nylon game [xi zhang]

Xi Zhang | GSD Harvard | xizhang@gsd.harvard.edu

'nylon game'

nylon board is so exciting. i have fun with it.

my final project is a simple shooting game programmed in the nylon board. initially, i proposed something related to Chinese calligraphy for i was so passionate with it since I was a little child. But, finally i decided not to do it simply because technically it is too difficult to implement. As we know, nylon is a standalone device, without any computational support from normal computers. Another major reason why I want to make electronic game is that I love computer game a lot. I am always dreaming that someday in the future I can make my own game. That would be so cool.

My game box includes two major components, which are a physical box and a programmed game environment.

1. physical box.

The whole bunch of switches, buttons and buzzers and the hotpants display will be embedded into this physical box. There are three main parts on the surface of the box. The left one is a wheel connecting with a potentiometer used to control the overall rendering speed. The hotpants LCD will be located in the middle. Two buttons and another wheel will be located on the right hand side. Left button is used to shot and right one is used to restart the game. The wheel connected will be used for controlling moving direction of ship, either leftward or rightward.

2. programmed game environment.

As mentioned above, the game is quite simple one mainly because of the limitation of nylon system, like (low resolution, limited input/output option, etc.). Basically, in the game, there are two types of objects (smaller or bigger) will be falling from top to bottom, before they hit the 'ship' located in the bottom, you can control the ship to shot these falling targets by moving leftward or rightward. once you shot one target, you will get one point shown on the top area. But when the target hits your ship, you will lost one point. simple, right? let me describe them a little bit detail.

2.1	There are always two objects appear on the stage at any given time. Actually, another type of cubic object will occasionally fall from top to bottom besides the two mentioned above. The essential difference between them is that the cubic object is a helping guy (I will explain how it helps soon), but the other two are bad guys, you have to destroy them in order to prevent yourself from losing score.
2.2	The system offers you the ability to control the falling speed of targets. Thus, it creates a tradeoff for you, gamers. One possibility is that you could decrease the speed in order to increase the possibility of destroying the falling target. Another possibility is to increase the speed to increase the number of tying time within a certain amount of time.
2.3	The helping guy as mentioned will double the fire power in the way of being able to shot two bullets at the same time to get two score point once. Of course the offer time is limited. After sometime, say one minute, fire power will become normal.

under construction

int time = 0; //system time (<2000)
int theScore = -1; //total score (increse/decrese)
int big_time = 0; //control the duration of SPAN
int base_h = 5; //horizental position (mostleft point)

int fallObj1_h = 2;
int fallObj2_h = 6;
int fallObj1_v = 3;
int fallObj2_v = -3;
int envObj_v = 3;
int biggerObj_h;
int biggerObj_v;
int bulletObj_h;
int bulletObj_v =12; // vertical position of bullet is always 12

int rseed = 98; //used for generating random numer
int bb = 2987;
int mm = 987;

int p;
int i;

int BIGTIME = 0; // flag when to fall the bigger objects
int SPAN = 0; //horizental span (0:normal?1:bigger)
int LR = 0; //flag for location of environmental object
int HIT_ENV = 0; //flag of detecting of environment object
int HIT_OBJ = 0; //flag of detecting of falling objects
int HIT_BULLET = 0; //flag of detecting of collision between bullet of
single point target
int HIT_BULLET_2 = 0; //flag of detecting of collision between bullet of
double point target
int BIGOBJ = 0;
int LOSE = 0;
int LOSE_2 = 0;
int PIN_ON = 0;

int BULLET = 0; //flag for shotting. 0:no bullet?1:yes bullet
int TYPE1 = 0;
int TYPE2 = 0; // 0 is dot, 1 is two dots, 2 is helping guy

// use to detect whether it is first time
int counter = 1;

// random function used to generate random number
// from 0 -- 10
int Random() {
int bl = (rseed * bb + 1);
rseed = (bl % mm);
return (rseed % 10);
}

int TypeRandom() {
int temp = Random();
int type = 0;
if(temp < 5) type = 0;
if((temp > 5)&&(temp < 8)) type = 1;
if((temp > 8)&&(temp < 10)) type = 2;
//else type = 0;
return type;
}

