Car driven by tires ...

gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
edited February 2013 in Working with GS (Mac)
So I'm trying to make a vehicle, similar in fashion to the ones found in the game "Hill Climb Racing".



Thus far I've got a ground plane and tires that spin when the L/R keys are pressed, interacting with the ground plane causing the tires to move along the grond plane.

Now I'm trying to constrain the vehicle body to the tires (and vice versa) so that the wheels spin against the ground plane, imparting motion to the car body and the wheels stay attached to the lower corners of the car body so the whole "car" moves as one.

I was trying to use this tutorial ...



... but it seems to be out of date as the settings and options don't match up with the current version of Game Salad?

Does anyone know of a tutorial video that will help my situation?


Comments

  • gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
    edited February 2013
    Ok, so i figured out what was wrong with constraining one item to another and I've got my car body attached to the front tires. When I use the L/R arrow keys, my front wheel spins and the car body follows along.

    Now I have 2 new problems ...

    1) With only a single set of front tires, you would expect that the rear end of the car body would fall to the ground and drag as the front tires pulled the car around. But this is not happening, the rear end of the car just hovers there as the front tires move the vehicle around. It's like the rotational physics of the car body stop working when it's constrained to the front tires?

    2) When I try to attach the car body to the rear tires, the body's constraint to the front tires stops working. Can I not constrain one object to two things so the front end of the car is affected by the movement of the front tires and the back tires affect the back end of the cars body? When I constrain the tires to the body so they stay in the same position relative to the body the whole thing just glitches out and flys off the screen!

    I know there is some weird hierarchal loop going on there that results in an error, but can someone guide me as to how i can have the car affected by the friction/movement of both tires while the tires stay in the same position relative to the car and the whole vehicle moves naturally (pivoting, bouncing and getting air via the physics) over obstacles?

    If i remember in some of my 3D animation problems, you overcame this problem by linking dummy objects to the corner of te car ... then liking the tires to the dummy objects ... or something like that? I'm not sure if the physics in GameSalad are the same?

    Thanks in advance.
  • UtopianGamesUtopianGames Member Posts: 5,692
    edited February 2013
    Dont think its possible until we get joints, when you constrain the wheels to the body it overrides the collisions with the ground and visa versa.

    You can fake it like we tried in our Moto X template below.



    Darren.
  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    I made a demo some time ago that kinda works. It is here somewhere. I will look it up.

    Lump Apps and My Assets

  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    This has always been one of the things gamesalad falls short on since I have been here. You really need joints for it to work properly. When you start constraining actors to one another it starts overriding all sorts of other attributes, settings, and collisions.
    Warning There was an error rendering this rich post.
  • gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
    This may not be the place to ask this ... but is there a better program on the market with a drag and drop interface like GameSalad?

    I want to love this software but it seems like if your game does not include a ball or a block using basic physics, it's pretty much useless.

    I was introduced to this software 2 years ago and it seems like absolutely nothing has changed? I gave GameSalad another chance because I thought that some of the limitations had been overcome via new tools and features, but that does not seem to be the case.
  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    edited February 2013
    I want to love this software but it seems like if your game does not include a ball or a block using basic physics, it's pretty much useless.
    You've obviously not seen my great app: "Ball vs Block™".

    Seriously though, you can do some fairly impressive stuff with GameSalad, pretty much anything short of full blown 3D projects, you just need to be a bit clever about how you approach things, it takes hard work and some dedication, you started a thread about this project of yours less than 24 hours ago, and in less than one day you've asked a bunch of questions, failed to get the right answers and appear to have given up !! I wouldn't give up so easily.

