How to make an actor stick to another actor?

Mayhem_Madness

Hi everyone, Thor speaking, i wanted to know if you could make an actor stick to another actor, while it moves?

Thankyou.

Thor.

tatiang

Yes. Do you want the actors to have their positions synced exactly? If so, constrain attribute game.leaderX (real) to self.Position.X and game.leaderY to self.Position.Y and then in the "follower" actor constrain attribute self.Position.X to game.leaderX and self.Position.Y to game.leaderY.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Yes. Do you want the actors to have their positions synced exactly? If so, constrain attribute game.leaderX (real) to self.Position.X and game.leaderY to self.Position.Y and then in the "follower" actor constrain attribute self.Position.X to game.leaderX and self.Position.Y to game.leaderY.

Thankyou, but do you know what i would have to do so they sync together to make a square?

Thankyou.

Thor.

tatiang

Can you provide a few more details? Maybe a sketch...

I could make a square with four squares that touch corners or four rectangles with space inside the square or four lines... I'm not really sure what you're trying to do.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Can you provide a few more details? Maybe a sketch...

I could make a square with four squares that touch corners or four rectangles with space inside the square or four lines... I'm not really sure what you're trying to do.

Yes, it's just a square with four actor squares, one actor square for each side of the square and I want them to all stick together so that they can move together.

tatiang

Assuming they don't need to rotate, this is pretty straightforward. Here's a demo.

For more complex constraints you might check this out: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/75220/fast-constrain-linkmachine-v2. And here's the original Link Machine: http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/62202/linkmachine/p1.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Assuming they don't need to rotate, this is pretty straightforward. Here's a demo.

For more complex constraints you might check this out: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/75220/fast-constrain-linkmachine-v2.

Thank you

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang

Do I have to change much, so that It can rotate as well?

Sorry should of said this before.

tatiang

@Thor said:
Do I have to change much, so that It can rotate as well?

Yes. See the link I posted.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Yes. See the link I posted.

Ok thanks tatiang, you have been great

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang

Hi tatiang, I'm sorry but i should be more clearer, so I'm sorry about that.

But i really wanted it be to be 4 rectangles with space inside, so what would i need to change in that template.

Thankyou.

Thor.

tatiang

That would be a lot different, especially if you need to rotate them. My template is not a good starting point for something like that.

You might want to upload a screenshot or sketch of what you're doing or better yet a video of similar gameplay to show what you need. It's still not clear what exactly you're trying to do and to be honest I'm not the best person to help you with the trig formulas that are required. Is there a reason you need it be composed of four separate actors?

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang

I have attached a picture of the square i would like, what if i just wanted it to move left and right, not rotate. I want to have space inside the square.

Thanks.

Thor.

tatiang

I'm kind of hesitant to answer because your needs keep changing. Perhaps you're just wanting to make things simpler, which is fine, but it might help things to explain the larger context here. What type of game are you making? Is it a Tetris-style game where pieces have to fit together or something completely different? Does the square need to collide with other actors? Etc.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
I'm kind of hesitant to answer because your needs keep changing. Perhaps you're just wanting to make things simpler, which is fine, but it might help things to explain the larger context here. What type of game are you making? Is it a Tetris-style game where pieces have to fit together or something completely different? Does the square need to collide with other actors? Etc.

Yes i am just trying to make it simpler, so I'm just going to stick with it moving left and right.

Yes it will collide with other actors, and It is something completely different.

Thankyou.

Thor.

tatiang

It is something completely different.

Okay, well, you'd need to constrain the x and y positions to be offset from the center. The self.Position.X and self.Position.Y values are at the center of an actor in the scene. So just subtract or add a certain amount to those (as in my demo) and you should be able to get them lined up. It probably would help to draw everything out on paper and label all of the distances/widths so you can come up with the correct expressions.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang

Hi, im kind of confused on what to put, can you give me an example of what i would put please?

tatiang

Here's how I would calculate the top piece:

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Here's how I would calculate the top piece:

Ok thankyou for that tatiang, much appreciated.

I just wanted to know how would i make that box move left and right by itself?

Thanks.

Thor.

tatiang

Once you have the positions of the four sides, you could use a Move behavior or Interpolate to change their self.Position.X values.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Once you have the positions of the four sides, you could use a Move behavior or Interpolate to change their self.Position.X values.

Can you just tell me if i have done this right, because its not working.

tatiang

If you constrain the position AND try to Move the actor, those will conflict with each other. Constrain keeps the X and Y positions locked so the actor can't move. You might try switching those out for Change Attribute behaviors.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
If you constrain the position AND try to Move the actor, those will conflict with each other. Constrain keeps the X and Y positions locked so the actor can't move. You might try switching those out for Change Attribute behaviors.

Yes it worked, i have got it moving to the left, but Its not moving back to the right.
I tried when attribute self.position.x is less than or equal to 76 move in direction 360.
But it just stops, it doesn't move.

Thanks.

Thor.

tatiang

Can you post a screenshot of your rules?

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Can you post a screenshot of your rules?

ok.

tatiang

As soon as the actor reaches self.Position.X > 76, it's no longer going to trigger that rule so the actor will stop moving.

You might try something like this (self.direction is an integer and I arbitrarily chose 200 and 400 as the endpoints for movement):

This will toggles the direction between 0 and 180.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang

Ok thankyou, I will try that.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
As soon as the actor reaches self.Position.X > 76, it's no longer going to trigger that rule so the actor will stop moving.

You might try something like this (self.direction is an integer and I arbitrarily chose 200 and 400 as the endpoints for movement):

[screenshot]

This will toggles the direction between 0 and 180.

Hi, i can't seem to get it to work, they are not moving left and right together at the same time.

tatiang

Oh right... oops! They aren't going to reach those endpoints at the same time. You'll have to add an offset value based on each actor's width.

Mayhem_Madness

@tatiang said:
Oh right... oops! They aren't going to reach those endpoints at the same time. You'll have to add an offset value based on each actor's width.

Ok, could you give me an example of what I would put please.

Thankyou.

tatiang

I'm not sure, to be honest. I'd have to work it out. Try sketching as I've done and see what values you come up with. Share those and -- assuming they don't work -- the community can suggest adjustments.