Classes, variables and everything else ,actionscript 3 - actionscript-3

Im making a game that was built from 3 classes right now.
1st is the main document,
the player,
and the enemy.
My question is, how do I interacte between the player and the enemy classes.
for example, how do I call from the player class a function from the enemy class?
or how do I change the enemy class's variable value from the player class?
is there a general name to it so i can learn it myself?
Im quite new to actionscript 3 (2 months expirience) and Im designing my 3'd game right now.
Somehow i managed to get by. making lots of non effective functions in the document class which made my code exetremly long.

use a new static class (in addition to the classes you've built)
InteractionManager
that stores the reference to the enemy and the player
package {
public class InteractionManager {
public static var enemy:Enemy = new Enemy();
public static var player:Player = new Player();
[special interaction methods besides the player and enemy methods]
.
.
.
}
}
the player can call
InteractionManager.enemy.method();
and the enemy can call
InteractionManager.player.method();

Related

Making a simple tamagoci game getting no compiler errors but receiving no output

Kind of new Actionscript and I'm just trying to make a simple tamagoci game. I've wrote all the code out but and receiving no compiler errors but for some reason I'm also not receiving any output messages for my mouse event listeners. Here is all my code, I really can't find the problem and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
package{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
public class Main extends MovieClip{
public var feedButton:MovieClip;
public var tamagoci:MovieClip;
public var disButton:MovieClip;
public var dietButton:MovieClip;
public function Main() {
this.init();
}
private function init():void {
this.feedButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, onfeedMouseDownHandler);
this.disButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, ondisMouseDownHandler);
this.dietButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, ondietMouseDownHandler);
}
private function onfeedMouseDownHandler(event:MouseEvent)void{
this.tamagoci.scaleX += 0.1;
this.tamagoci.scaleY += 0.1;
}
private function ondisMouseDownHandler(event:MouseEvent)void{
this.tamagoci.gotoAndPlay(5);
}
private function ondietMouseDownHandler(event:MouseEvent)void{
this.tamagoci.scaleX -= 0.1;
this.tamagoci.scaleY -= 0.1;
}
Are you using Flash Professional?
You're declaring your variable types in your class here;
public var feedButton:MovieClip;
public var tamagoci:MovieClip;
public var disButton:MovieClip;
public var dietButton:MovieClip;
But then in your constructor, all you are doing is running init();
public function Main() {
this.init();
}
So, this could one of a few things. The most likely is that you have declared your variables, but you haven't initialised them. You've created the variables to hold your objects, but according to your code, they're empty. More specifically, a variable or class property that doesn't assign an object to a variable of an object type will contain a default value of null.
You could prove this in your code by simply putting a condition inside your init(); method;
if(tamagoci == null){
trace("I haven't been assigned an object of type class yet!")
}
So it could be 1 of these 3 things:
1: If you have written your own classes for these class properties/variables, then you need to instantiate them with the new keyword. The general syntax is;
variable_name = new ClassName(parameter_1, parameter_2);
If you are using classes you have written yourself, you have to create an instance of the object, assign it to a variable, and then add it to the stage using addChild();. For example, lets say you've written your own Tamagoci class;
tamagoci = new Tamagoci();
tamagoci.x = 100; // set the x location
tamagoci.y = 200; // set the y location
addChild(tamagoci);
Notice the use of Tamagoci. This is just an example, but this is the class name, which shouldn't be confused with variable/property name. It could just have easily been;
tamagoci = new MovieClip();
But then, this is just an empty MovieClip. It needs a property to display on the screen. A Shape, A Bitmap, or another container class object like MovieClip or Sprite (container classes allow you to nest display objects inside them). But on a basic level, it must contain a visual component to appear on the stage.
2:
Have you made Main your document class? This is the class which will get automatically called when your Flash movie plays. To set this, click on your stage, and in the properties dialogue box on the right, under PUBLISH, type in the name of your class, which is "Main".
3:
If you have created MovieClips in your library in Flash Professional, then you need to go to your library, right click the MovieClips, and select properties. From there, you need to make sure Export for Actionscript is ticked.
Now, if you click on your MovieClips on the stage, then open the Properties tab in the top right of Flash Professional's default layout, then right at the top should be a text field, and if you hover over it, Instance name will pop up as a tool tip. This is where you name your stage objects. Once that is done, you have access to them in your timeline.
If this is how you've done this, then you don't need to declare the variables in your main class, as they are already declared on your stage by Flash Professional and instantiated automatically.

AS3. How to set-up players for real-time game?

