The A-Engine: A new Beat 'em Up game engine

[InPhiKnight]

Spoiler (Click to View)

Hey LF2 fellas!
So I have been working on this little project of mine, the A-Engine. Inspired by the ability of LF2 to be fully modded, I started writing a beat 'em engine (written with C++ using SDL loading imgs, sounds and input and OpenGL for rendering) which you guys won't face any limitations in your developing. The scripting syntax is very similar to that of LF2's data changing, but with more syntactic sugars to make the scripting way easier for you. All that mentioned, the A-Engine literally supports mostly everything you will need. The menus interface is customizable, and so are game mechanics; the gravity, the friction and even the FPS can be changed to suit your needs. Not to forget to mention how you're given control over allocating the number of frames in your .a file (the .dat file) or even the number of images you can load. You also have the support to do some inline sprite editing including filtering, changing transparency, transformations and some other even greater stuff. PNGs, BMPs, JPGs, non animated GIFs and hopefully animated GIFs and APNGs are to be supported too. As for controls, you are given the choice to have a 4th button for whatever purpose, and the key combinations are limitless as long as you keep it down to 6 key presses max. This also includes Holding buttons or clicking them. The time interval between each key press can be set as well. Dynamic stages ranging from windy platformed mountains to icey slippery surroundings are supported. A 3rd meter bar was also implemented for those whom are interested in having an additional one for stamina or whatlike.A lot of other features were implemented, but the one that I am most fond of is the Variables, Registers and Functions systems. Consider the following basic frame example:

C-Code: #this is a comment [f=20] #Frame start. This is frame 20. |STANDING|NOSHADOW| #These are the "Switches". Does the job of "state:" in LF2 img=0 delay=3 center=39, 99 #img=->pic: delay=->wait: center=->centerx:centery: vel_x=0 vel_y=3-3 vel_z=0 #vel_x=->dvx:.note the 3-3;will be evaluated at runtime to 0 c<a>=30 c<d>=30 c<j>=30 c<s>=30 #hit_a, hit_d, hit_j, hit_s; s being the 4rth button h<a>=30 h<d>=30 h<j>=30 h<s>=30 #thats for holding the 4 buttons [/f] #Frame end

Now this is pretty basic right? Notice the switches I used. Instead of having a single state, we can now have more than a state by using multiple switches. The object in that frame will be considered standing (will go to walking frames if any arrow button is clicked) and will have no shadow.Now lets try to do something different. Something that is considered hard to do wiht LF2. Suppose you would like to have clicking attack take you to a frame based on a condition. For instance, you would like to have clicking attack while your HP is lower than 250 take you to frame 25;else, you would like to got to frame 30. You will have to use the "conditional operator ("?")" for it. C programmers will find this familiar XD:

C-Code: somevar= myhp<250?iftrue:iffalse;

In the A-Engne script though, you will have to start that with a "~" and end with a ";" for parsing's sake:

Code:

c<a>=~@curr_hp@<250?25:30; #if current hp is less than 250, goto 25;else, to 30

Now that same syntax can be used for the "delay=", "center=" or any other tag as well. Now notice how "curr_hp" was surrounded by a pair of "@"s. It just means that this is a "variable"; it varies according to game. You can't change or edit that. There are other variables as well storing your object's velocity, id, position in x,y and z..etc. Now to get even more flexible, you can store data in "registers". For every object, you have got 52 registers for you to manipulate and even share with other follower objects. The registers can be accessed by surrounding any alphabet, capital or small, with a pair of "$" (horraay PHP developers XD). To store data in any register, you use a special tag: "set_reg=" taking 2 parameters:

