The central code loop responsible for handling the running gameplay. At its most basic state, it accepts input, resolves the actions of entities, and renders the scene.
64
votes
3answers
14k views
Tips for writing the main game loop?
Can anyone recommend some good tips, articles, sites, etc. for writing the main game loop? What are some things that you should do in the game loop, and what are some things that you shouldn't do in ...
21
votes
2answers
2k views
Is it safe to use Sleep() in game loop (on Windows)?
Is it safe to use Sleep() function on Windows in game loop (C++)? I want to have fixed frame rate.
20
votes
2answers
1k views
Several classes need to access the same data, where should the data be declared?
I have a basic 2D tower defense game in C++.
Each map is a separate class which inherits from GameState. The map delegates the logic and drawing code to each object in the game and sets data such as ...
15
votes
9answers
956 views
How do I best remove an entity from my game loop when it is dead?
Ok so I have a big list of all my entities which I loop through and update. In AS3 I can store this as an Array (dynamic length, untyped), a Vector (typed) or a linked list (not native). At the moment ...
14
votes
2answers
8k views
A good way to build a game loop in OpenGL
I'm currently beginning to learn OpenGL at school, and I've started making a simple game the other day (on my own, not for school). I'm using freeglut, and am building it in C, so for my game loop I ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
Finite state machine in C++
So, I've read a lot about using FSMs to do game state management, things like what an FSM is, and using a stack or set of states for building one. I've gone through all that. But I'm stuck at writing ...
13
votes
2answers
719 views
Where should collision detection logic be placed?
I am developing a small 2D game engine. The characters have a paint method which currently does the following:
Calculate the new position of the character as per its speed, etc.
Update the collision ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
“Optimal” game loop for 2D side-scroller
Is it possible to describe an "optimal" (in terms of performance) layout for a 2D side-scroller's game loop? In this context the "game loop" takes user input, updates the states of game objects and ...
12
votes
4answers
1k views
Should actors in a game be responsible for drawing themselves?
I am very new to game development, but not to programming.
I am (again) playing around with a Pong type game using JavaScript's canvas element.
I have created a Paddle object which has the following ...
12
votes
5answers
742 views
Game actions that take multiple frames to complete
I've never really done much game programming before, pretty straightforward question.
Imagine I'm building a Tetris game, with the main loop looking something like this.
for every frame
handle ...
12
votes
2answers
589 views
Design of a turn-based game where actions have side-effects
I am writing a computer version of the game Dominion. It is a turn-based card game where action cards, treasure cards, and victory point cards are accumulated into a player's personal deck. I have the ...
11
votes
3answers
580 views
Game loop, how to check for conditions once, do something, then not do it again
For example, I have a Game class and it keeps an int that tracks the player's lives. I have a conditional
if ( mLives < 1 ) {
// Do some work.
}
However this condition keeps firing and the ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views
Programming the combat sequence in a role playing game
I'm trying to write a short "game" where a player goes around and fights monsters but I have no idea how to handle the combat.
For example, say I have a "Warrior" and a "Troll". How do the two fight ...
10
votes
2answers
3k views
how should i develop my android game efficiently?
I have attached a image of a flow chart that i made in paint.
The image shows how i want to develop my game. I want a game that runs great with smart coding that is easy to update and ad features ...
10
votes
3answers
535 views
EXTREMELY Confused Over “Constant Game Speed Maximum FPS” Game Loop
I recently read this article on Game Loops: http://www.koonsolo.com/news/dewitters-gameloop/
And the recommended last implementation is confusing me deeply. I don't understand how it works, and it ...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
Semi-fixed or Fully-fixed timestep?
I am making an iphone shmup and am trying to decide what type of game loop to use. I want to use either semi-fixed timestep or fully-fixed timestep.
With semi-fixed timestep I will make zero or more ...
8
votes
4answers
931 views
Using idle time in turn-based (RPG) games for updating
If you take any turn based RPG game there will be large periods of time when nothing is happening because the game is looping over 'wait_for_player_input'. Naturally it seems sensible to use this time ...
