What should my next "How to" be?

[SuperSonic]

Some things I would like to see in the tutorial is

1: Zooming in the editor.
2: Pencil, line, box, & filled box tools
3: Alpha compatibility
4: Saving and loading images

I know those would be really hard to make but it would be very nice to see in a tutorial

[Hblade]

I dont even know where to begin on something like that xD!

[SuperSonic]

XD oh well

[Game A Gogo]

How should I make the tutorial? since I'm sure if I do a video capture, it won't be at a good FPS

[EvanBlack]

Well, for any game or program really, a sorted list is necessary. So if you are able to do them and make a tut about it that would be not only amazing but extremely useful to the amateur gamedev community.

To begin explaining sorted lists, there are many types. A lot of them are only used professionally and kept secret to the company. Most people make their own rather than use a template. (I don't think that's true but it sounds good XD)


Anyway, Types of Sorted Lists:

Linear Sort/Search Method:

This one is pretty self explanatory, its also the most common of search/sort methods. All arrays are sorted Linear. Meaning a straight line. When you search through them you start at 0: the beginning, and you finish at n: the number of elements in the array.

Another method, is a Odd/Even search/sort method.

Another method, is Bubble Sort:

This one brings the lowest values in the list to the top and the highest values, it pushes to the bottom. This is sometimes called priority sorting. This method is good for linked lists.


Linked lists:
This is where one value in the array is the parent of one or more values in the array. Then you can chain downward into the array. Linked lists are the most efficient way of using arrays.

Example of the usefulness of a linked list:

Say you have 30 enemies on the screen. You need to check and update the life values of them. If the game is space invaders then you might want to start your search with the enemies with the highest Y value (the ones closest to the player). Then you can sort them in a row by their x value. So when you run through your list its:

Showing how each value is linked

Code: Select all

        M  M  M  M  M  M  M  M  M  M
        Π Π Π Π Π Π Π Π Π Î
        M  M  M  M  M  M  M  M  M  M
        Π Π Π Π Π Π Π Π Π Î
        M->M->M->M->M->M->M->M->M->M 


[Hblade]

Evan: your a genius.
Gag: Use this, it pwns! It's the most incredible software I ever used for recording. After you download it, set the export type to .avi and open "Encoder Options" and select the video compressor MPEG4. Doing this will reduce file size to about 100+MB for a 10 minute recording. Not bad at all really, since it's very high quality
Software: http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

[Jagmaster]

Now I'm exited.

[HitoV]

That makes 2 of us jag

Evan: What would the primary usefulness of having a sorted list be? That sounds cool!

Gag: That would be an awesome tutorial!

Hblade: Look forward to your next tutorials. They are basic but I still learn something from darn near all of them. I'll be sure to click on the ads and let them play through sometimes too for ya

[Game A Gogo]

Eh! we'll see how it goes... I could make it really complicated which could take 24 hour video or make it VERY simple into a couple of hour video

[Hblade]

Complicated ^^

[Game A Gogo]

Complicated ^^

yeah not gonna do it then
I don't want to have to teach insane algebraic techniques that I have sometimes problem understanding myself xD

[Hblade]

lol

[SuperSonic]

Complicated ^^

yeah not gonna do it then
I don't want to have to teach insane algebraic techniques that I have sometimes problem understanding myself xD

I've had times like that haha

[Game A Gogo]

the worst part is I can come up with them, but I don't know how I do lol

[EvanBlack]

Well there are many many reasons for a perfect sorted list. First of all, faster search times. Say you want to make a 3D game, you need a sorted list to know which polygons to draw and which to not draw. This is clipping.

2: You could use a list to make an RTS, giving commands to several AI at one time and giving them an order to form ranks. Casters middle, archers mid rear, warriors front, and buffers/healers back.

3: With isometric games, you need to sort through your objects Z and keep track of items on tiles and various other things. Because isometric is fake 3D you still need to sort your sprites by Z back to front. With gE you could use a back to front sorted list to set the Z Depth of every actor so that it is drawn in the right order.

4: You need a sorted list for AI Pathfinding. In order to find the correct path and make priority path finding and destinations. Say if you are making an FPS, you want your AI to make decisions on what to do next, so you make a sorted list of AI commands depending on the priority at the moment.

5: Inventory system, if you want quick access through an inventory then you want a sorted list. Also, if you are going to use a random drop system, you want a list that can be accessed quickly.

6: Just about everything in games comes down to a list. Games are 2 things, Rules and Lists. You have various rules that your computer handles like laws of the universe, and lists, all the content of the game. The computer must use the rules to figure out what it needs to get out of the lists. If the only way the computer can get the item it needs is by digging through all the piled up artifacts then it will slow down your game. But if you have a sorted list, any time the computer needs something it will be sitting on or near the top at all times.

I can keep going. Sorted lists are everything when it comes to efficient programming of anything. In fact your computer just runs on rules and sorted lists. If it didn't have the things in needed inline and ready to go it wouldn't work or would be extremely slow. Even if you have a 20gHz 20 core processor. If most of the cores were spent just trying to figure out what it needs to get next through the random memory banks and page files, it would probably still only be able to run one thing at a time, not even a OS could run on it.