I'm creating flash fighting game 1vs1.
Here is Hero (local-player) and Enemy (remote-player). How I need to setup them correctly that after connection to arena they will be spawned successfully?
I mean if player 1 connects to arena he should be declared as Hero (local-player) and for him player 2 should look like Enemy (remote-player).
The same for player 2. He should be declared as Hero (local-player) and for him player 1 should look like Enemy (remote-player).
Here are 2 character's templates to choose and here is code:
public function selectHero(what:int):void {
// this is called with correct "what", design yourself. I use array index
var whatHero:Class = heroes[what]; // get selected hero symbol
if (Hero && Hero.parent) Hero.parent.removeChild(Hero);
// clean up previous hero. Drop listeners here, if any
Hero = new whatHero(); // get new hero
// process as usual, don't forget to "addChild(Hero)" somewhere
create_hero();
}
function choosePlayer(event:MouseEvent):void {
selectHero(0); // here choose first template
start(event);
}
function create_hero()
{
addChild(Hero);
}
So Hero added to stage (It is local-player).
This is how I declare Enemy:
public var Enemy:Priesas = new Priesas; //Priesas is instance name of Enemy
So as I understand I don't need to use addChild(Enemy); because will be added just template, how to add remote-player Hero (from other computer) that will be declared as Enemy? Or something like that.
This game is creating for Facebook. For that is needed AppWarp? Thank you for answers.
Yes, you would need AppWarp to connect the two players and to exchange messages between them. This seems similar to one of the samples of AppWarp (smiley space shooter). Have you already explored the samples and documentation?
http://appwarp.shephertz.com/game-development-center/actionscript3-game-developers-home/

universal collision detection for action script 3

I'm writing a game where you have to go through a maze. I want this game to have different levels. But for each level, the maze is going to be different. So I drew other walls. But I do not want to write my collision detection method 50 times if I have 50 different levels.
I thought of a way of fixing it, but it's not working. I created a new symbol with nothing in it and named it wall. I think that I can make my wall = wall1 (another symbol I converted, and exported for as), and just do stage.addChild(wall). But I can't find a way to do that. So I need help!
Make a generic class e.g. Wall and make your library symbols use that for their base class. You won't need to create them at runtime using ActionScript for this inheritance to work, you can still just place your MovieClips on the stage.
The next thing you need to do is store these Walls somewhere. Because you seem inexperienced with ActionScript, and want to avoid writing code for new levels, you can automate this process using a manager type class. We will call this class WallManager and it will look like this:
public class WallManager
{
private static var _walls:Vector.<Wall> = new <Wall>[];
internal static function register(wall:Wall):void
{
_walls.push(wall);
}
public static function reset():void
{
_walls = new <Wall>[];
}
public static function get walls():Vector.<Wall>{ return _walls; }
}
Then we'll create your Wall class. Within the constructor for this class, we will automatically have the Wall add itself into the WallManager listing:
public class Wall extends Sprite
{
public function Wall()
{
WallManager.register(this);
}
public function touchingMouse(mouseX:int, mouseY:int):Boolean
{
// For this example I am checking for collisions with the
// mouse pointer. Replace this function with your own collision
// logic for whatever it is that is supposed to collide with
// these walls.
if(parent === null) return false;
var bounds:Rectangle = getBounds(parent);
return bounds.contains(mouseX, mouseY);
}
}
This setup is not 'best practice', but it is suitable in your situation because your project seems small, you appear to be working on it alone, it's simple and it gets the job done.
At the end of each level, use WallManager.reset() to remove the walls from the previous level. For checking collisions across all walls, just use a loop like this:
for each(var i:Wall in WallManager.walls)
{
var collision:Boolean = i.touchingMouse(mouseX, mouseY);
if(collision)
{
// There was a collision.
//
//
}
}
You can make one MovieClip with 50 frames saying stop() on the first frame and do your code like this:
private var wallnum:int;
public function Main()
{
stop();
wallnum = 1;
var wallobj = new Wall();
addChild(wallobj);
wallobj.gotoAndStop(wallnum);
}
For collision detection, I recommend Pixel Perfect Collision Detection (https://code.google.com/p/master-air-controller/source/browse/trunk/master-air-controller/src/PixelPerfectCollisionDetection.as?spec=svn6&r=6)

