I've been trying to implement collision for a platformer but I can't find a good way to get the collision of certain sides without it get glitchy. So i try to get the collision of the top rectangle first which works, but any other side has a problem. I have looked at days worths of tutorials and articles but they were either too complex or not calculating collision for one side of a rectangle. I am truely stumped and can't find a solution that works for me.

What I need:

• working collision that wont give the bullet through paper problem *simple gravity (I have a way of doing this)
• the collision allowing me to know what side is touching what

Now I don't want to do the method where the player is made up of several small rectangles because of possible future problems and the fact that it's not acurate. Can I have a small bite of code that shows how I can handle collision in these cases? Also, here's my current way of doing in OpenGL + Java:

public class AABBDemo {

public AABBDemo() {
try {
Display.setDisplayMode(new DisplayMode(640, 480));
Display.setTitle("test");
Display.create();
} catch (LWJGLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}

glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glOrtho(0, 640, 480, 0, -1, 1);
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);

Rectangle A = new Rectangle(100, 100, 50, 50);//player
Rectangle B = new Rectangle(100, 300, 90, 20);//enemy

int leftA, leftB;
int rightA, rightB;
int topA, topB;
int bottomA, bottomB;

int xVel = 0;
int yVel = 1;

int size = 50;

boolean jumping = false;
float jump = 0;
boolean jumped = false;

while (!Display.isCloseRequested()) {
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

A.setX(A.getX() + xVel);
A.setY(A.getY() + yVel);

if(jumping)
{
A.setY((int) (A.getY() - jump));

jump -= 0.3f;

if(jump < -5)
jump = -5;

}

if(!jumping)
jump = 10;

if(A.getX() < 0 || A.getX() + size > 640 || check_collision(A, B))
{
jumping = false;
A.setX(A.getX() - xVel);
A.setY(A.getY() -  2);

}

if(Keyboard.isKeyDown(Keyboard.KEY_D))
xVel = 2;
else if(Keyboard.isKeyDown(Keyboard.KEY_A))
xVel = -2;
else
xVel = 0;

if(Keyboard.isKeyDown(Keyboard.KEY_W) && !jumping && !jumped)
{
jumped = true;
jumping = true;
}

if(!Keyboard.isKeyDown(Keyboard.KEY_W))
jumped = false;

glColor3f(1, 0, 0);
glVertex2i(A.getX(), A.getY()); // Upper-left
glVertex2i(A.getX() + A.getWidth(), A.getY()); // Upper-right
glVertex2i(A.getX() + A.getWidth(), A.getY() +A.getHeight()); // Bottom-right
glVertex2i(A.getX(), A.getY() + A.getHeight()); // Bottom-left
glEnd();

glColor3f(0, 1, 0);
glVertex2i(B.getX(), B.getY());
glVertex2i(B.getX() + B.getWidth(), B.getY());
glVertex2i(B.getX() + B.getWidth(), B.getY() + B.getHeight());
glVertex2i(B.getX(), B.getY() + B.getHeight());
glEnd();

Display.update();
Display.sync(60);
}

Display.destroy();
System.exit(0);
}

public boolean check_collision( Rectangle A, Rectangle B )
{
//The sides of the rectangles
int leftA, leftB;
int rightA, rightB;
int topA, topB;
int bottomA, bottomB;

//Calculate the sides of rect A
leftA = A.getX();
rightA = A.getX() + A.getWidth();
topA = A.getY();
bottomA = A.getY() + A.getHeight();

//Calculate the sides of rect B
leftB = B.getX();
rightB = B.getX() + B.getWidth();
topB = B.getY();
bottomB = B.getY() + B.getHeight();

//If any of the sides from A are outside of B
if( bottomA <= topB )
{
return false;
}

if( topA >= bottomB )
{
return false;
}

if( rightA <= leftB )
{
return false;
}

if( leftA >= rightB )
{
return false;
}

//If none of the sides from A are outside B
return true;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
new AABBDemo();
}

}

• that's some massive white space in that code. are you basically trying to implement a collision check for 2 rectangles and also see which side is intersecting with which side ? how did you come up with this logic: if( bottomA <= topB ) return false; ? check_collision(A,B) would give a different result than check_collision(B,A), how does this work ? – dimitris93 Apr 16 '15 at 0:18
• @Shiro I got the AABB information from lazy foo lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/lesson17/index.php . that basically returns false if those parts of the rectangle intercept...i think – The User Apr 16 '15 at 0:24
• That code makes absolutely no sense. It doesn't even work in that specific example in the image right next to the code lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/lesson17/collision.jpg if( bottomA <= topB ) would return false when there clearly is an intersection when at the same time bottomA is lower than topB – dimitris93 Apr 16 '15 at 1:02

Here is an Intersects(A,B) method implementation taken from C# Rectangle.cs

public bool Intersects(Rectangle a, Rectangle b)
{
return (b.X < a.X + a.Width)   &&
(a.X < (b.X + b.Width)) &&
(b.Y < a.Y + a.Height)  &&
(a.Y < b.Y + b.Height);
}

• Although this does do collision in a neater manner, it doesn't solve my problem with needing to tell if the player (or rect in this case) is colliding with a certain side of this Rectangle. I'm not sure If I can (or how to) use this for a platformer. – The User Apr 16 '15 at 0:33
• @CodeOfGenius a rectangle could intersect with another rectangle by being inside it, or intersect in the corner, or intersect with 2 or 3 sides at once. how does your game look like ? – dimitris93 Apr 16 '15 at 0:39
• Oh, wellI got the collision to work with velocity. Now to make usre jumping physics don't screw it up. :D hastebin.com/woyadomogu.coffee . And my game has one platform right now. I had a bunch of 32x32 tiles but I'm using one platform for testing purposes. – The User Apr 16 '15 at 0:50
• @CodeOfGenius Sorry, I don't understand the context or the logic behind this code. What do you mean by "work with velocity" ? I can't visualize what your game looks like, without any information. What exactly are you trying to do in your game, other than checking if 2 rectangles intersect, since I already answered that. – dimitris93 Apr 16 '15 at 0:53
• I'm trying to keep the player from going through the block when jumping. It's a falling box with one platform at the moment. – The User Apr 16 '15 at 1:09