// base object used for shoting the falling object
void Base() {

line(base_h,13,(base_h+2+SPAN),13); // base part
line((base_h+1),12,(base_h+1+SPAN),12); // top part used to shot
}

// falling objects
// 1. at any given time, there are two falling objects
// 2. two types of objects: single point | double points
void FallObj(int x, int y, int TYPE) {

stroke(2);
// single point first
if(TYPE == 0) point(x,y);

// double points
if(TYPE == 1){
point(x,y);
point(x+1,y);
}

// drop the helping guy
if(TYPE == 2)
{
point(x,y);
point(x+1,y);
point(x,y+1);
point(x+1,y+1);
}
stroke(1);
}

void Shot() {
// when the base is normal
if(SPAN == 0)
{
point(bulletObj_h, bulletObj_v);
}

// when the base is in bigger mode
if(SPAN == 1)
{
point(bulletObj_h, bulletObj_v);
point((bulletObj_h+1), bulletObj_v);
}
}

// used to detect whether bullet hits the falling object
void ShotDetect(int bullet_h, int bullet_v) {

// CASE1: single point object
if(SPAN == 0)
{
if(TYPE1 == 0 || TYPE2 == 0)
{
if(bullet_h == fallObj1_h)
{
if(bullet_v == fallObj1_v || bullet_v ==
fallObj1_v+1) HIT_BULLET = 1;
else HIT_BULLET = 0;
}

else if(bullet_h == fallObj2_h)
{
if(bullet_v == fallObj2_v || bullet_v ==
fallObj2_v+1) HIT_BULLET = 1;
else HIT_BULLET = 0;
}

else HIT_BULLET = 0;
}

if(TYPE1 == 1 || TYPE2 == 1)
{}
}

if(SPAN == 1)
{
if(TYPE1 == 0 || TYPE2 == 0)
{
if(bullet_h == fallObj1_h || bullet_h+1 == fallObj1_h)
{
if(bullet_v == fallObj1_v || bullet_v ==
fallObj1_v+1) HIT_BULLET = 1;
else HIT_BULLET = 0;
}

else if(bullet_h == fallObj2_h || bullet_h+1 == fallObj2_h)
{
if(bullet_v == fallObj2_v || bullet_v ==
fallObj2_v+1) HIT_BULLET = 1;
else HIT_BULLET = 0;
}

else HIT_BULLET = 0;
}

if(TYPE1 == 1 || TYPE2 == 1)
{
if(bullet_h == fallObj1_h && bullet_h+1 == fallObj1_h+1)
{
if(bullet_v == fallObj1_v || bullet_v ==
fallObj1_v+1) HIT_BULLET_2 = 1;
else HIT_BULLET_2 = 0;
}

else if(bullet_h == fallObj2_h && bullet_h+1 == fallObj2_h+1)
{
if(bullet_v == fallObj2_v || bullet_v ==
fallObj2_v+1) HIT_BULLET_2 = 1;
else HIT_BULLET_2 = 0;
}
else HIT_BULLET_2 = 0;
}
}

}

// used to detect whether base hits bigger objects
void BigDetect(int obj_h, int obj_v) {

if(obj_h == base_h+1 && obj_v == 11) SPAN = 1;
if(obj_h+1 == base_h+1 && obj_v == 11) SPAN = 1;
//else SPAN = 0;
}

void ExplosionShot() {
if(HIT_BULLET == 1)
{
circle(bulletObj_h,bulletObj_v,1);
pause(20);
circle(bulletObj_h,bulletObj_v,2);
}
if(HIT_BULLET_2 == 1)
{
circle(bulletObj_h,bulletObj_v,1);
pause(20);
circle(bulletObj_h,bulletObj_v,2);
pause(20);
circle(bulletObj_h,bulletObj_v,3);
}
HIT_BULLET = 0;
HIT_BULLET_2 = 0;
}

