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CSE 380 – Computer Game Programming GUIs for Games

CSE 380 – Computer Game Programming GUIs for Games. Game GUI Controls. Stylistically fit in with game theme drawn as artwork careful font/color selection Same rules should apply as with other GUIs align components uniform style balance clarity (single word options are best)

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CSE 380 – Computer Game Programming GUIs for Games

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  1. CSE 380 – Computer Game ProgrammingGUIs for Games

  2. Game GUI Controls • Stylistically fit in with game theme • drawn as artwork • careful font/color selection • Same rules should apply as with other GUIs • align components • uniform style • balance • clarity (single word options are best) • keep it simple • minimize depth • don’t make assumptions about your player’s IQ

  3. What are Game GUIs for? • Starting/Stopping games • New Game, Save Game, Load Game, Pause, Continue, Quit • Game Options • level of difficulty • character selection & properties (RPG in particular) • chapter selection • Custom Controls Setup • In-game Decisions (strategy in particular) • Providing Help

  4. Menu vs. In Game Controls • Menu controls, typically • simple, elegant • textual • centered on screen • allows for menu tabbling • tied to game controllers as well • In-game controls, typically • graphical • at bottom of screen • carefully grouped • tied to keystrokes for PC gaming (very important)

  5. Halo’s Menu GUI

  6. Starcraft’s In-game GUI

  7. How might we make a GUI? • We’ll build our own buttons

  8. We know how do render images • Use images to render: • buttons • cursor • other GUI images • For buttons, use 2 images • mouse over • normal • each frame update the state based on mouse position

  9. How do we test if the mouse is over a button? void Button::updateMouseOver(POINT *mousePoint) { // IS THE CURSOR OVER THIS BUTTON? if ((mousePoint->x >= x) && (mousePoint->x <= x + width) && (mousePoint->y >= y) && (mousePoint->y <= y + height) ) { mouseOver = true; } else { mouseOver = false; } }

  10. Render Lists • Common approach in games • Each frame: • make a list of items to render • iterate through the list and render each item • throw out the list • RenderList is built and destroyed each frame • We’ll use 2 render lists: • one for the GUI • one for the game world

  11. Render List Cheating • We’re not really going to use a list • Why? • we don’t want to allocate memory dynamically • Instead, we’ll use a giant array and pretend it’s a list • give the array a max size • don’t exceed that max size

  12. A note about platform independence • Today our game’s graphics are drawn using DirectX • Tomorrow we may wish to use OpenGL • How can we minimize the difficulty of switching? • virtual functions • See: • GameGraphics & DirectXGameGraphics • TextureManager & DirectXTextureManager

  13. To maximize platform independence • Confine technology-specific types and methods to technology-specific classes • Don’t let DirectX spill over into your data management classes

  14. How do we respond to input? • Get Input • If game state is in main menu • Process input for main menu screen components • Draw main menu screen • Main Menu GUI • If game state is in game • Process input for game screen components • Draw game screen • Game GUI & Game World

  15. Getting Input • We’ll use Windows methods • To test if a key is currently pressed: • GetAsyncKeyState(key) & 0X8000 • To get the current mouse position: • GetCursorPos(mousePoint); • To test if a mouse button is currently pressed: • GetAsyncKeyState(VK_LBUTTON) & 0X8000

  16. Each Frame • We update data for: • all keys • first key press? • fill out struct for each key • mouse/cursor position • is mouse over buttons?

  17. GameInput • Each frame: void GameInput::processInput(Game *game, WINDOWINFO wi) { updateCursorPosition(wi, game->getGUI()->getCursor()); updateInputState(); respondToKeyboardInput(game); respondToMouseInput(game); }

  18. Custom Behavior • In the example I’ve given you, I have: • a core library • a custom example game • Customized behavior is loaded by key child classes: • DirectXGraphics • XButtonEventHandler • XKeyEventHandler • XTextGenerator

  19. Questions for you to figure out • Where is the programmed response to hitting SHIFT-C? • In what order are the GUI items rendered? • How can I speed up or slow down the frame rate? • How can you render something as more transparent? • How can we render changing text? • How can we render a Mini Map?

  20. Mini-Map Rendering • Naive Approach 1: • scale and render images on the fly • Naive Approach 2: • pre scale images, render individually on the fly • Improved Approach • pre build mini-map image for each level • render as single image

  21. Mini-Map Rendering – How? • Build off-screen surface as render target • CreateRenderTarget • Render scaled version of world to surface • StretchRect • Save to File as Image • D3DXSaveSurfaceToFileA • Refs: see schedule page for DirectX9 & Util APIs

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