A Game and An Engine

Well, I would have posted my game as an attachment here, but it's too big. I guess if you'd like to see it, you can email me at crazychimp132 at gmail dot com.

I did not make this, my first finished Alice program, from scratch. I actually took the flying simulation that comes with Alice and modified it a lot. Now the plane is faster, the camera operates differently, the turning is changed. Now, left and right roll the plane without changing it's direction, so to make a turn to the side you must roll to the side and pull up. I think this is somewhat more realistic than before, though of course, still not very close to reality. The most significant change is the missile and target system. There are three targets in the level that you can launch missiles at by either aiming with the added crosshairs (three small spheres vehicle'd to the plane at increasing distances in front of it), or by clicking on one of the targets as you see it onscreen, causing the missile to lock on to it, and then launching the missile without having to aim. You can also increase and decrease your speed.

For my second program, I have made a very basic physics engine that I would love someone to add onto. Currently it involves fairly well-organized code (though there are no comments currently) of a bouncing ball that is affected realisticly by gravity and forces pulling it to the sides, and collision with the ground. This one also has an interesting camera to play around with.

I think Alice is great. This year is my first real programming class. I have had limited experience programming with Basic in the past, and I am amazed at how much I have learned so quickly just by playing around with Alice.

I do have one question. It seems to me like I can't change entries in arrays through the code- is this a bug? If it's not, how do I go about doing it? An example would be changing the nth entry in an array to the nth entry in that array minus 1.

And a suggestion- add the ability to move code between methods and between files. Right now to move from one method to another, one must drag the code from the first method onto Events, then open the second method and drag it from events to there. And there's no way to add from one program to another.

They sound good! I'm sending an e-mail right now.

EDIT: Got them. The flight sim is great, though the controls are kind of hard to get used to. I crashed a lot. Really like the missle idea.
The ball thing wasn't that interesting from a visual standpoint, though few bouncing balls are. From a performance standpoint, it went pretty good, though the camera comfused me (it rotates around the ball as it bounces, or I think it does. Really confused me...), so I made it stationary a little ways away to watch the ball bounce by itself. Pretty good, and, as good as I can tell, very realistic.
And there's a little review if anyone wants one before they get the worlds.

[gabe]

Originally Posted by crazychimp132

I do have one question. It seems to me like I can't change entries in arrays through the code- is this a bug? If it's not, how do I go about doing it? An example would be changing the nth entry in an array to the nth entry in that array minus 1.

I have forwarded this to Dennis. I will report back a response.

And a suggestion- add the ability to move code between methods and between files. Right now to move from one method to another, one must drag the code from the first method onto Events, then open the second method and drag it from events to there. And there's no way to add from one program to another.

To move code between methods, drag your code to the clipboard, located in the upper-right corner of the screen (to copy), and then back down to a new location.

To move code between files, see this thread.

Thanks for clearing that up, Gabe. I've found that the array bug happens only when you try to set a value in an array using a variable. (eg. "set item 0 to world.number in world.array")

Originally Posted by crazychimp132

Thanks for clearing that up, Gabe. I've found that the array bug happens only when you try to set a value in an array using a variable. (eg. "set item 0 to world.number in world.array")

Greetings,
I discovered this bug myself today while trying to populate elements of an array with random integers. Is there a work-around for this bug? I'm trying to demonstrate the operations of various sorting algorithms using an array class variable and an array visualization. However, the inability to initialize the array variable is a bit of a show-stopper.

[jediaction]

Haha, This is the very first thread ever!

[reuben2011]

Good job bumping a five year old thread!

[jediaction]

Thanks....I think its cool!