[F8] [HELP]The dynamic name

[zervell]

My game has finaly came out of the Alpha stage and the beta is running pretty well but I'm having a problem with my bullets and baddies. I know that the problem is that the dynamic names are used over while the name is in use. Is there a way I can use an 'If' statement that I can put in my spawn function that can check if the name of the movie clip.

use the mouse to shoot at the baddies.
D-keys to move.
Press the space bar to charge your super wave.
you may want to set it to low q.

enjoy

My Game

[ImprisonedPride]

You might not need an if statement. Why don't you post the section of code where they are named or explain to us, and perhaps we can help you further?

[zervell]

I would put out the code be there are so many lines in the baddy spawn function. I think my problem is easy to understand. You know that movieclips with the same name don't work in flash. I am making these bad guys and bullets dynamicly so I my probram is to name my movie clips differently. The baddies are spawned every 2 secs and i'm only using the names from 1 to 10(like "Ship"+i). I only use 1 to 10 because the while statement to see if the baddies are touching(so they don't over lap ) will run faster. When I shoot a baddy what will happen is the i in "Ship"+i will -- and that will allow more baddies to spwan, but there lies the problem. I'm not going to hit "Ship"+1 I'm going to hit "Ship"+4 or "Ship"+8 which will knock off the counter so I make "Ship"+1 when it is already in action. I want to know if there is a way to tell if there is a movie in action so I don't over write the name spawning new ones.

[renderhjs]

you could use 2 arrays to check that,- one array containing all the names that are in use,- and the other one containing the names that are available. Each time you either create or dispose 1 movieClip alter those arrays as well.
That way you always know wich names are available when creating a new one

[ImprisonedPride]

I would suggest, like I did with my last game, storing the enemies and bullets in seperate arrays, and then pushing the enemies in when they are spawned, and splicing them out when they are killed.

[zervell]

Thanks ImprisonedPride and renderhjs for the idea. I was hopping you could tell me how to use the array in flash. In C++ I would just make an Array by

int name[#ofelements];
name[iofelements]=baddy_name_used;

how could I do the same code above in flash AS? And thanks once more for all the help.

[ImprisonedPride]

var enemies = new Array();

If you have aim, message me at this alias, and I can help you further/more in person.

[nGFX]

if you remove the enemy mc after it's death you can just check if the mc exists before you reuse it

if (mcContainer[strEnemyName] != null) { // mc is not pressent in container
  // ... add it here
}

quick and ... easy ...

if you don't remove them ... well just give 'em a flag like
bIsAlive ... set it to true if you start using the mc and set it to false after the mc's death.

if (!mcContainer[strEnemyName].bIsAlive) { // mc is not used anymore
  // ... re-init
}

of course you still need to check if the mc is present ...

nGFX

[zervell]

Thank you nGFX for the idea. Thats what I wanted to get at the "this["shipx"+i] == null'. Which tells me if i can use the name or not. thank you ImprisonedPride for the 1 on 1 to help me learn about arrays. this the sample code

if (numatplay<numwantplay) {
	i++;
	if (this["shipx"+i] == null) {
		numatplay++;
		this.attachMovie("baddy", "shipx"+i, getNextHighestDepth());
	}
}
if (i>=numwantplay) {
	i = 0;
}

[alillm]

This reminds me of neon. What happened to your other game? By the way, the game ran pretty slow for me when there were lots of particles, you might want to think about reducing them a bit. The super charge almost killed it.

Ali

[zervell]

the other game 'level black -2' has to be recoded. I was being lazy and that can't work in a platform. I want to build a platform game better than fancy pants(my platform rival). I'm just not ready for a game like that yet. I'm sticking to this game, I feel like i really have a hold on the coding and concepts. I have fix

lag problem

speed problem

name problem

load bar problem

space bar problem

and now I'm getting closer to a full BETA. If you play the latest version update I think you'll see it has a few things neon doesn't.

D-keys to move
Left click to shoot
or hold it down for full charge

beta 0.9

[mr_malee]

the shake is a nice effect, i would make it a bit more subtle though, also look into angular blurring, it might be a bit of a fudge but its worth it

[ImprisonedPride]

The screen moving in and out constantly; eh it makes me a bit sea sick... I really like the effect, but like malee said, maybe not too much?

Also, I see you reduced the particle amount like I suggested.