Jump FASTER but not HIGHER

Zilla

design219 and mhennemeyer suggested that my player in "Walk the Line" should jump faster as the speed of the game increases so that he can avoid the faster and faster moving obstacles. I made some experiments but my player is jumping higher (and even off the screen) when I increase the acceleration or the timer that controls this jump.

Has anyone else solved this or could give me an idea?

btw you can download "Walk the Line" to your iPhone:
http://itunes.com/apps/walktheline

hey, it's FREE!

synthesis

You might try temporarily increasing acceleration and also drag at the same time. Another tool you have is "change velocity" ...such as execute that behavior before the acceleration to give a quick "turbo boost" at the start of the jump so the default acceleration has less initial resistance.

Zilla

Drag? ooops - I must have missed this behaviour...

I was playing around with drag but I don't seem to understand it, because I cannot see any effects that it should produce...

synthesis

Drag is the same as wind resistance or any resistance for that matter. The more drag...the hard it is for the object to move...like trying to walk into a head wind

Without drag...there is nothing to slow your actor down except collisions. With drag...it will eventually slow down...like billiards balls after a strike on a table. The collisions will reduce the amount of velocity...but drag will bring them to a (virtual) stop after the collision. I have found that there is still some residual "quiver" on an actor when it comes to a stop (when it has 0 velocity) once it has been set in motion. The actor seems to flicker its X and Y position values like the physics engine hasn't let go of processing it.

Zilla

@synthesis
Thank you very much for this detailed explanation.

synthesis

NP...hope it helps.

Zilla

@synthesis
I implemented your suggestions with a acceleration/change velocity combination:

when jump is pressed

change velocity (90 degrees)
min( game.Time * 17, 1200)

for 0.2 seconds
accelerate (90 degrees)
max(1700 - game.Time *100, -6000)

Thanks a lot

Zilla

I already uploaded an update to iTunes Connect.
I will tell you when the new version is available and I hope that you will like the new gameplay experience.

homelesswombat

Try setting the gravity higher, and your actor will fall faster, and not jump as high if you raise his jump acceleration rate. If you don't want a change in gravity affecting other actors, just create an accellerate 270 degrees behavior for the player actor.

Zilla

@homeleswombat
Unfortunately, I think that I cannot change gravity during gameplay... but the idea with a 270 degree acceleration is brilliant. I will try this and I hope that the movement of my player will be a little smoother.