A graphics related question

Hi guys,

I'm using opengl to create a 2-player pong game.

I've added controls to both players. One player is using the 'A' and 'D' keys to control his racket while the other is using the left and right arrow keys.

The key event code is like this:

Code:

---

void dKeyPressed(int key, int x, int y)
{
        switch (key)
        {
                case GLUT_KEY_LEFT:
                        drawer->moveBat(0, vl);
                        break;
                case GLUT_KEY_RIGHT:
                        drawer->moveBat(0, vr);
                        break;
        }
}

void nKeyPressed(unsigned char key, int x, int y)
{
        if(key==97||key==65)
        {
                drawer->moveBat(1, vl);
        }
        if(key==68||key==100)
        {
                drawer->moveBat(1, vr);
        }
        if(key==32)
        {
                drawer->restart();
        }
}

---

and the moveBat in the Drawer class is like this:

Code:

---

void Drawer::moveBat(int bat_id, cyclone::Vector3 &force)
{
        game->bat[bat_id]->body->addForce(force);
}

---

Each time a key is pressed, a certain amount of force is added to the racket to make it move. I'm using the cyclone physics engine, the addForce(Vector3 &f) function is provided by the engine.

I noticed that if I press key 'a' and the left arrow key at the same time, only one racket is moving. If I try to press the key again to make the other one move, the current one stops.

Any idea what am I doing wrong here?

Thanks!

Code:

---

        switch (key)
        {
                case GLUT_KEY_LEFT:
                        drawer->moveBat(0, vl);
                        break;
                case GLUT_KEY_RIGHT:
                        drawer->moveBat(0, vr);
                        break;
        }

---

If one key is found, it will break out of the switch statement
Try something like this (I am sure there are better ways of doing it)

Code:

---

if(GLUT_KEY_LEFT)
  drawer->moveBat(0, vl);
if(GLUT_KEY_RIGHT)
  drawer->moveBat(0, vr);

---

Thanks for the tip. But that's not the problem I'm having, I still can't move 2 rackets at the same time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by h3ro

Code:

---

        switch (key)
        {
                case GLUT_KEY_LEFT:
                        drawer->moveBat(0, vl);
                        break;
                case GLUT_KEY_RIGHT:
                        drawer->moveBat(0, vr);
                        break;
        }

---

If one key is found, it will break out of the switch statement
Try something like this (I am sure there are better ways of doing it)

Code:

---

if(GLUT_KEY_LEFT)
  drawer->moveBat(0, vl);
if(GLUT_KEY_RIGHT)
  drawer->moveBat(0, vr);

---

---

That can't work. The switch statement compares exact equality, it's not like "flag checking." If key == GLUT_KEY_LEFT, then it can't possibly be true that key == GLUT_KEY_RIGHT.

I suspect that GLUT doesn't support reporting multiple keydowns at the same time.

Quote:

---

That can't work. The switch statement compares exact equality, it's not like "flag checking." If key == GLUT_KEY_LEFT, then it can't possibly be true that key == GLUT_KEY_RIGHT.

I suspect that GLUT doesn't support reporting multiple keydowns at the same time.

---

You are right. I missed that when typing up my reply.

switch() in this instance will certainly guarantee you can only handle 1 key press at a time.

Wouldn't that limitation make GLUT practically useless as far as game development is concerned?

I haven't used it, but what the code does is that the functions receive a single char (key) which we don't know whence it came from as input and then pass it through a switch for a test. Unless you call it with different keys in a loop, how's it supposed to work.

I would assume that the whole thing should look more like the following

Code:

---

void HandleInput()
{
        if (QueryKeyStatusSomehow(GLUT_KEY_LEFT)
            drawer->moveBat(0, vl);
        if (QueryKeyStatusSomehow(GLUT_KEY_RIGHT)
            drawer->moveBat(0, vr);
        if (QueryKeyStatusSomehow(GLUT_KEY_A?)
            drawer->moveBat(1, vl);
        ...
}

---

As a side note, it seems that you are drawing the bats as you process input? In game development it is usually recommended to keep graphics separate from logic (which input processing is). So what you should be doing here is actually only modifying the coordinates of the bats (perhaps you might also do collision checking to see that they don't leave the window) and drawing the scene only after you have processed all the logic (input, bat/ball movement, collisions and collision response).

Yay for Google.
http://www.gamedev.net/community/for...opic_id=466416