Pan class in Flash AS3

I have a movieclip and I am going to add a pan feature to it. I want to add the pan as it's own class that the movieclip can reference.
When I create the pan class, I send the movieclip to it so I have it's position properties at all times.
What is the best way to access the stage in the pan class? I will need to be able to get the stage mouseX, mouseY, stageWidth, and stageHeight.
Right now, I have the pan class extend a sprite object and actually add it as a child of the movieclip I want to pan.
Would it be better to just send the stage itself into the pan class as well or is there a better way than this?
Create a singleton class that manages changes to the stage called StageManager and initialize it by passing it a reference to the stage:
//StageManager.as
import flash.display.Stage;
public class StageManager()
{
//publicly accessible singleton instance
public static var instance:StageManager = new StageManager();
private var m_stage:Stage;
//I'm using a custom getter and setter in just in case you need perform some other
//initialization when the stage gets set...
public function set stage(stg:Stage):void
{
m_stage = stg;
}
public function get stage():Stage
{
return m_stage;
}
}
Then somewhere else, like you main controller class:
StageManager.instance.stage = this.stage;
Now you can access the stage and its properties globally through the StageManager:
var stageW:int = StageManager.instance.stage.stageWidth;
This way, not just you Pan class, but anything else down the road can access the global stage any time it needs to. Pretty cool, huh?
As for how to design your Pan class, I agree with #The_asMan - extend MovieClip. Unless, that is, one Pan instance will be controlling several MovieClip instances, then it would probably make more sense to have it as its own thing (the way you describe above).

