Multiplexity: Crashblock

[jasonf]

Last night was intense.. I've added the Ice level, it looks quite nice.

I've also registered URLs for Crashblock
http://www.crashblock.com
and
http://www.crashblock.co.uk

I ran into a major hurdle last night whilst trying to implement a seemingly small change.. I've got an idea of how to fix it (better OO design for a start ) but my attempts last night caused horrors.

Basically, I've got a class called TCrashBlockGame which is derived from TCBCGame, all sprites have a link to a TCBCGame object which is passed to the sprite via the constructor. Sprites need a link to the game object so they can play sounds, music, load resources etc..

The uses clause is set up in such a way that CrashBlockGame.pas references CrashBlockSprites.pas but I need it to be the other way around too (annoying circular reference issue). The player's score is contained within CrashblockGame, I want the sprite to be able to check the score and throw out a bonus object if it's after a particular score milestone.

I thought I'd implement a callback last night to sort this out, the sprite in question would ask the game for the score via an event, the game would pass the score back to the sprite via a By Reference parameter. That's when the horror started. As soon as the sprite called the event, my player object (which was untouched by this) started to really misbehave.. this suggests to me that I'm doing something very very wrong indeed. It also completely buggered up the tetris matrix object.

I've removed those changes and the problem has gone away, I don't want a bug like that making it to the final stage.. So I'm going to implement another solution. I'll make the score an object and I'll pass it to the sprite which needs it (just the TetrisMatrix sprite needs it)

Anyway, I was really stressed out about this last night. hence me sinking a few cans of Stella...


The good news is that I've fixed numerous issues with the GUI, positioning and so on and a couple of gameplay issues. I've also added more fruit. Everyone needs more fruit, so instead of just cherrys, we have apples and bananas too.

I've also created diamonds. When you get multiple lines in one go, you'll get a diamond thrown up.

2 rows = 1 diamond
3 rows = 3 diamonds
4 rows = 7 diamonds
(*I've not decided on the actual values yet)

It's really hard to keep on getting 4 rows, so I don't think this will unbalance the game and will be a nice incentive to get people to play a more risky game instead of just 1 line at a time.

Does anyone have any ideas why implementing a call back like that (something I've done many times before without incident) would cause a problem?

[jasonf]

That was scary, I almost didn't make it... My BT internet connection was down all day yesterday.. coming up briefly for about a minute then going down again..

So This morning, it came up, hopefully it's for good.. but either way, I took no chances and uploaded what I'd got.

I'm going to try to get Crashblock compiled and running under Linux, then I'll re-submit. I've probably not got enough time to get the Mac build though.. I'll have to see.

I think once the judging has finished and I've had time to collect my thoughts, I'll write a post mortem on it.

After that, I'll be adding some extra features to it and releasing it to the public.

[Huehnerschaender]

Congratulations for uploading a complete entry!

[Huehnerschaender]

One question:



D O E S T H E F A T L A D Y S I N G N O W ? ? ? ? :lol:

[jasonf]

The Prima Donna is getting ready to get on stage for her Bel Canto, as soon as the results are in, she'll be letting off her coloratura at full volume to the awe of the house.

I'm quite dissappointed at the moment, with my BT internet connection. The bloody thing was down again last night, I've had people compiling Crashblock under Linux (thanks Technomage) and on MacOSX (Thanks Billy) but I couldn't post the screenshots.

I'll post screenies of it running on other O/S's in good time now as the deadline's been missed. Never mind, can't be helped. but thanks guys for the hard work getting it to work. It's 10 points missed though which I'm a bit sad about.

Still, congratulations to everyone who submitted a final entry this year. It's been a tough 4 months but from it we have some new Pascal games to play, that's got to be good eh?

[jasonf]

Well, here's Crashblock running under MacOS and Linux. Thanks to Technomage and Billy for their efforts.






They're not part of the submission so I'm guessing they don't count. Still, the're here for your viewing pleasure.

Also, to assure people that there will be Linux and Mac versions available.

[jdarling]

Jason, good luck and crashblock looks excellent! Honestly, from what I have seen, I think we all know who gets 1st this year .

One question though, when are you going to put together crashblocks site? Right now it just looks like CB's site with screenshots slapped in place.

[savage]

Hi Jason,
Did you have to make any code changes for MacOS X or Linux or even any IFDEFs? I'm hoping the answer is none.

[jasonf]

Apart from the randomrange funciton not existing in FreePascal, there weren't any code changes apart from adding an equivalent RandomRange function.. there were a couple of filename issues where windoze used uppercase extentions, but Will and Technomage managed to get it working without too much hassle.

I was rather impressed by both of their efforts.

JDarling, Cheers mate I've not had a chance to play any of the other entries, I'm really looking forward to playing them though. One thing from the last competition, I had a lot of fun playing the games. I wouldn't even like to guess as to the result for this year's competition. I'm just really excited by it.

There will be a Crashblock site, I've already got the URLs, I've got to put a site together now. I want to spend some time on the design though, the Guns Reloaded site was done over a weekend and I think the design reflects that.

Even after the deadline, there's still work to do.

I think we still need some gaffer tape for the fat lady.

[dmantione]

Can the Linux exe be downloaded somewhere? (And Mac for the Mac users.) The zip on the competitions page seems only to contain the Windows exe.