dynamic order

[dub]

So I was trying to figure out a way of getting my player character to appear in front of background objects at one point and behind them at other points.

I am "trying" to make a top down game. (A similar POV as the Zelda games)

I came up with this method, which only works on a single object.

- red block is my player and the hitbox (invisible)
- That group is the "background objects" group
- the last object is the actual player sprite which is attached to the red square.

This method works well, but unfortunately only on a single instance of background objects.

I guess I would need a further condition if I were to use the above system, so that MMF looks for the closest object to the player and either puts them in front or behind them?
How would I go about MMF checking which the closest object is the to player?

Is there a better way to approach this problem than the path I am taking?

[Werbad]

The Layer Object has an automatic sort function for this kind of thing.

[dub]

Could you expand on that please?
I don't have much experience with layers and this specific problem.

My main problem is getting MMF to know when to send a background object above and when it needs to send it below.

Never mind, figured it out.
Thanks for pointing me to the layer object though.
Ahh, just read the post below this one, interesting info
Thanks for that, it's very helpful.

[Werbad]

There is an extension called Layer Object, it has an action Sort > By Y (Increasing)
It will sort all objects on the screen according to their Y Position.

[dub]

First up, thanks for your help thus far.


So I set: always decreasing Y sort.

That works pretty well for most BKG objects, but I also have some objects that need to be in the same layer as the player sprite and always need to be under the player sprite.
Is there a way to exclude objects from the sort procedure?

[Werbad]

Try manually updating those objects using "move object behind object" after the main sorting.