Hey all of you crafty game developers! You see, I''ve been thinking about and coding this little pet project... Actually it''s the first real ''thing'' I''ve ever done. And I''d cry if I didn''t finish it. You start out as a novice in the drug culture, and the object is to run around town and out-smoke people, thus gaining their respect. The concept is a one-on-one smoking contest, where you bust out special moves (smoke rings, french inhale, I have them all written out) and combos to gain respect points throughout the ''battle,'' and if you out-smoke your opponent, you get all of the points. If you don''t win, you just end up with a lighter stash. So anyway, my problem is finding an efficient way to program in the special moves. They''re supposed to be executed in the Street Fighter fashion, with points allocated ala Tony Hawk. I don''t know if I should just bust out a HUGE switch tree, or somehow implement a bunch of class variables, or ARGH the headache... I don''t know if this should have been in the help wanted section or what... Forgive me, I''m new here. Perhaps if any of y''all have ideas... Or if there''s any FAQs on the internet... Or if anyone wants to collaborate... I''m open to any replies. Also, if you have any ideas/suggestions that would add to the game, that would be fat, also. Laterz() { FellOverDead = true; }

I think I was tweaking when I thought of it, actually...
That was about three weeks ago... I haven''t smoked weed in months.
I just felt the need to make a game, so that''s what I came up with. I''m just a stumped programmer, mang.

Well that would be an interesting idea...

For good fun, great idea. I think it would funny to play. However, I don''t see a commercial prospect

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"I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them"

- Isaac Asimov

Drew Sikora
Napali Networks, Inc.

Anybody remember that shareware game Ganjaman? (I think that''s what it was called). Wasn''t it the game were weed was air dropped and you had to run out and get it before the police and air guard could shoot it down... Weird game...

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Just waiting for the mothership...

Yeah, I played Ganjaman. And DopeWars, and some online game where you smuggle weed from country to country. But this game portrays the Role of the Stoner, and all of the personalities he meets on the way.

But I guess nobody is going to help me out with the coding aspect of this game? I guess I''m on my own once agian... *sniff*

Laterz()
{
FellOverDead = true;
}

Ok, well, here''s how i''d approach the situation, though i''m still getting used to OOP, so bear with me.

Keep a short list of moves performed (say, around 8, though most moves should only need around 4) and then every frame, you call a member function of the character object that checks the input buffer against a list of trees. Each tree''s root would be one the the possible inputs that generates a special move. Then each branch would be the next to last input that generates a special move, and so on. Terminating branches would hold a the information required to execute the move (function pointer, function arguements-- depends on how you implement it). Then, you can just match the input list against these trees, last input first, to figure out whether a special move was executed.

Note: you probably want the input buffer to flush with time, as long as a button is not held.

This should be as fast as you need it to be, and it seems like it should be the fastest way without incuring any hardcoded limits to the moves.

Here''s an example:

input buffer contains: up, right, right, down, toke
available tree roots: toke, blow, down, right
match on the toke tree. The secondary brances on the toke tree are: down, right, left
match on down, the next branches are: right
match on right, which is a terminating node, so it contains a function pointer for the Super-Duper Toke move.

I''d draw you a picture of the trees, but i think this message board mangles that sort of text formatting.

Anyway, that''s how i''d do it. If you have any questions or problems, ask away.



Crackpot Productions--
Senior Cracked Pot--
Benc