Stage and classes

I am new to AS3 and am trying to lean its OOP ways. What I am having problems with is understanding how to access the stage with separate classes.
Here is an example of what I am trying to do:
package game{
import flash.display.*;
public class Main extends MovieClip{
function Main(){
var player = new Player();
var playerBullets = new playerBullet();
addChild(player.players);
}
}
package game{
import flash.display.*;
public class Bullet extends Main // also tried with MovieClip and Sprite{
function Bullet(){
// empty
}
function blah(){
var someSprite = new someSprite();
Main.addChild(someSprite);
stage.addChild(someSprite);
root.addChild(someSprite);
}
}
}
I have Omitted another class which calls the blah method as I feel it is not relevant.
Basically what I want to know is how to add things to the stage in classes as it lookes like I am missing something crucial.
*EDIT TO INCLUDE ERROR*
TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at game::Bullet/blah()
at game::Player/fire()
You shouldn't necessarily be extending main to create something like a bullet class, this can be it's own class that extends Sprite or MovieClip. The stage object is considered a global object, as it is a singleton (except in the case of Adobe AIR where you can have one stage per NativeWindow that you spawn). So any object that extends DisplayObject or has DisplayObject in it's inheritance chain will by default have a reference to the stage via a getter, which is populated automatically when a displayObject is added to the display list. This can happen by either adding a clip directly to the root stage object or by adding a clip as a child of another clip, that eventually connects to the stage. For example:
var clip1:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
stage.addChild(clip1); //Clip 1 can now access the stage reference internally.
ver clip2:MovieClip = new MovieClip(); //Right now, clip2 cannot access the stage reference interally.
clip1.addChild(clip2); //Now clip2 can access the internal stage reference because it has been connected to the display list through clip1.
The other mistake people make is accessing stage within a DisplayObject typed class (such as your Main class) without first ensuring that the object itself has been added to the stage. You do this by listening for the Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE event within the constructor of the class, like so:
public class Main extends MovieClip{
function Main(){
if(stage){
//The stage reference is present, so we're already added to the stage
init();
}else{
addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
}
var player = new Player();
var playerBullets = new playerBullet();
addChild(player.players);
}
private function init(e:Event = null)
{
trace("Added to stage, the stage reference is now populated and stage can be accessed");
}
}
This could be the problem you're having, but it's hard to say since you have not specified any errors. However, this is likely an issue or will be for you, since it's quite common. Inside the init() method you can then set a flag so that when external classes call your Main.blah() method, you can ensure that the stage reference exists before attempting to add something to the stage. Take note however that within your Main class when you simply say:
addChild(someChild);
or
this.addChild(someChild);
you're not adding that child to the stage, but rather to the Main object, which is a MovieClip or Sprite based object that is itself attached to the stage automatically when you set it as the Document class. Hope this info helps.
Update
To explain the display list a little more:
Think of all your movieclips as dishes, and the stage as the table. You can only access the table from the dish, if the dish is placed directly on the table, or if a dish is stacked on top of another dish that touches the table. If you have 10 plates stacked on top of each other, they all touch the table eventually, via their connection to each other. This is essentially a visualization of the flash display list. The way you put dishes on the table is by using addChild(dish). If you have not placed an object somewhere on the table, and try to access the table from that object, you're going to fail. You're getting the "access to undefined" error because you're calling the "blah()" method, which accesses the stage (table) before the bullet (dish) has been added to the stage (table). So you must first either directly add the bullet to the stage, or add it to another object that has already been added to the stage. Change your code like so:
var myBullet:Bullet = new Bullet();
stage.addChild(myBullet);
//Or, if this class, assuming it's the player class, has already been added to the stage, just do this:
this.addChild(myBullet);
myBullet.blah();
Even so, you should still have some error checking within your "blah" method to ensure that the stage is available:
function blah(){
var someSprite = new someSprite();
if(stage){
Main.addChild(someSprite);
stage.addChild(someSprite);
root.addChild(someSprite);
}else{
trace("error, stage not present");
}
}
However you should also note that by adding this child to Main, then stage, then root all in sequence, this does not duplicate the someSprite object. When you add a display object to a new parent object, the object is automatically pulled from it's current parent and moved to the new one. So all this code will do is eventually add someSprite to root, which I believe will fail because root is not a display object, but rather a global reference mainly used to access global objects such as the stage and the Loader object used to load the SWF.
You shouldn't ever be calling stage.addChild. There should be only one child of the Stage, and that's the document class.
You make a MovieClip display on the screen by adding it to the stage's display list.
Stage
+ Main Timeline
+Anything
+Else
+You
+Want
So assuming that Main is your document class for the main timeline...
// inside of Main's constructor...
public function Main(){
var anything:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
var Else:TextField = new TextField();
var you:SimpleButton = new SimpleButton();
var want:Sprite = new Sprite();
this.addChild(anything);
this.addChild(Else);
this.addChild(you);
this.addChild(want);
}
Then in order to add children even lower, for example if you want something to be a child of "Anything" such that you have....
Stage
+ Main Timeline
+Anything
+And
+Everything
+Else
+You
+Want
public function Main(){
var anything:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
var Else:TextField = new TextField();
var you:SimpleButton = new SimpleButton();
var want:Sprite = new Sprite();
this.addChild(anything);
this.addChild(Else);
this.addChild(you);
this.addChild(want);
var And:Sprite = new Sprite();
var everything:Sprite = new Sprite();
anything.addChild(And);
anything.addChild(everything);
}
EDIT: Ascension Systems asks why you should never add any display object directly as a child of the stage. The simplest answer is that you can't ever guarantee that what you believe you're creating as a document class, or as a main timeline in fact actually is going to be used as such. Your use of the stage may later preclude your swf from being loaded as a child of a larger application depending on what it is you've done, exactly. Relying directly on the stage can mean that you're making some assumptions about the nature of the display list that may not hold in the future. That's the way in which it breaks modularity (which is not the same as breaking oop).
Why add to the stage when you could just create your entire application as a MovieClip that is completely self-contained with no reliance on the concept of a "stage" beyond that which is required for learning world coordinates? That way you can be much more modular in your design and you sacrifice nothing.
In some people's work this may be considered an edge case. In my work this has happened both to me when I've created applications that I thought at the time were purely stand-alone that ended up being repurposed later to be a module, and also to swfs that other people created that were intended to be strictly stand-alone, but that I was then to integrate as a module into a larger application. In all cases there were some nasty side effects to contend with. That's where I learned not to rely too closely on the stage for much beyond world coordinates.
Every display object has a property called stage, which is null until that object is added to the display tree.
When you are unsure if an object has been added to the stage, there is a listener you can employ for that purpose:
public class Main extends MovieClip
{
import flash.events.Event;
public function Main():void
{
if(stage) {
init();
} else {
this.addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,init);
}
}
private function init(evt:Event = null):void
{
this.removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,init);
//object is now definitely on the display tree
}
}
I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark here.
stage is a property implemented something like so:
public function get stage():Stage {
var s:DisplayObject = this;
while(s.parent) s = s.parent;
return s as Stage;
}
root is very similar but stops a level below stage (root is a child of stage).
These properties only work when the object you're calling them on is on the stage somewhere. Doesn't matter where, because the while loop will walk up the hierarchy to get to the stage node at the top. But if it's not on the stage, then parent will be null.
So if your movieclip is not on the stage, then its reference to stage will be null. Same goes for root.
I'm guessing that you're calling blah before the bullets are added to the stage? In which case your call stage.addChild(someSprite) will be a Null Reference error (stage is null).
So you either need to add the bullets to stage first, or you need to pass stage in as a parameter:
function blah(s:Stage){
var someSprite = new someSprite();
s.addChild(someSprite);
}