Getting objects to drop down in a row

[Xeeko]

I'm trying to make a puzzle game with the very standard mechanic in which there's several rows of gems, and clicking on one gem destroys it, and the rest falls down. Like this:

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I'm really struggling with how to accomplish this in a smooth fasion? How do you apply gravity in the best way? I've tried adding simple programmed gravity (like y=y+1), and I've tried using the platform movement, but I need the objects to be able to have different directions at all times (the platform movement keeps setting the direction to down). I've also tried the Box2D, but it's kinda buggy once you export the swf file, and I want to be able to make the iOS later on.

Any ideas?

[Tisnart]

I remember I tried to do the same awhile ago I ended up building my own engine for what I wanted using fast loops. But it has it's own set of problems :crazy: I did however manage to make a flash game out of it Shoot Down
Have you tried the AGBO (Advanced Game Board Object)?
It can do what you want and is Flash compatible. It also has a good help file and some great examples with it.

[Xeeko]

Is the AGBO iOS compatible? I'll give it a try and see if it works.

[Ryan]

You can look at the source for my 20 event competition game. It features collapsing blocks with flash-compatible extensions.

Whether you'll beable to decipher it all depends on your experience with fast loops, targetting objects with IDs and moving objects around with x-y coordinates (ignoring the built in movements).

http://www.gamebuilder.info/world/content/eve-arcade

There are probably some examples floating around in the file archive too, I'd do a search there.

[Xeeko]

Those are some truly impressive games you have there Ryan

[Xeeko]

Also, way more advanced than I understand. That's why I want to make Flash or iOS game, to not get in over my head. Really, there has got to be a simpler way of just adding some gravity or whatever to the world. I've tried just using the platform movement, and it works really well as an exe, but when exporting as swf it just bugs out, and it can't really figure out the collisions.

[Xeeko]

Here's the mmf file I'm working with. It would be so extremely helpful if someone sould show me how exactly to accomplish what I want to accomplish, I'm really trying to learn here. It seems like it would be easy, but it's really starting to frustrate me!

View MFA

[Ryan]

I'd suggest looking into AGBO, if that fails, hopefully this simple logic can help you work through it.

If object has been destroyed or has fallen:
- Was there an object above it (Y position - Y spacing)
If so, select this object and
- Set Y position to Y position + Y spacing

Repeat for all objects, work from the bottom up so that there isn't any messy overlaps.

To repeat for all objects you can use fast loops and select each object by ID. There's a great fastloop tutorial kicking around the tutorials section of the clickteam website.

[Xeeko]

I'll take alook at the fastloops and AGBO, thanks.

[Xeeko]

I do get the logic of what you mean, but how do you check if there is an object beneath or above another object? Is there a ray cast function or similar in mmf?