interactive swap of sequences of images

admm · Forum Newbie Joined: Nov 25, 2004 Posts: 3

I just love http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm
and it makes me wonder about how can I create an interactive game.
I have already rendered a number of images of differenct sequences: box forward, box crashing, box lifting, etc., around two hundred frames in total.
I wonder how it is possible to create an interactive self-contained game to do this: the user moves the cursor up and the sequence of images of the box moving forward is played until the user moves the cursor up and the sequences of images is swapped to the box moving up...

electranaut · Forum Member Joined: Jan 03, 2004 Posts: 91

Well, there are two ways: you can learn a programming language like Visual Basic, Delphi, C, C++, x86, Java etc. and all the associated interfaces to Windows such as the MFC or DirectX for which you'd need the current SDK, plus a good relationship with a programming message board to ask questions regarding things such as the lastest and most future-compatible ways of opening your WinMain function.

This could take many years and much money, so the other way is to get hold of a good multimedia "drag-n-drop-n-tweak" package such as Macromedia Flash or Toon Boom Studio or something like. This won't take many years but will still cost much money, sadly.

There's no quick fix for this sort of thing as far as I know at the moment. You can always invest in some package like DarkBasic or some such thing (good value, to be fair), but the self-contained element will go. That is, it'll be less portable since any executable will need to contain the interfaces to the system which will make it rather large, which is okay if you're making a big game or something where a large overhead is somewhat offset by content. But on a small game, the overhead will still be large but the actual content will be less so you've got less people willing to download.

Personally, I'd learn to code in a relevant language such as Java (it's free! type it into your search engine) which makes it not only the cheapest method, but actually a big skill in great demand by companies worldwide, so it'll improve your job prospects no end.

Good luck!

electranaut · Forum Member Joined: Jan 03, 2004 Posts: 91

By the way, I don't wish to pour cold water on your scheme since I realise your intentions are good and I welcome a fellow coder into the fold. However, I must point out that rendering animation frames is generally the kiss of death to this type of thing.

Let me explain: Bitmapped images can't be satisfactorally compressed for use in games at this point in time. If you want to use bitmapped images, the download size is going to be huge, even if they're small images. That's off-putting. You could compress them using one of the common compression techniques, but they will need to be decompressed for use. Runtime decompression is probably a no-no, since the processor will be too tied up with that to deal with it to get a decent frame rate. Pre-processed decompression is a possibility, but that'll increase the startup overhead a bit. That's not so much a problem, but you'll need to allocate storage space in memory (which could be big) and you'll either need to create a compression technique yourself, or use a standard one. This could be something that requires a license to use the technology (jpeg, gif etc.) where money must exchange hands, or you could devise it yourself (whereby you'll need to know programming languages anyway, in some minute detail because you'll be dealing in binary bits).
Either way, you're in a bit of a sticky situation. My considered advice would be to forget the rendered solution and pick up one of the multimedia packages. Figure out how to use it; use the vector drawing techniques they employ to draw the graphics (small size, low download, etc) and you'll have something small, multi-platform etc. plus you'll have a darn good skill which is in demand.

I won't advocate piracy of software, but Macromedia will happily send you a CD full of their stuff for you to try out for 30 days in my experience. This should be enough for you to have a look at it and to make up your mind about how valuable it might be to you.

admm · Forum Newbie Joined: Nov 25, 2004 Posts: 3

electranaut,
Your explanation about compressing bitmapped images in games is crystal-clear, thanks a lot.
I'll look into Flash!
Thanks again.
Emme

electranaut · Forum Member Joined: Jan 03, 2004 Posts: 91

Yes, I think that is probably most likely to do what you want it to. There may be some other programs that do a similar job but I don't know what they are, I'm afraid.

Best wishes with your project.