    There are quite a few other platforms out there, but as functionality rises so does the learning curve, expect some level of scripting as you move up the platform food chain.
    I was introduced to this software 2 years ago and it seems like absolutely nothing has changed?
    Yep, it's been slow, various features like have been bolted on over the last two years while the core functionality has languished somewhat, stick around though, the new engine is in the oven and should be cooked soon.
  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    edited February 2013
    Here is my demo. It is over 2 years old I believe but it kinda works. It could be a good basis to start from. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21686348/LittleMonsterBugCarExample.gameproj.zip

    Lump Apps and My Assets

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    Here is my demo. It is over 2 years old I believe but it kinda works. It could be a good basis to start from. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21686348/LittleMonsterBugCarExample.gameproj.zip

    @LudwigHeijden

    That's brilliant ! : )
  • gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
    edited February 2013
    you started a thread about this project of yours less than 24 hours ago, and in less than one day you've asked a bunch of questions, failed to get the right answers and given up, I wouldn't give up so easily.
    You're right, I'm being impatient. I won't give up, I want to develop games and I'm going to make it into a career. I just get frustrated when things don't work the way I know they should. I've got lots of experience with animation and physics in 3D Studio MAX and AfterEffects. I know how pivot points and parent/child relationships are supposed to work, but with GameSalad it's like trying to saw a board in half with a hammer. I also have -10 programing skills so when a program says "no need for programing" I expect to not have to script anything or learn how to program.
    stick around though, the new engine is in the oven and should be cooked soon.
    Wouldn't that make for a rather soggy salad? Or are they renaming the software to some sort of baked good?
  • gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
    Here is my demo. It is over 2 years old I believe but it kinda works. It could be a good basis to start from. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21686348/LittleMonsterBugCarExample.gameproj.zip
    WOW! That's ... uh ... entertaining!

    I'll pick it apart and see if it leads me anywhere.
  • gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
    @Socks

    Are there people (programers) in the GS community that could solve this problem for me? If so, what kinds of rates are we talking about?

    If I'm going to hire a programmer, is it worth using GS at all? Or should I go with a more advanced development tool?
  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    edited February 2013
    I want to develop games and I'm going to make it into a career. . . . .
    That's the spirit ! :)
    I just get frustrated when things don't work the way I know they should. I've got lots of experience with animation and physics in 3D Studio MAX and AfterEffects. I know how pivot points and parent/child relationships are supposed to work, but with GameSalad it's like trying to saw a board in half with a hammer.
    Lol, very true, I make music for a living now, bad music, really bad music for bad TV ads, but prior to that I was an animator for years, I still live a large part of my life in After Effects / C4D and I know exactly what you mean, things that are trivial in some applications are a lifetime's work in others - hopefully with the new engine we will eventually see joints make an appearance, once you have joints you have hierarchical parenting.
    Wouldn't that make for a rather soggy salad? Or are they renaming the software to some sort of baked good?
    There's only so much you can do with salad analogies - hopefully the new engine will also have an analogy generator.
  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    It's all up to you. You could always use Game Salad as a proto typing tool. For a 'real' programmer it is perhaps not right. I don't know that kind of people so I can't tell. :)

    Lump Apps and My Assets

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    edited February 2013
    Are there people (programers) in the GS community that could solve this problem for me? If so, what kinds of rates are we talking about?
    I couldn't say for sure, there are people who offer their services (for €£$) on the forum, but whether they are able to find a solution that is satisfactory for you is impossible to say.

    How much ? Again, there is no answer, no standard rate, some will want paying by the hour, some by the job, others will work for food / drugs.

    Head over here:
    http://forums.gamesalad.com/categories/third-party-services:-coding-programming
    If I'm going to hire a programmer, is it worth using GS at all? Or should I go with a more advanced development tool?
    That all depends on your budget.

  • gtasickgtasick Member Posts: 15
    edited February 2013
    It's all up to you. You could always use Game Salad as a proto typing tool. For a 'real' programmer it is perhaps not right. I don't know that kind of people so I can't tell. :)
    This is pretty much what I want to use GS for. I'm starting a mobile game development company with some partners and we've got access to some funding, but before we get to hiring a real iOS programer, I wanted to make a few games myself and publish them to a few platforms so I can get the hang of the start-finish process. I also want to mess with paid vs. free models, in-game micro transactions and in-game advertising.

    There is no better teacher than experience and GS seemed like a way to quickly test the whole system.

    I'll have to scale back my ambition with GS, maybe I'll just crank out Block vs. Ball™! (It's absolutely nothing like Ball vs. Block™.) @Socks

  • LumpAppsLumpApps Member Posts: 2,881
    No mistake, you can do a lot with GS but it takes time to learn. Good luck. Its a fun ride ;)

    Lump Apps and My Assets

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