Archive: 22 posts

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Basically, i need to create a neverending tower, with emitted sections of 30x6 squares (i mean the ones of the small grid, 6 being the height);the players will have to climb it up; my starting idea was to use a floaty orange layer covered by a thin layer, then a couple of rockets on the left & right, but the fact is that i need a sistem that doesn't collapse with lateral balance and explosions; there's also to consider that 4 sackboys weight more than 1, so the rockets probably aren't part of this solution I'm trying to find a solution, but i need some inspiration

2009-07-07 22:55:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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There's a vertical conveyor belt system on one story challenge level...something drop...basically sections are emitted at the bottom and carried to the top by the two conveyors on either side. That level might help you out. Sorry not a very good description

2009-07-07 23:30:00 Author: adlingtont Posts: 321

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i haven't done much experimenting with a problem like this, but i believe sturdier materials is what you're actually after, not the floaties. the stronger the material, the harder gravity will act upon it, but they also seem to move less than softer materials when stacked upon each other since they're stronger. and the conveyor belt suggestion is a good one.

2009-07-08 05:36:00 Author: Burnvictim42 Posts: 3322

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That seems pretty wierd but are you wanting the platforms to go up or down

2009-07-08 09:48:00 Author: robotiod Posts: 2662

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That seems pretty wierd but are you wanting the platforms to go up or down The platforms have to descend at the same speed and also need to be emitted, so that they can be randomized: basically the players will have to keep on climbing on random steps to avoid the gas below

2009-07-08 17:56:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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Are you trying to recreate icy tower? That game was awesome!

2009-07-08 18:10:00 Author: Dexiro Posts: 2100

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Never played it . Well' it's something similar... a sort of survival challenge

2009-07-08 18:34:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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OK Shadowheaven, I've made something for you. Why? I dunno, I love a good challenge I guess. Or I was just bored. You will find a copyable level called: Perpetual Tower Experiment near Cuba under my PSN: v0rtex2002 (note that the 0's are zeros) Now... I'm not sure how you would pull off random sections as the whole premise of my solution rests on a set number of platforms. That is, I've set the emitter to a certain max-emitted-at-once setting (either 21 or 22 - I can't recall what I ended up with). So once the stack is full (all 21-22 platforms loaded) the first one will dissolve from underneath and the stack will move down. I originally tried this with just gravity, but the platforms bounced all over the place. So I've employed some gears to keep the thing flowing properly. This experimental version is set to start loading with a two way switch. I've built a makeshift platform in front of the tower so you can start climbing in the "playable" portion. However... it takes forever to load (about 90 seconds, but it feels like forever). Since you can't pre-load emitted objects, the whole thing has to be loaded once you're in the level. So hopefully you'd be able to distract your player with some other shiny thing while it loads in another part of the level. Once it's loaded, it runs pretty danged smooth. I do suggest waiting until the load finishes before you try to climb it (once the bottom platforms start to dissolve, you know it's fully loaded). Couple other things... I experimented with the speed of the cogs. 0.5 was too slow (IMO), 1.0 was too fast (for climbing) and 1.5 and higher just made the whole thing get outta whack. I also found that having the top two gears a bit faster than the bottom set seemed to keep the best flow. I believe I ended up at 0.7 for the top set and 0.6 for the bottom. Also... if you wanted/needed to make it taller, you certainly could (use the grid mode to modify it as it does require some precision). You'll just have to experiment with that max-emitted-at-once setting after you modify it. And if you want to edit the platforms, just capture one of the emitted ones in pause mode and change it as you like. Hope this helps! But even if it doesn't, I had fun making it. A couple pics: http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/littlebiggallery/images/3443/2_A_Photo.jpg http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/littlebiggallery/images/3443/1_A_Photo_1.jpg

2009-07-09 06:58:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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Oh my god, i didn't even consider using the gears thank you soooo much! No problem about the need to wait some time before climbing, it's something i had already taken in account: basically, I'll throw the players in front of the already activated tower, so that they're forced to climb it; one last question: do i have to use the gears' standard size and use the small grid squares to match them? It seems so by editing the level, but i cannot be 100% sure. Have you guessed what my project is? if not, http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/5104/img000.png Maybe it's way too ambitious, but i'll try

2009-07-09 09:00:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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Oh my god, i didn't even consider using the gears thank you soooo much! No problem about the need to wait some time before climbing, it's something i had already taken in account: basically, I'll throw the players in front of the already activated tower, so that they're forced to climb it; one last question: do i have to use the gears' standard size and use the small grid squares to match them? It seems so by editing the level, but i cannot be 100% sure. Have you guessed what my project is? if not, http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/5104/img000.png Maybe it's way too ambitious, but i'll try Hehe. Glad you like it. As for the gear ratio, I tried it using defaults like that but ended up trimming down the wood a bit (so, each peg on the wood is ~ 3/4 of one small grid square). Wow, that's cool. I hadn't pictured a spiral... I wonder can you get the platforms to work for this? I think you could if you went all three planes (or I guess, two with a thin plane for the "column" in the center), and perhaps design with two emitters (alternating, and splitting the max emitted number) one going up from left to right on the front plane, the other from right to left on the back plane. OK - Now I'm curious. I don't want steal your thunder and go creating the whole thing for you, but do you mind if I have a go at this?