C-Code: [f=3] img=0 center=30,30 delay=1 set_reg=$a$, 30 #store the value 30 in the reg a.It's a bit of ASM's "MOV" here XD alpha=125 #a simple tag for changing the transparency of this sprite to 125/255 [/f]   [f=4] #notice how I didn't have any "goto=" tag in frame 3. #I ignored it because I didnt' have to. In case you leave #a goto of a frame, it will automatically goto the frame #with the number that comes after its' number. img=2 center=30,30 delay=1 goto=0 set_reg=$a$, $a$+1 #I increment the value of $a$ by 1. [/f]

Sweet, right? Now you are even given 100 more GLOBAL variable which are just shared between everything. These registers are basically from 1 to 99 ($0$, $1$...$99$). Third, we've got oursevles some "functions" to do cool stuff for us. A function is surrounded with a pair of "&"s. Suppose you would like to launch your opponent upwards with an angle 30 degrees and velocity of 10 px/frm (pixels per a (1/FPS)th of a second):

C-Code: [f=222] #knock opponent img=123 goto=0 delay=2 center=0,0 set_rect[ #and here is our itr!! |FALL| #"switch"; will have the opponent fall now matter what x=0 y=0 z=-8 #the x,y,z coords for where the rect starts w=10 h=30 d=16 #the width,height and depth of the rect rect_density=2 #arest/vrest; the no. of objects the rect can hit at once hit_interval=30 #how many delay units will it take for the rect to hit again x_impact=10*&COS{30}& #dvx of the rect.We multiply by cos(angle) to get x-component y_impact=-10*&sin{30}& #dvy of the rect.We multiply by sin(angle) to get y-component damage=20 ] [/f]

Now lets try to make use of the vars, regs and the functions to do something cool. Suppose you would like to have some cool physics stuff in your game. You would like your forward-up uppercut to knock the enemy away, or to be more accurate, transfer your momentum in x and y to him, and then heal your HP with a random value between 0 and 100. To do this, you will have to store his current velocity in a register (the mass in the calculation is handled by the engine itself). Then you will be doing some momentum physics to find your new velocity and his new velocity.:

C-Code: [f=532] #uppercut img=421 center=(30+30)/2,(5+5)*3 #evaluates to center=30,30 delay=$b$-2 #supposing b is 3; it evaluates to 1 vel_x=10 vel_y=-12 set_rect[ x=0 y=0 z=-8 w=10 h=30 d=16 damage=40 copy_target_reg=@x_vel@|@y_vel@,$x$|$y$ #copy target's x,y velocity to your regs $x$, $y$ x_impact=@x_vel@ y_impact=@y_vel@ success=533 #if this rect successfully hit, goto 533 ] [/f]   [f=533] #Recoil frame f_x=$x$*-1 f_y=$y$*-1 #f_x,y,z sets force on you equal to the value to make you accelerate center=0,0 img=999 delay=1 goto=0 hit_ground=44 #hit_ground is the frame you will goto if you reach the ground add_hp=&randint{0, 100}& #the randint function returns a random int between its 2 arguments [/f]

There are still a loooooot of tags you can use, but I will just list them down later.
Lets see what frame components do we have for the A-Engine. In LF2, the only think you could use in an object's dat file are frames. This isn't true for the A-Engine though!. In addition to having frames in your .a files, you can pack frames together in a sequence. For that to work though, the frames must have consequtive img numbers, same delay and center values.

Consider the following example:

C-Code: [f=4] img=0 center=30, 30 delay=1 #the goto is automatically set to )4+1) [/f] [f=5] img=1 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=5+1 [/f] [f=6] img=2 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=6+1 [/f] [f=7] img=3 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=7+1 [/f] [f=8] img=4 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=8+1 [/f] [f=9] img=5 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=9+1 [/f] [f=10] img=6 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=10+1 [/f] [f=11] img=7 center=30, 30 delay=1 goto=1000 #delete object [/f]

Now using sequences (), that can be:

C-Code: [s=4->11] img=0 #will be incremented for every frame in the seq center=30, 30 delay=1 #these will be common for all frames in the seq goto=1000 #this goto will be executed at frame 11 [/s]

