special kind of scrolling engine

[Larry]

I would be grateful if somebody could explain how to make (or point to an example file of) a Time Pilot / Bosconian game engine.

The chief thing here is that your guy stays in the center of the screen and merely rotates, while all the stars and enemies move about him, thus giving the illusion of movement.

What I can't figure out is how to get the stars and enemies to rotate, to be destroyed when they're a certain distance out of the frame, and to be recreated, etc.

One thing I particularly would like to do is that if, say, an enemy has just gone offscreen, you can "swing your ship around" and catch him. In other words, he'll disappear from the screen for a second or two, but he'll still be "there".

That's a stumper. But the real thing that puzzles me is just how to get the stars to work.

Thanks anybody who takes the trouble to comment.

[rocko]

Try giving the stars ball-movement and make them always move in the opposite direction of the player.

Which would be PlayerDirection + 16 I believe.

[Horn]

Best thing to do is to set all your objects to same qualifiers.
Have all the moving angles,vectors and things in one calculation.
It does not matter if your enemy goes of screen just make sure you dont have "destroy if out of playfield" selected.
With the stars I would say just warp them around the playfield.