Sunday, March 20, 2016

Graphical User Interface: (3) Final Results



Finally, the buttons and sliders have been added, and I have a complete (yet simple) GUI. It wound up looking almost exactly how I had hoped it would, so that was a plus. It also got me some much-needed practice using the ControlP5 library, though a lot of what I did in that regard was copying and pasting from examples. However, incorporating the examples into my own program helped me to understand what was going on and getting a better feel for what can be done with the library as I get more comfortable using it.

Here's a link to download my Processing code with all images included.

Paige Ruka

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Graphical User Interface: (2) Assets


I was able to find some free game backgrounds that will tile and loop while Kirby is walking, and I wanted to share my finds.

http://opengameart.org/content/bevouliin-free-game-background-for-game-developers
http://opengameart.org/content/bevouliin-free-mountain-game-background
http://opengameart.org/content/bevouliin-pyramid-free-game-background-for-game-developers
As I mentioned, I want to have the background scroll as Kirby is walking either left or right to create the illusion that he is going somewhere, rather than walking in place.

Unfortunately, in my search for images, I haven't yet been able to start the real bulk of this project, the user interface. However, I have a strong idea in my head of what I want to include... it's just a matter of getting things to work with the ControlP5 library.  Of course, if I run into any troubles, I will post questions here as they come up.

Paige Ruka

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Graphical User Interface: (1) Project Proposal

I've been struggling to come up with an idea for this one, but I think I've finally come up with something that's (a) manageable within the time frame and (b) an idea I can have fun with.



My plan is to take this adorable pixelated Kirby sprite and have his movement controlled by the user of the program. I hope to have some sort of scrolling background, which can be changed based on three preset options, and I also would like to utilize the tint() function to involve color. Here's my rather poorly drawn mock-up of how I'd like the interface to look.


I know my drawing is nothing to sneeze at, but hopefully you still get the basics of what I'm aiming for. With 3 color sliders, 2 directional buttons, and 3 background buttons, I hope to be well within the requirements for the project.

Expect more updates on this fairly soon! I'm excited to finally get started.

Paige Ruka

P.S.: Here's some code I was tinkering with as I came up with the idea. I split up the GIF into different frames, since I want to be able to control when the images are cycling and when Kirby should be standing still. That system's not in place yet, but I think it should be easier to do with the individual frames.
PImage[] kirby;
int counter;
void setup() {
  size(210, 190);
  background(255);
  frameRate(10);

  kirby = new PImage[10];

  kirby[0] = loadImage("K0.png");
  kirby[1] = loadImage("K1.png");
  kirby[2] = loadImage("K2.png");
  kirby[3] = loadImage("K3.png");
  kirby[4] = loadImage("K4.png");
  kirby[5] = loadImage("K5.png");
  kirby[6] = loadImage("K6.png");
  kirby[7] = loadImage("K7.png");
  kirby[8] = loadImage("K8.png");
  kirby[9] = loadImage("K9.png");

  counter = -1;
}
void draw() {
  counter++;
  if (counter >= 10) {
    counter = 0;
  }

  background(255);
  image(kirby[counter], 0, 0);

  println(counter);
}