Upgrade System

[Vandas]

Hey, all. I'm a little new to these forums, so I'm not quite sure if this where I should be asking... but here goes anyways.

I'm creating a platorm-based, and I'm working on an upgrade system. Right now, the system is designed to shoot one bullet per push of the button, and with the upgrade, double that amount.

What I'd like to know is if there's a way to set up the "Shoot an Object" command under " Repeated while Key is Pressed " and limit the amount of shots coming out, and the timing between each shot.

So, for example, if you had one gun, you would shoot:

<BANG!> .... <BANG!> .... <BANG!> ....

And with two Guns, it would be:

<BANG!> . <BANG!> . <BANG!> . <BANG!> . <BANG!> . <BANG!>

Silly sound effects, I know, but it gets my point across.

Any information would be appreciated; thanks for your time.

-Vandas

[KetchupMaster]

You can add the repeat while key is pressed condition and then add an "every" condition (in the same event) from the timer object to determine the timing between each shot.

[stAtrill]

What i would do, is put the 'shoot an object' command inside a fastloop, then when you want to fire, you run the fastloop for the number of bullets you want shot.

With some knowledge on fastloops, you can add a spread effect to the bullets, otherwise they will be right on top of each other and look just like one.

Hope that made sense.

[Vandas]

Awesome, you guys rock. I'll have to put more study time into Fastloops.

I've got one last question for now. There's a way to limit how many shots are on the screen, from studying the tutorial Gracillus game's coding, but I can't see to emulate it.

I'd like to limit the amount of shots to say, 3 bullets on the screen at a time.

[Gerblegod7]

You can insert a line into the condition for shooting that compares two general values. The first value would be the number of bullets, (under count) and the second value would be the number of bullets you want. Then when the bullets go off screen you can destry them s that it doesn't count towards the 3.

[Vandas]

First off, I'd like to thank you guys for your quick responses and awesome advice. Things have been going well.

But I'm back with another question. :P

So, I've been designing some animations for these upgrades. Is there a way to have an animation loop constantly without reverting to the idle stance?



This is what I currently have happening...



Whereas this is what I would like him to do.

I tried using the " Animation Replace " function, but it didn't seem to work. It still sets him back to idle automatically when the animation finishes, without pause. I also couldn't seem to overwrite the " Shooting " Animation with a dual handgun system for upgrading his weapons. I figure a similar setup could be used if the initial one works.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Brandon]

Check the "Loop" option on the shooting animation. And when you want to switch back to idle, just make an event to force the animation sequence to idle.

[Vandas]

I actually have the Loop Animation going, but since I'm using the delay system described above to limit how many shots are fired between intervals, the animation still resets itself back to the idle position.

... Hmm... But, that did just give me an idea I'm going to try... I'm gonna see about forcing it to lock back to the first frame after every shot, maybe that'll fix it.

Edit: Nah, that didn't do it either.

More specifically what I want is sort of like: When Fire 1 is pressed down, shots are fired and character remains in the single shot position. When Fire 1 is released, return to idle state.

Get my meaning?

[stAtrill]

Try putting in exactly what you just suggested to us.

Place the event changing his animation to shooting in the shooting event.
Then try adding this:

X Repeat while 'Button' is pressed
+ ('Player') Animation 'Shooting' is playing
-Then-
('Player') set animation to 'Stopped'

Where ('Player') is the name of the player, and 'Shooting' is the animation for shooting.

If that doesnt work for you, im sure myself or someone else would be happy to make an example for you.

[Vandas]

Well, it's coming somewhere. I've currently got it setup like so:

1 - Repeat while 'Button' is pressed
+Every 00"-20
Set Animation to 'Shooting'
Play SFX File
Shoot 'Bullet'
2 - Repeat while 'Button' is pressed
Animation 'Shooting' is playing
Set Animation to 'Stopped'

And this works for the animation, but it doesn't actually fire any of the objects until I release the button.

Also, this doesn't seem to want to work if I have multiple forms of Shooting Animations... like a single handgun, rifle, etc. I've been using groups to simple seperate them, and then rigged up a simple touch-based upgrade system that would activate and deactivate groups.