WPF Game Programming - InHumanE

Dog Movement Video

So I’ll got the dog moving at the moment using a series of Point Objects that the dog wants to travel to. I’m guessing the way I will do the AI is about the same way I’m guessing that Metal Gear Solid did it. Assign the guards their own point network to transverse, but when Snake (or the character)  is found, use all points on the map.

This means all Map Objects will need to have their points set up. I’m hoping I can do that programmatically. If I say all my “objects” in the game that AI and the character have to walk around are all square, all the points on the “Point Map” object could then be created by these squares. Something like this:

*                *                *

     -------------------------
     |                        |
*    |                        |    *
     |                        |
     |______________|
*                *               *

Where * = an auto generated point.

Might be good, but I will have to say which points won’t be created, as I could have boxes close to each other, or big boxes for the sides of levels or rooms. Say I had a square crate next to a wall:

                         *          *     |
                              _______|
                              |           |
                        *     |           |
                              |______ |
                                          |

                       *            *

I’d need points set out like that, which I think can be done using the box creates points method. I’ll have to try it out this weekend! 

Shiny Shiny! Title page!

For a better view, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdnvYt89KyQ

Great! It worked. Ok, so here's the title page I've made for the game. Currently I'm still trying to get my head around what needs to be done next. I can make the character move, and crouch. Next I'll have to make a little dog character so I can start doing some basic AI.

Using WPF is great for static or shape based animations, but in terms of anything sprite-based, the WPF extras don't really help you out much. If you know your WPF, you'll probably see the types of animations I'm using: 

TranslateTransforms - For the code lines. You use these to move things. In the video I use the .BeginTime and .AutoReverse properties of the attached DoubleAnimation to set up how the animation works. This is a bit harder than a simple DoubleAnimation. You need to create a TranslateTransfrom and attach a DoubleAnimation to it.

DoubleAnimation - This was used to change the opacity of the green rectangle that covers the code.

Once you have created a rectangle, you attach a DoubleAnimation object to the Rectangle's OpacityProperty property, and you're away.

Here's the code I used to do that:

XAML

<Rectangle Margin="0,-9,0,0" Name="titleRect" Stroke="Black" Fill="Green" Grid.RowSpan="2" />

C#

            DoubleAnimation gridOpacity = new DoubleAnimation();

            gridOpacity.From = 0;

            gridOpacity.To = 1;

            gridOpacity.RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior.Forever;

            gridOpacity.AutoReverse = true;

            gridOpacity.Duration = TimeSpan.Parse("0:0:5");

            titleRect.BeginAnimation(Rectangle.OpacityProperty, gridOpacity);

If you want to see the stuff I did for TranslateTransforms, let me know, I'll be happy to share.