Forums » Help » Menu with entitites

Hi All

Im a bit confused (and a noob at coding) but ive tried to make a main menu page using entities as the menu items ... then spawn particles on a ,mouse press, the particles will then collide with the menu item to select it.

I knwo this works cos its in the core gameply but when i tried to make a menu not only does the frame rate drop massivly but i also dont see the particles. Im guessing it has something to do with the way i structured my code but i cant seem to work it out :-(

Menu = ig.Game.extend({
	
	
	font: new ig.Font( 'media/blue.font.png' ),//font
	MenusImage:new ig.Image('media/been.png' ),//define intro image


update: function() {
	ig.input.bind( ig.KEY.MOUSE1, 'mouseLeft' );
	ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityStats,0,0);//spawn the game stats
	var mx = ig.input.mouse.x ; //Figures out the x coord of the mouse in the entire world
	var my = ig.input.mouse.y; //Figures out the y coord of the mouse in the entire world
	
	if (ig.game.menu == 0){
		//console.log(ig.game.menu);
		this.loadLevel( LevelTest );// LOAD LEVEL DATA
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,22 ,46, { blockType:"Match" });//spawn a menu item
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,180 ,16, { blockType:"Free" });//spawn a menu item
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,342 ,46, { blockType:"Story" });//spawn a menu item
		
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,12 ,200, { blockType:"Options" });//spawn a menu item
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,180 ,192, { blockType:"Time" });//spawn a menu item
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,340 ,200, { blockType:"Level" });//spawn a menu item
	}
	ig.game.menu ==1;
	this.parent();
	

	myGameMode = 5;
    },
    
run: function(){
	if (ig.input.state('mouseLeft')) {
	ig.game.spawnEntity( FireGib, mx,my );
    }
    this.parent();
}
});

.init() is where your game&039;s initialization takes place. You have your initialization logic in your #.update() loop. Reorganize your code so that .spawnEntity() occurs within the .init().

Your .run() logic should also be merged into .update().

Menu = ig.Game.extend({

	font: new ig.Font( 'media/blue.font.png' ),	//font
	MenusImage:new ig.Image('media/been.png' ),	//define intro image
	
	init : function() {
		//keys
		ig.input.bind( ig.KEY.MOUSE1, 'mouseLeft' );
		
		//level
		this.loadLevel( LevelTest );
		
		//game stats
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityStats,0,0);
		
		//menu
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,22 ,46, { blockType:"Match" });
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,180 ,16, { blockType:"Free" });
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,342 ,46, { blockType:"Story" });
		
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,12 ,200, { blockType:"Options" });
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,180 ,192, { blockType:"Time" });
		ig.game.spawnEntity(EntityMenu,340 ,200, { blockType:"Level" });
		
		//set default mode
		myGameMode = 5;
	},

	update: function(){
		if (ig.input.state('mouseLeft')) {
			var m = ig.game.mouse;
			ig.game.spawnEntity( FireGib, m.x,m.y );
		}
		this.parent();
	}
	
});

Best.

Quidmonkey, im not sure what the forums would be like without your continued help, thank you so much. Your an awesome part of this community!

Is there a breakdown/overview/documentation of how code should be structured with regards to the different functions?

thx again

p

Thank you for your kind words.

The main.js template provided with Impact is a good guideline for how you should setup your code.

Here's a typical breakdown:

init: function(){
	//bind keys
	//load level
	//spawn entities
	//set config varaibles
	//anything else that needs to be done prior to game starting
},

draw: function(){
	this.parent();		//draw all entities and maps
	//whatever else needs to be drawn i.e. hud, menu, etc.
},

update: function(){
	this.parent();		//updates all entities and maps
	//whatever else needs to be updated by the game each frame
}

You'll notice that most objects (Entities. Fonts, Game) have this init/draw/update structure, and most game engines in general copy it or use a variation. This is because it's easy to see what each step needs to do: init - setup shit; draw - draw shit; update - do shit.

Best.