Stealth Mechanic: Now He Sees You, Now He Doesn't!

[TheFieryPlumber]

I was wondering how you can imitate a popular mechanic in MMF2...
In the PNG file, it shows what I'm looking for...
-There are Three Active Objects
-Enemy
-Sensor
-Player
I want to have the sensor act as the enemy's sight.
So whenever the enemy comes across an obstacle like a backdrop, the sensor cuts like blind spots.

[samcool_129]

You can make the Enemy throw invisible objects to the Player (the objects, let's call it Detectors, are destroyed when they touch an obstacle or go too far away). If a Detector touches the Player, then the Enemy sees him.

I saw an example MFA of that somewhere, but I don't remember where. Sorry and happy coding !

[TheFieryPlumber]

I don't fully understand what you're saying.
If you mean having the enemy constantly throw detectors at the player's direction that is destroyed when it passes the sensor or touches an obstacle, then having the enemy activate if the detectors collides with the player, I'm not sure if that would be executed flawlessly but it could work.

[samcool_129]

If you mean having the enemy constantly throw detectors at the player's direction that is destroyed when it passes the sensor or touches an obstacle, then having the enemy activate if the detectors collides with the player, I'm not sure if that would be executed flawlessly but it could work.

Yep, I was thinking about that. Just do some tests and you will find some kind of solution.

[TheFieryPlumber]

I was thinking more of a flashlight effect; but if that's the only way for an enemy to track a player down, I’ll take it.

[samcool_129]

I was thinking more of a flashlight effect; but if that's the only way for an enemy to track a player down, I’ll take it.

I didn't think about it ! A flashlight effect is feasible, maybe with combining detectors and a flashlight sprite.

[MuddyMole]

Firstly, you scrap the big circular detector.
The normal method is to use a 1x1 pixel detector object, and stretch / rotate it so that it forms a line between the enemy and the player - and then if that line overlaps an obstacle, you know the line of sight is blocked.
There are a great many examples of this technique, which should be easy to find if you search.

eg.
http://www.create-games.com/article.asp?id=2137
http://www.sketchy.co.nf/downloads/ZombieAI.mfa
http://www.sketchy.co.nf/downloads/TeamLoS.mfa

If you really want a visible flashlight beam, then try shadowcasting - but bear in mind it's complicated and may hurt performance. Again, there are plenty of examples around...

eg.
http://community.clickteam.com/threads/59100-Dynamic-Light-and-Shadow-Engine-4
http://www.create-games.com/download.asp?id=8855
http://www.sketchy.co.nf/downloads/PolygonShadows.mfa

[TheFieryPlumber]

That's all the info I need! Thank you very much!