void HitFallDetect() {

if(SPAN == 0)
{
if(fallObj1_v == 12)
{
if(base_h == fallObj1_h || base_h+1 == fallObj1_h || base_h+2 ==
fallObj1_h) LOSE = 1;
else LOSE = 0;
}else LOSE = 0;

if(fallObj2_v == 12)
{
if(base_h == fallObj2_h || base_h+1 == fallObj2_h || base_h+2 ==
fallObj2_h) LOSE = 1;
else LOSE = 0;
}

else LOSE = 0;
}

if(SPAN == 1)
{}
}

void Score() {
point(theScore,0);
if(theScore > 0) line(0,0,(theScore-1),0);
if(theScore == 10){
line(0,0,9,0);
point((theScore-10),1);
line(0,1,(theScore-10),1);
}
//if(theScore < -1) theScore = 1;
}

int ii = 14;

void ShowLose(){
// draw lost on screen
canvas(0);
theScore = -1;
while(true){
line(3,3,3,8);
line(4,3,4,8);
line(3,8,7,8);
line(3,9,7,9);
if(@1 == 1) {
theScore = -1;
return;
}
pause(20);
canvas(0);
}
//pause(20000);
}

void ShowWin(){
// draw win
while(true){
line(0,3,1,8);
line(1,3,2,8);
line(2,8,4,3);
line(3,8,5,3);
line(5,3,6,8);
line(6,3,7,8);
line(6,8,9,3);
line(7,8,10,3);
if(@1 == 1) {
theScore = -1;
return;
}
pause(20);
canvas(0);
}
}
// Render() render the screen
void Render(){

// reduce the speed of falling targets
if(time%2 == 0)
{
fallObj1_v++;
fallObj2_v++;
FallObj(fallObj1_h, fallObj1_v, TYPE1);
if(fallObj2_v > 3) FallObj(fallObj2_h, fallObj2_v, TYPE2);

// falling object 1 hits the bottom
if(fallObj1_v == 12)
{
if(base_h == fallObj1_h || base_h+1 == fallObj1_h || base_h+2 ==
fallObj1_h) LOSE = 1;
else LOSE = 0;
fallObj1_v = 3;
fallObj1_h = Random();
TYPE1 = TypeRandom();
}

// falling object 2 hits the bottom
if(fallObj2_v == 12)
{
if(base_h == fallObj2_h || base_h+1 == fallObj2_h || base_h+2 ==
fallObj2_h) LOSE = 1;
else LOSE = 0;
fallObj2_v = 3;
fallObj2_h = Random();
TYPE2 = TypeRandom();
}
}

ShotDetect(bulletObj_h, bulletObj_v);
if((TYPE1 == 2 || TYPE2 == 2)&&SPAN != 1) {
BigDetect(fallObj1_h, fallObj1_v);
BigDetect(fallObj2_h, fallObj2_v);
}

// listen to input pin 3 (shotting)
if(PIN_ON == 1){
// use to detect whether it is first time
if(counter == 1) bulletObj_h = base_h+1;

// call shot function here
Shot();

if(bulletObj_v == 3){
bulletObj_h = base_h+1;
bulletObj_v = 12;
}
if(HIT_BULLET == 0 || HIT_BULLET_2 == 0) bulletObj_v--; //flag of
detecting of collision between bullet of single point target)
if(HIT_BULLET == 1 || HIT_BULLET_2 == 1){
pause(50);
ExplosionShot(); // call explosionShot function
bulletObj_h = base_h+1;
bulletObj_v = 12;

fallObj1_h = Random();
fallObj2_h = Random();
// add score
theScore++;
}
if(HIT_BULLET_2 == 1) theScore = theScore + 2;
counter++;
}

// render base object
//Base();

// tracking vars.
//debug("bulletObj_v is "+bulletObj_v);
//debug("fallObj1_v is "+fallObj1_v);
//debug("bulletObj_h is "+bulletObj_h);
//debug("fallObj1_h is "+fallObj1_h);
//debug("HIT_BULLET is "+HIT_BULLET+"\n");

