Forums » Games » PiSpace - Using Box2D v2.1a

Hello fellow devs -

I am making a game called PiSpace inspired by the concept of Pong with more robust physics. It is a WIP and more so a sandbox for code ideas and concepts as I get better with JavaScript, Box2D and Impact.

The code is available on GitHub, so feel free to poke around and play with it.

Head over to my blog at clokwork.net for more details on some of the techniques used throughout the game.

I typically release updates/blogs on Wednesday and Sunday. I post updates and announcements on Twitter too @cloksmith.

Take a look and let me know what you think. I really appreciate it!

Thanks!

http://clokwork.net/pispace

Clock, thanks a lot for documenting and sharing your code. Inspiring stuff. I like the idea of your game: tennis or squash in space... why not... but controlling the paddle is too hard IMO, as I spent most of my time chasing that ball (the astute angles of the ball bounces didn't help either).

Ill second alexandre point on the controls need some work very hard to control the paddle. Maybe allow it to be controlled with the mouse instead of arrow keys would be a start.

Thanks for the feedback @alexandre.

I am finding tuning of the controls difficult while learning the physics engine. It's an area that I hope to address very soon.

Also, the nature of a square puck spinning and contacting the flat paddle or wall creates some, let's say, interesting results. Some find the chaotic nature distracting, others fun. I am play testing a circular puck with friction to see if I can get the desired game play.

This is why I love game design so much. Thank you again for the feedback!

@SnakePlissken,
First off, awesome name! Secondly, cool idea. I'll try that out.

+1 clok
Awesome name indeed.

Busy week all around. RL job has been taxing. I was able to put together a new scoring system and fuel system. Also, reworked the control response, should be a little less twitchy.

Boost mode will apply a neat particle effect and some killer velocity. CTRL for Player 1 and Space for Player 2 will activate the boost mode. This will consume fuel. I am demoing these concepts for now and will be deploying an "end-game" soon.

Thank you again for the feedback!

http://clokwork.net/pispace
http://clokwork.net/

Mouse controls are coming soon! I am working through my features list.

@clok
I think I found a bug in the box2d 2.1a libs (kollman's and yours).

I was having a problem of revolute joints that would stretch over time; tracking it led me to b2game's update:

update: function() {
	ig.world.Step( ig.system.tick, 5);
	ig.world.ClearForces();
	this.parent();
},

According to plugins/box2d/lib.js, b2.World's Step function requires 3 arguments, the last of which is for position iterations. Reinstating that, i.e.,

update: function() {
	ig.world.Step( ig.system.tick, 5, 5);
	ig.world.ClearForces();
	this.parent();
},

stopped rev joint stretching.

If you can patch your lib and repost, great.

I'll keep the revision on my side for a while to see if that patch broke anything.

@alexandre
Thanks for the heads up! I'll take a look at it today and push a patch to github.

Good find!

Okay, fix has been pushed to github. Thanks again @alexandre!

I wasn't seeing the issue that led you to find the bug, but I am sure I would have soon. Good catch.

Sorry about the delay, RL has kept me quite busy lately.