Games & Apps that Challenge Minds
Archive for July, 2010
Steering Behaviors: Unaligned Collision Avoidance
Jul 23rd
This entry is part of 9 in the series Steering Behaviors
The next post steering behaviors series is unaligned collision avoidance. We will be using the Vector2D.as and Vehicle.as classes for this. You will need these classes for the this post. This post is based on Craig Reynold’s article Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters.
Unaligned Collision Avoidance, click to watch.
Unaligned Collision Avoidance tries to keep vehicles from colliding with each other. Think of a crowded city. There are a lot of people moving around, but no one runs into someone else. If a person detects a approaching collision, he will steer away from the potential More >
Steering Behaviors: Flow Field Following
Jul 15th
This entry is part of 9 in the series Steering Behaviors
Next up in the steering behaviors series is flow field following. Once again, we will be using the Vector2D.as and Vehicle.as classes for this. If you don’t have them, you should get them because you will need them. This post is based on Craig Reynold’s article Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters.
Flow Field, click to watch.
Using a flow field (also called a force field or a vector field) can be very useful. A level designer (or level editor, if you make one) can easily create a flow field by drawing arrows onto the screen. More >
Steering Behaviors: Path Following
Jul 14th
This entry is part of 9 in the series Steering Behaviors
In the last post in the steering behaviors series, we looked at obstacle avoidance. This time we will explore path following. We will be using the Vector2D.as and Vehicle.as classes for this. If you don’t have them, you should get them. This post is based on Craig Reynold’s article Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters.
Path Following, click to watch
Path following is used to simulate natural movement through a path. It is different from a train because a train is stuck on the track. The vehicle following these paths are free to move about More >
Steering Behaviors: Obstacle Avoidance
Jul 13th
This entry is part of 9 in the series Steering Behaviors
Avoiding Obstacles, Click to watch.
The next post in the steering behaviors series is obstacle avoidance. We will be using the Vector2D.as and Vehicle.as files for this. If you don’t have them, you should get them. This behavior is based on Craig Reynold’s article Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters.
Obstacle Avoidance is used in order to have a vehicle move around an environment without running into objects. This is different from fleeing in one main way. If the vehicle is near a circle and it is not going to hit the circle, nothing is More >
AS3 2D Ray Casting For Collision Detection
Jul 8th
Ray casting is a technique usually used in 3D worlds (often for rendering). Ray casting is exactly what it implies a ray is cast from a start point until it hits something (or a max length, so the computer doesn’t die). Ray casting in 2D is great for collision detections, especially fast-moving objects (bullets).
In this post, we will learn the basics of ray casting in 2D, then we will apply it to bullets in a simple environment.
A ray is just a line. It has a start point and an end point. In order to use this method effectively, we need More >
AS3 MetaDonuts
Jul 5th
MetaDonuts, click to watch
The next MetaShape is the MetaDonut. Its like the metaballs, the MetaEllipses, and the MetaDiamonds but with donuts instead.
MetaDonuts are based off the pixel bender filter used in the previous MetaShape posts.
MetaDonuts are defined by the function:
M(x,y) = Radius1 / |Radius2 - sqrt( (x0-x)^2 + (y0-y)^2 )|
Where Radius1 is the outer radius. Radius2 is the inner radius. x0 and y0 are the donut’s coordinates.
The pixel bender filter looks like this:
<languageVersion : 1.0;>
kernel MetaDonuts
< namespace : "com.rocketmandevelopment";
vendor : "Rocketman Development";
version : 1;
description : "MetaDonuts";
>
{
parameter float minThreshold
<
minValue:float(0.0);
maxValue:float(5.0);
defaultValue:float(3.0);
description: "minThreshold";
>; More > 