2009-07-09 11:53:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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Go ahead, no problem for me; be sure let me know I'm rethinking about the randomness of the pieces of the tower, since 2 stacked identical pieces would make it impossible to go up =

2009-07-09 14:15:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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v0rtex - you gonna leave that level up for a while, I'd be interested in having a gander. I was going to post a potential solution here but yours seems like it might be better (for one, yours can be sped up over time if needed ) In terms of preloading... Check out canyon jazz. Yarbone (psn mr_spooneylegs) does similar horizontally but has a first section that is not emitted. Assuming you can emit the random pieces as fast as stuff moves down, and the initial piece goes off screen, you should be fine with no preloading.

2009-07-09 14:22:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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rtm, please post your solution, different mechanichs often lead to cool hybrids

2009-07-09 14:28:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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v0rtex - you gonna leave that level up for a while, I'd be interested in having a gander. I was going to post a potential solution here but yours seems like it might be better (for one, yours can be sped up over time if needed ) In terms of preloading... Check out canyon jazz. Yarbone (psn mr_spooneylegs) does similar horizontally but has a first section that is not emitted. Assuming you can emit the random pieces as fast as stuff moves down, and the initial piece goes off screen, you should be fine with no preloading. Yeah good point... if you just move it up enough so all the pre-loaded, non-emitted ones can drop away, you could definitely do this. Yes - I will keep it up there as long as you like. I also took a quick stab at the 3 plane spiral approach. It worked pretty well, but I didn't publish it. A few problems with it - for one, I tried changing the material from wood to stone (considering the source of the inspiration) but I think it gets too heavy for the motor bolts to handle. Still works, but heard the occasional snapping sound and not quite as smooth as the published one.

2009-07-09 16:21:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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My idea was for each platform to have it's own piston-controlled support. _________________________ | |____________ | PLATFORM ____________| |_________________________| p p p ___P___ | | | BASE | |_______| The piston would have a directional input set to slowly move it down and each platform would move at the same speed. You obviously need to spread the bases around so that each section can still spawn, but that's not too bad, just grid align the whole thing. Further problems would be: If you emit two of the same platform, the bases may interfere with one another, but they shouldn't if they are made of DM because of the object overlay bug You won't be able to emit new sections directly on top of the old ones. To solve this I would have 2 winches pulling the platform down faster for the first few squares of movement. 2 chains will overpower one piston while there is a gap, but once it touches the section beolow, all the pistons of the lower sections will resist so it should just fit flush. After a bit the winches stop having any effect any way so the objects will all be moving at the same speed of their own accord As I said before, you can't change the speed on this

2009-07-09 17:32:00 Author: rtm223 Posts: 6497

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Basically, the things that need to go down are the platform, not the sections, so you could use this metod to spawn only the platforms, while the tower stands still; it's an excellent solution for the checkpoint, if needed, and you could also set the falling speed. I don't know why, but the waterfall from the jungle level of sonic on master system popped in my mind while writing this

2009-07-09 18:21:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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y'know my idea was to initially make a vertical level, but it inventually i decided to do it horizontally :/ >_< very nice :O I'm suddenly getting some inspiration.... but that would look like i was stealing the idea. So yeah :/

2009-07-09 18:43:00 Author: Yarbone Posts: 3036

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y'know my idea was to initially make a vertical level, but it inventually i decided to do it horizontally :/ >_< very nice :O I'm suddenly getting some inspiration.... but that would look like i was stealing the idea. So yeah :/ As long as you made a good level about it, I'm pretty sure most of the people around here would love you to "steal" the idea, if we can have fun in your level because you did so.

2009-07-09 20:52:00 Author: Keldur Posts: 628

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Use a gas window to control the players ability to move beyond the speed of the emitting tower pieces (where you always have around 5 actually existing... 1 in the play field as it's going down, and two above and below as they're leaving and coming in)... a nice set of long invisible dark matter planks on the sides of the tower will definitely hold it all steady. You need a basin to maintain the floor of the bottom piece as it's disappearing - I would use a wheel system on both sides of the wall at that point to keep anything from suddenly dropping at high velocity in a free fall as the 5th present terrain piece disappears. They should buffer it as the bottom two pieces roll into the end of their life span.

2009-07-09 21:30:00 Author: Unknown User

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OK - I've updated the level with a second tower. This one is built around all three planes and made to spiral around the middle plane. I've made it so the platform are offset by one small grid square from front to back plane, so a quick jump does the plane shift automatically. With a little practice, you can really get a good pace going, zipping up around the spiral. Had to stick with the wood... the stone just got too heavy once it was stacked that high and the mechanics of the gears was no longer effective. Also added a second set of gears near the bottom to help control the speed and flow. Stuck a little ladder on either side, so you can enter up in the "playable" area. My suggestion, if you were to use this solution, would be to load it, then shut it down. Let the player begin to climb, then use a proximity switch to trigger the continued spawning of platforms. Since it takes up all three planes, it seems sort of difficult to mask the movement otherwise. Lemme know what you think!

2009-07-10 23:16:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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Ehm... *COUGH COUGH* http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2476/000c.jpg I guess we think alike but as usual, i'm more claustrophobic minded I'll probably add safety walls to the sides, to be sure that the players won't fall out (and i can be more evil > ) and make a starting section with the instructions and the starting button, as rtm suggested

2009-07-11 00:17:00 Author: Shadowheaven Posts: 378

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LOL. Cool! Good luck with your project. Let me know when it's ready to play!

2009-07-11 00:23:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878

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