[Xbubble-users] Release soon, release often (version 0.5.2)

[Martin Quinson]

Hello,

I just uploaded the tarball of 0.5.2 to the server. The main change is that
the same formulae when bumping on walls is used in the computation of the
target_cell and in the displaying mecanism. It gets rid of some placement
discrepencies when the display computed a trajectory different from the one
of the core game (which is used at the end).

I also reduced a bit the rotating speed of the cannon to allow for better
aiming. That's the best I can do about this right now. I allowed 200
positions of cannon, increasing the size in memory of the cache of
trajectories by more than 2, but the real problem comes from the fact that
the current mecanism does not allow to rotate the canon by one position. If
you press the left key, the cannon is moved during the complete frame update
duration. Changing this would need some heavy rewrite of the core of the
game, I guess. 

Ivan, am I right ?

I did also move the default fps to 100 again, now that the game is better
optimized and will support it. 



I guess we'll have to go for this major core rewrite, which seems to be
needed for the networked game (and also for the precise aiming). 

For now, the game simulates multithreading for the interface (human player)
+ the core + the computer player by the use of setjmp() and setitimer() to
know about the end of a frame_update() period and the begining of the next
one.

I'm not sure how to do this. Maybe having a game server accepting the
commands from the interface, computing the evolution of the game, and
informing the interface back. The issues are:

 - How to get the same interface accepting 2 players? 
   Maybe by the use of two game servers.
 - Which interface for interface/game server ? threads or sockets ?
   The second would allow networked games, but the first would be more
   effective. 

Other future plans are:
 - Chain reaction
 - Other interfaces (sdl, gnome, kde) in addition to the existing X one.
 - More themes
 - Sound support


If you have any ideas about these points or other, you're of course welcomed
to discuss them here.


Oh, and I forgot: I'm still not done with redacting my PhD, so do not expect
any major change in the next few weeks from my side. Maybe the Epita dream
team may do something, though.

Thanks, Mt.

--
I don't suffer from Insanity, I enjoy every minute of it...