Caterpillar party at non-default walking speeds

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Bob the Hamster
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Caterpillar party at non-default walking speeds

Post by Bob the Hamster »

So the caterpillar party has always been hard-coded to the default walking speed of 4

That meant that any time you changed your leader's walking speed, the party would stretch out or scrunch up, like this:

Image

That was fine if you liked it, and were okay with adjusting your scripts to cope for the misalignment (I'm keeping the old behavior in Wandering Hamster because I like the way it looks)

However, if you hate the caterpillar stretch-and-scrunch, I have good news for you!

There is now a general preference bitset "Keep caterpillar length the same when speed changes" (or there will be in tomorrow morning's nightly build)

All you have to do is turn this bit on, and you can change your walking speed and keep the caterpillar party together, like this:

Image

This bitset will probably become the default in newly created games.

Also, as a nice bonus, the hero positioning code is now more cleaned-up. Will that make any other future features easier to implement? Only time will tell! (larger active party? baby steps, baby steps.)
Last edited by Bob the Hamster on Wed May 31, 2017 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The Wobbler
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Post by The Wobbler »

Really happy to have this, thanks!
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kylekrack
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Post by kylekrack »

I wasn't even aware this occurred with changing speeds. Shows how little I've used caterpillar mode. I have to say, I kind of like the scrunching up! Of course, not in all instances, but in your example, it's actually quite endearing. I can imagine it looking good when walking through mud or other terrains.

I look forward to a future where I can have 99 heroes in walkabout all creating a massive mess on screen.
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Post by TMC »

This will definitely enable further improvements.

I think this should definitely be the default in new games.
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Pepsi Ranger
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

More news I'm happy to see. Would be really awesome if caterpillar parties could also obey pixel movements of the leader. Perfect for when ramps and other elevation changes are used.
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Rogissidor
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Post by Rogissidor »

What about mixing types? Correct the caterpillar for slow and normal walking, but let them spread out a little for running. You could have two bitsets, "...if speed is < X" and "...if speed is > X."
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

I was thinking now that I have done this, I could add a feature to set how far apart you want your caterpillar to be. You could override the current 20 pixels with some other value, giving your plotscript more control over how smushed or stretched the party is.
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