7
votes
4answers
476 views
Simultaneous game states
I think I understand the basic idea behind a Finite State Machine-based game loop. But I'm trying to write a little game in which the same object can simultaneously be in multiple, independent states. ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Multi threaded game - updating, rendering, and how to split them
From the StackOverflow post (it was recommended I move this):
So, I'm working on a game engine, and I've made pretty good progress. However, my engine is single-threaded, and the advantages of ...
7
votes
2answers
734 views
Managing game state / 'what to update' within an XNA game 'screen'
I'm trying to figure out how best to manage state within my game screens - please bare with me though! At the moment I'm using a heavily modified version of the fantastic game state management example ...
6
votes
3answers
878 views
What are “frame rate” and “fps?”
Can someone give me a detailed
explanation about frame rate and fps concepts?
6
votes
1answer
167 views
Behavior Trees :: Actions That Take Longer Than One Tick
From what I understand on Behavior Trees, each Behavior should be a short goal oriented Action that could be done in a few iterations.
So for example, below is an image of a Behavior Tree:
Now let ...
6
votes
1answer
809 views
How to chain actions/animations together and delay their execution?
I'm trying to build a simple game with a number of screens - 'TitleScreen', 'LoadingScreen', 'PlayScreen', 'HighScoreScreen' - each of which has it's own draw & update logic methods, sprites, ...
6
votes
2answers
357 views
Replay system: record inputs or events?
I read this: How to design a replay system But it don't really answer my question.
My game is built with the client "view" of the game as a separate program from the server "model" and "controller". ...
5
votes
2answers
318 views
Java 2D game programming: Different approaches to make a game loop
I am new to Java game programming, but the more I read the more I'm confused, because I've seen several different approaches to make a game loop:
1. The standard approach, that uses the Timer class ...
5
votes
2answers
401 views
Physics in my game confused after restructuring the Game loop
I'm on my way with making a game in Java. Now I have some trouble with an interpolation based game loop in my calculations.
Before I used that system the calculation of a falling object was like ...
5
votes
2answers
309 views
Draw and update order in 3d graphics
In all of the code samples that I have looked at, the game loop looks something like this:
while(true)
{
InputAndUpdate();
Draw();
SwapBuffers();
}
However doesn't this destroy ...
5
votes
2answers
170 views
Simultaneous events in a realtime system, where processing order causes different outcomes
I am working on a realtime dungeon crawler, focusing on a relatively complex and flexible skill system. Somewhat similar to MMORPGs with many compound spells, area effects, buffs/debuffs, ect. I am ...
5
votes
1answer
393 views
When to detect collisions in game loop
My game loop uses a fixed time step to do "physics" updates, say every 20 ms. In here I move objects. I draw frames as frequently as possible. I work out a value between 0 and 1 to represent the ...
4
votes
5answers
330 views
Game Loop Problem - Growth and Recharge as Integer Values
I have a question about game loops. I understand that you shouldn't have a static loop, say 100ms and set something's speed to 1px/frame so it moves 10px/sec. You should have a speed and multiple that ...
4
votes
3answers
367 views
Best practices on separating Update and Draw on game loop
I've been working on my first HTML5 prototype and I found a good model that uses the regular Update and Draw loop we see in game dev. My question is, where does one end and the other begins?
The ...
4
votes
3answers
487 views
How do I do a game loop in c99?
I'm having trouble with how to structure a game using c99. I've seen a few tutorials on making a game loop, but they are all done with c++ and classes. My main problem seems to be moving data around ...
4
votes
4answers
899 views
Creating the concept of Time
So I've reached the point in my exploration of gaming where I'd like to impliment the concept of time into my little demo I've been building.
What are some common methodologies for creating the ...
