mario item pick-up

[bat]

does anyone remember the 2nd mario where you picked up the onions and stuff, and lifted them above your head, and then could throw them? how could this be done in gamedev?

[durnurd]

Without script:

Have a special function over each thing you want to pick up that you have to push a button to activate.  Once you push the button it activates two other functions.  One changes the player to a sprite bending over, then the other deletes the sprite you are picking up and creates another in its place that is a vector sprite with a low velocity and goes to directly above your head by several pixels (you'll have to play around with this).  Then the player sprite is one of those follow path exactly with one point and one delay.  At end of path switch back to the old sprite, and have the pickup sprite ride on top of your head.  Add one to some inventory to keep track of the fact that you have this on your head.  Have another special function that requires some other kind of inventory that changes the sprite you're carrying into a vector sprite that throws it.  Then, have a global function that requires inventory of the first type and removes it and adds one to an inventory of the second type.  It is activated by you pushing the "throw" button.

This may or may not work, and there may be an easier way to do it.  I"m tired and in a hurry.  But that's a general outline.  It could also be done in script, but I'm not about to try to figure that out right now.

[bat]

thanx! i understand the rush...

[bluemonkmn]

Instead of using inventory to handle the throwing part, you might be able to just use a collision definition.  If you have the throw button create some sprite called "ThrowingHands", then you can define a collision definition between ThrowingHands and the thing you picked up.  If you define it so that ThrowingHands Repels or bounces the sprite you picked up, then you don't need to keep track of what your carrying by using inventory, and the throwing will happen automatically.  Set ThrowingHands to use a short path and go at very high speed (in the direction that you want the player to throw) and delete at the end of the path.  If you just check "A and B swap velocities" for the collision definition, the hands should cause the sprite you are carryong to take the velocity of the hands, if you are carrying anything.  And if you aren't carrying anything the hands will just throw and have no effect.  Make sure the hands are set to follow path relative to starting point, and make the hands start relative to the player sprite.

[Eastfist]

This is an interesting inquiry.  If there's one game I've always wanted to emulate in SGDK, it'd be Mario.

A way I can think of is this:

- Define certain map tiles as the pickable object (like a sprout, or block) with spec. functions
- When the player presses the "pull" button on it, it alters the map tile, switches the player sprite to a "filler" animation sprite of the player pulling out the sprout or picking up the object, and at the end-of-path for that sprite's animation, switches to a sprite with that particular object drawn as if the player was holding it overhead.  Then the player can run around with it before throwing it avoiding having it bounce around from the weird collision interactivity.

Of course, the problem I can foresee doing it this way is the tedious drawing of "filler" animation sprites.  I'm just wondering how "seamless" it can actually look... the trick is in the illusion.