//debug("bulletObj_v is "+bulletObj_v);
//debug("fallObj2_v is "+fallObj2_v);
//debug("bulletObj_h is "+bulletObj_h);
//debug("fallObj2_h is "+fallObj2_h);
//debug("HIT_BULLET is "+HIT_BULLET+"\n");

//debug("BASE_H is " + base_h);
//debug("TYPE1 is "+TYPE1);
//debug("TYPE2 is "+TYPE2);
//debug("the score is "+theScore);
//pause(20);

//debug("base_h+1 is "+(base_h+1));
//debug("base_v is "+base_v);
//debug("SPAN is "+SPAN);
//debug("LOSE is "+LOSE);
debug("the score is "+theScore);
// debug("\n");
}

void FirstBegin(){
int ii =20;
while(true)
{

// n
point(3, ii);
point(3, ii+1);
point(3, ii+2);
point(4, ii+1);
point(5, ii);
point(5, ii+1);
point(5, ii+2);

// y
point(3, ii+4);
point(4, ii+5);
point(4, ii+6);
point(5, ii+4);

// l
point(3, ii+8);
point(3, ii+9);
point(3, ii+10);
point(4, ii+10);
point(5, ii+10);

// o
point(3, ii+12);
point(4, ii+12);
point(5, ii+12);
point(3, ii+13);
point(5, ii+13);
point(3, ii+14);
point(4, ii+14);
point(5, ii+14);

// n
point(3, ii+16);
point(3, ii+17);
point(3, ii+18);
point(4, ii+17);
point(5, ii+16);
point(5, ii+17);
point(5, ii+18);

pause(5);
canvas(0);

if(@1 == 1) return;
if(ii == -20)
{
int iii;
for(iii = 0; iii< 10; iii++)
{
circle(4,7,iii);
pause(iii*2);
}
ii = 20;
}
debug(i);
ii--;
}
}

void Begin(){
int ii =20;
while(true)
{

// n
point(3, ii);
point(3, ii+1);
point(3, ii+2);
point(4, ii+1);
point(5, ii);
point(5, ii+1);
point(5, ii+2);

// y
point(3, ii+4);
point(4, ii+5);
point(4, ii+6);
point(5, ii+4);

// l
point(3, ii+8);
point(3, ii+9);
point(3, ii+10);
point(4, ii+10);
point(5, ii+10);

// o
point(3, ii+12);
point(4, ii+12);
point(5, ii+12);
point(3, ii+13);
point(5, ii+13);
point(3, ii+14);
point(4, ii+14);
point(5, ii+14);

// n
point(3, ii+16);
point(3, ii+17);
point(3, ii+18);
point(4, ii+17);
point(5, ii+16);
point(5, ii+17);
point(5, ii+18);

pause(5);
canvas(0);

if(@1 == 0) return;
if(ii == -20)
{
int iii;
for(iii = 0; iii< 10; iii++)
{
circle(4,7,iii);
pause(iii*2);
}
ii = 20;
}
debug(i);
ii--;
}
}

int done;
FirstBegin();

while (true) {

time = 0;
done = 0;

while(time < 500 && done == 0){
if(@0 == 1) PIN_ON = 1;
if(@0 == 0) PIN_ON = 0;

if(LOSE == 1)
{
theScore--;
LOSE = 0;
}

Score(); // show the score
//if(theScore < 0) Lose(); // call lose function
Base();
line(0,3,9,3); // set the top bar
p = #0/3; // control falling speed
i = #1; // control movement
base_h = i/11-1;

Render();

// set the big duration time to 500.
if(SPAN == 1) big_time = big_time + p;
if(big_time > 5500)
{
SPAN = 0;
big_time = 0;
}
pause(p);
time = time + p;

if(theScore == -5) {
done = 1;
}
canvas(0); // refresh the screen
}

if (theScore > -5)
ShowWin();
else
ShowLose();

Begin();
}

[download]

1. The MAS.110 Curriculum
    http://acg.media.mit.edu/courses/mas110/

2. acg group in MIT Media Lab
    http://acg.media.mit.edu

3. my site
    http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/~xizhang