import]uid: 146966 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138005[/import]
@maher, I don’t know how to eliminate the “overlap” issue using the “pixel” method, but instead you can play with seLlinearVelocity(x,y) of the hero.
Try this and see if it’s what you are after…
local function moveCharacter(event)
if forwardBtnPressed then
--hero.x = hero.x + 2
hero:setLinearVelocity(150, 0)
elseif backBtnPressed then
--hero.x = hero.x - 2
hero:setLinearVelocity(-150, 0)
end
end
function forwardBtnPressed(event)
forwardBtnPresssed = false
backBtnPressed = false
if event.phase == "began" then
forwardBtnPressed = true
Runtime:addEventListener( "enterFrame", moveCharacter )
elseif event.phase == "ended" then
Runtime:removeEventListener( "enterFrame", moveCharacter )
forwardBtnPressed = false
hero:setLinearVelocity( 0, 0 )
end
print(hero.x)
return true
end
function backBtnPressed(event)
forwardBtnPresssed = false
backBtnPressed = false
if event.phase == "began" then
backBtnPressed = true
Runtime:addEventListener( "enterFrame", moveCharacter )
elseif event.phase == "ended" then
Runtime:removeEventListener( "enterFrame", moveCharacter )
backBtnPressed = false
hero:setLinearVelocity( 0, 0 )
end
return true
end Hope this helps,
Nail [import]uid: 106779 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138023[/import]
xnailbender is correct, in my opinion. If you’re using the physics library, you should use a physics approach to moving your character, instead of incrementing the X like that.
The code xnailbender posted should work, too.
Caleb [import]uid: 147322 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138055[/import]
Thanks for the recommendations. the setLinearVelocity works well, but then I noticed it kind of messes with a jump button I added. The jump works through “applyForce” in vertical direction. If I jump stationary it looks natural. If I jump and touch forward, the character glides through the air (the gravity doesn’t appear to work the same way).
I think I can get everything to look right if I use applyForce to move forward and back … just might need to add some extra controls to ramp the speed up to some max limit for if the touch is held continuously.
Thanks,
Chris [import]uid: 146966 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138222[/import]
I’ve done a retro style platformer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5oPGbcAfeQ) and from my experience it’s much harder to achieve such performance with physic engines, your mileage may vary. [import]uid: 206803 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138224[/import]
@Aidin wrote:
from my experience it’s much harder to achieve such performance with physic engines, your mileage may vary.
I agree Aidiin, I use the “pixel” method in my platformer for both run and jump. I found using physics very tricky to get right and consistent.
I don’t mind a slight “overlay” on collisions, I just make my physics body a pixel or 2 bigger and I build for 480x320 landscape @ 60 FPS for best results and let Corona scale everything.
I may not totally eliminate the “overlay”, but it’s acceptable to me.
Nail
[import]uid: 106779 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138226[/import]
You need to keep his velocity and set the desired velocity when you jump/move:
[lua]–In your jump function, this is the part that makes him go up:
local vx, vy=hero:getLinearVelocity()
hero:setLinearVelocity(vx, -50) – or however much Y-velocity you want to use
–And in your move left-right function:
local vx, vy=hero:getLinearVelocity()
if forwardButtonIsPressed then
hero:setLinearVelocity(150, vy)
else
hero:setLinearVelocity(-150, vy)
end[/lua]
Oh, and notice the “forwardButtonIsPressed”. You can’t make forwardButtonPressed a boolean and a function - same as backButtonPressed.
Caleb [import]uid: 147322 topic_id: 34642 reply_id: 138268[/import]