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I am wondering what is the best way to position rectangles, the ways I have thought of are:

  1. Have an x and y at upper left, then have a width and height

  2. Have an x and y at upper left, and an x and y at lower right

  3. Have an x and y at center, and have width and height ("radii" of the rectangle)

I guess that the third way might make the most sense since it's the closest to how I would do a circle (position and radius) but I do not know if it is the best way to do it.

I would prefer to stay away from the second way, as I would want only one part for position

Is there a preferred way to do this?

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You want method 1 or 3 probably. 2 is generally not preferred because you need to update 2 points whenever the rect moves as oppose to 1 point in method 1 or 3.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Is one better than the other? Method 3 would make the format just like a circle, but I'm not sure if it's actually more useful? \$\endgroup\$
    – inithyn
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 20:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ Its trivial to convert between 1 and 3 and algorithms such as rect collisions, intersections etc can be written in the form of either 1 or 3. If you are working in 3D, method 3 would probably be slightly better because models are usually mapped with 0,0,0 being the center. 2D wise most rects are represented with x,y,w,h. \$\endgroup\$
    – user55564
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 20:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ I guess it's more of a matter of preference then? How would one make tile positions? Let's say you sent a character to position (1,1), should he end up in the center, or at the side, or does that really matter, sorry, i may be overthinking this \$\endgroup\$
    – inithyn
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 20:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ If you are consistent in your usage then it doesnt matter, ie, if your character has the same size as tile then he should always end in being in the center of tile graphically if they have the same position. This is true if both are mapped with x,y being their left top corner or their middle. \$\endgroup\$
    – user55564
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 20:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hmm, but what if there is an entity that is bigger, do people normally have it at the center or the side? \$\endgroup\$
    – inithyn
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 20:24

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