Hi everyone, as a newbie programmer, I am trying to develop a 2D side scrolling Streets of Rage like fighting game with a lot of characters, moves, and animations. I started to learn programming 1 year ago, and I managed to have a game where I have two player controllable characters hit each other, jump to higher elevations in a streets of rage style map, etc...

However, since I am new to programming, and rushed enthusiastically into programming the game without any plan, my code got really messy.

My problem is how to handle character states ( or moves ) , and their animation...

How I proceeded is: I have a huge switch function with states, another one with animations, another one with hitboxes for example:

//this is the base punch for the ninja character.
// this is the state switch function
case NINJA_BASEPUNCH:
		falsify(); // set everything to false (i.e. he cant jump while punch animation is on)
		bCanBasePunch = true; 
		enumAnimState = NINJA_AS_BASEPUNCH; //animation is set to base punch animation
		enumHitMessage = HIT_LIGHT_HI; //this will tell the enemy entity the damage type ( light ) and its position ( high )
		basePunch(); //punch function 
		break;

//once this is executed, the program will set the animation settings
//this is from animation switch function

case NINJA_AS_BASEPUNCH:
		sprite.w = 36;
		sprite.h = 36;
		iCurrentFrameCol = (bFaceRight ? 13:14);
		iCurrentFrameRow = 0;
		animation.maxFrames = 2;
		animation.setFrameRate(animation.getCurrentFrame() > 0 ? 100:60);
		break;
		}
//this is from the hitbox update function. 
case NINJA_AS_PUNCH:
		hitbox.w = groundPos.w;
		hitbox.h = 35;

All this is only for a simple basic punch. Now imagine how would it be if there was a big move list, big combos, stunts, etc... I need to get a better system for it, anyone who can think of a better implementation system?

I don't know how to do that (I'll learn tho, I'm sure there is documentation about how its done), but each attack does not work the same way, especially input wise, some attack will combo with some, while they wont combo with others etc.. it sounds like a great solution tho..

Hey, that was a great reply and will be very helpful!! I think I grasped the logic, now I got to apply it to my system. thanks!

I'm also gonna look at that thread

EDIT: Wow that was a great post!! the game I'm working on is actually directly influenced by River City Ransom (with unique characters and moves, the RPG elements, free world, etc). I was thinking of a mario style map like Scott Pilgrim, which looks also great.

Well I am a noob programmer, and I have a LOT to learn... But its so fun ^^

I already have a function like this but I assigned a state to each hit type ^^

but again there will be a lot of hit styles ( different animation for strong or light hits, a lot of death animations given the weapon / move)... Should I do it also with data?

Oh and by the way is it better to open and close the data file each time, or to open it once and close it when the program ends?

And what about inputs?

Right now, my input function has control over states.

For example, when I press punch, it verifies the state I'm in, and if its allowed to do so, it transitions into a new state.

With your system I can think of a solution like this:

When I press an attack button (there are a punch, a kick, a grab, and an attack modifier button, and I plan on adding shoryuuken style special inputs), I change state to attack, And then logic in the attack case in the state function will deal with its type.

Am I getting it right?