4
votes
4answers
853 views
C++ Game engine time scale
i have begun creating a very simple game engine and i am trying to work out how to create a time scale for the game.by time scale i mean some way of increasing and decreasing the speed of the game(not ...
4
votes
2answers
201 views
JS: Should I have an upper limit to the number of update cycles per sec?
I'm making a javascript game engine for fun and one thing I noticed was that my laptop runs super hot with the simplest game mechanics and that my game is doing about 600 updates per second.
The ...
4
votes
3answers
754 views
Deal with mini states in game
Hi :)
I want to ask what is the best way to deal with "mini-states" in game? For example I making game like Simcity, i can build buildings, roads, rails, or I can change something in economy.
I am ...
4
votes
2answers
643 views
Server side game loop
Many java games use thread.sleep() to controll fps. Since the server does not display graphics, should the server game loop keep running just calculating delta time? Like this example:
long ...
4
votes
4answers
487 views
Game loop alternatives for efficiency
Understand where I'm coming from - I've been taught that a game is implemented something like this (pseudocode):
while (!win_condition)
{
waitforinput();
updategraphics();
//etc..
}
exit();
...
4
votes
1answer
615 views
XNA GameTime before first Update
Using XNA, is it possible to access the GameTime object before Update is called for the first time?
Can it be used in the game constructor, Initialize or LoadContent methods?
4
votes
2answers
2k views
How should I structure my menu / game loop?
I'm trying to decide on how to structure my main game loop - every example I've seen of the game loop looks a bit like this:
while (true) {
UpdateGame();
DrawGame();
}
i.e. it ignores the ...
4
votes
2answers
277 views
What would be the problems with using a singleton design pattern for my engine?
I'm desiging an HTML5 2D game engine in Javascript, and currently, I use the singleton pattern.
There is only one global object in the namespace called simply Engine. All other objects are ...
4
votes
1answer
633 views
Cocos2D-iPhone, how does the Game Loop work in Cocos2D?
Could anyone theoretically explain how the game loop works in Cocos2D and Objective-C?
If you need me to be more specific about what I'm asking, please read on.
I've got a rudimentary understanding ...
4
votes
3answers
638 views
What technology would you use to communicate between an iOS game and a Lua-based AI server?
What technology would you use to communicate between a two-player,turn-based, board game (like checkers or Othello) running native on iOS, and a remote game server
The remote game server is just the ...
4
votes
2answers
236 views
How do I consolidate the differences between iOS and Android update loops?
I'm currently working on moving some Android-ndk code to the iPhone.
From looking at some samples it seems that the main loop is handled for you and all you've got to do is override the render ...
4
votes
2answers
260 views
How to store the state of the world for a fixed time step?
Most of the posts on fixed time steps say something like this:
State previous;
State current;
while ( !quit )
{
double newTime = time();
double frameTime = newTime - currentTime;
if ( ...
4
votes
3answers
396 views
Synchronise graphics and logic code
I have a procedural approach to the game loop that runs various classes.
it looks like this:
continue any in progress animations
check for used input
apply AI
move things
resolve events such as ...
4
votes
5answers
559 views
Flash Game not working on Android
I am not sure if I will be able to provide enough information for someone to answer this question, but any ideas might help.
I am creating a tower defense game in Flash and I eventually want to make ...
4
votes
2answers
793 views
Correct order of operations in a platformer game loop
I've run into an issue with my Mega Man engine, and the structure of my game loop is making it very difficult to fix. With Rush Jet, or any falling platform, Mega Man needs to stay attached to the ...
4
votes
1answer
156 views
Android game loop's effect on cpu/battery usage - unexpected results
I will try to keep this question as concise and as readable as I can.
I recently came across an odd problem with my Android game that I'm developing.
It's an openGL ES 2.0 game and initially I was ...
3
votes
2answers
550 views
Designing the Update system (read very basic game engine) for an XNA game
I am trying to determine the best way to implement the "update" system or engine for a simple XNA game.
Description of situation
I have a few classes, lets call them
Player [will be an ...