Note that it is possible to change a frame in the sequence if that particular frame was rewrote down:

C-Code: [f=4] img=0 center=30, 30 delay=1 #the goto is automatically set to )4+1) [/f] [f=5] img=1 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=5+1 [/f] [f=6] img=2 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=6+1 [/f] [f=7] img=3 center=123, 440 delay=433 #hey look! my tags are different! [/f] [f=8] img=4 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=8+1 [/f] [f=9] img=5 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=9+1 [/f] [f=10] img=6 center=30, 30 delay=1 #goto=10+1 [/f] [f=11] img=7 center=30, 30 delay=1 goto=1000 #delete object [/f]

with sequences you can do

C-Code: [s=4->11] img=0 center=30, 30 delay=1 goto=1000 [/s] [f=7] #this frame will rewrite frame 7 in the sequence img=3 center=123, 440 delay=433 [/f]

Oh and here is a list I rushed with, HOPEFULLY, all the in-frame tags you can use:

Frame Components:
In LF2, we had itrs and bdys for hits and damage related stuff, wpoints to set a position of a weapon if any is hold, cpoints for

catching, and opoints for spawning objects. In the A-Engine, these stuff are covered quite differently. The wpoints and the

cpoints were omitted. You've been given only 7 components that will hopefully cover all your needs:
1-The "set_rect[ ]" component (itr); for hits, platforming, catching or any other stuff that directly affects the target player.
2-The "set_bdy[ ]" component (bdy); for invulnerability areas, defending..etc.
3-The "call_object[ ]" component (opoint); for spawning new objects into the screen and controlling them around.
4-The "set_combination[ ]" component; for advanced keys input and combinations.
5-The "draw_shape[ ]" component; for drawing simple colored circles, rectangles, ellipses...etc.
6-The "set_transformation[ ]" component; for skewing, cutting, translating, stretching..etc of the sprites.
7-The "set_media[ ]" component (not implemented yet); for playing and simple editing of sounds and video clips.
Now lets try to do something with inputs. We will create a key combination that works just like Super Smash Brother's. To do this, we are going to be using the "set_combination" component. Here is a list of all the tags that can be used inside "set_combination[]":

Now lets start with a simple example first; Davis's Dragon punch combination (D^A):

C-Code: set_combination[ #here is our combination component sequence=(c<d>,c<u_a>,c<a>) time_interval=4321 #we don't consider the delays b/w the presses goto=250 #we goto the dragon punch frame ] #the rest of the tags are unnecessary in this case

Now lets try to have dragon punch work in Smash Bros' style. Having it as a smash Up attack would've been been clicking "Up" followed by "Attack" with a small time interval between the presses:

C-Code: set_combination[ #here is our combination component sequence=(c<u>,c<a>) #Up followed by attack time_interval=100 #100 milliseconds being a 10th of a second is the interval b/w the 2 presses goto=250 #we goto the dragon punch frame ] #the rest of the tags are unnecessary in this case

As a light Up attack, it would've been holding Up and clicking attack while Up is held:

C-Code: set_combination[ #here is our combination component sequence=(h<u_a>,c<a>)#hold Up and then click Attack time_interval=0 #no time interval at all. Up must be held when Attack is pressed goto=250 #we goto the dragon punch frame ] #the rest of the tags are unnecessary in this case

~To be continued


Oh and about the progress; the Engine is pretty much done as I've been working on it for sometime now (almost 7 months until now). The engine's game logic is pretty much done. Still have a little bit of work to do with the A-Engine's user interface then I am going to try to redo some LF2 characters using it XD. Its gonna be 2 or 3 more months I guess..

Any questions, suggestions or anything are very welcome.


Current projects using the A-Engine:
-One Piece A-Edition

Something which I quite did not understood properly[as I have no time to read that all and I don't understand it too :p ] but I can see things from the image in your profile. Great effort A, which turned out very very well. This is hell IMPRESSIVE!!!!!!