A 2D point and Click Engine Simple Questions

Java 2D
#1

Without telling which or which system to use ( LW, AWT, Java 2D etc… ) I’d like to ask some few questions about a 2d game engine that i’d like to create for making point and click adventure game like monkey island 1-2-3 (4 is in 3D)

So let’s start :

1°) How should i programm my path ?
I mean the character cannot go anywhere on the screen so i have to determine the path he can go and the path he cannot, should i use a big array or off screen polygons and test if the character is still in the poly.(the “walkable” area should be inside the poly)

2°) How should i handle the scale and image animation, i mean working with animated gif for animation ?

3°) Is it possible to write thatsort of game in java and what do you suggest me to start(2D, 3D, LW, Swing, AWT ? ), i’ve searched a lot on websites and gaming sites any, i found any answers for theses questions, i hope i could find some advice on this forum :slight_smile:

#2

Wow, I haven’t thought about Monkey Island in a long time.

1> I would store a set of path points for each screen and simply have the character traverse between the points. This way you can make the path as smooth or as straight forward as you want. You might even be able to use spline calculations to make him/her moth along the path. Also doing this you can have multiple stopping points along the path for a single screen.

2> No animated GIFs, you can’t control the draw speed of animated gifs in Java. You would still have the frames but you draw them yourself.

3> Java is perfect for this type of game, IMO.

#3

Thanx for those useful tips, especially for the checkpoints i didn’t thought about that it’s like drawing some lines off screen and letting the character follow those lines…
Something very interessting !

Now for the graphics i didn’t understood what you told me using graphics and no animated gif, so how should i draw animation are there some tutorials about doing that in java with complex character ?

Thanx

#4

Take a look at the AnimImageSprite and MultiAnimImageSprite classes in my Planetation library at:

http://www.scottshaver2000.com

look under the libraries section. The source is available. Also there are some examples of animating a character.

#5

Great examples it will help me a lot !

Thanx !