Simply a CE that doesn't move but can start facing in a set direction.
This would be very good for walls.
You could make a custom wall that had a different texture depending on what way it was facing by setting it's starting direction. You could have five different animations for each direction. (including not moving)
Plus I think it would be very easy to code, Holger?
btw,this is not a request for a feature that I need
> Plus I think it would be very easy to code, Holger?
Probably yes... Unfortunately, I think I haven't got the point. :-(
Can't you simply use a "fixed" (non-moving) wall CE that you then graphical define to be oriented in a certain direction? As you need a different CE for each single direction anyway, this should be the obvious solution. But I'm sure that I haven't understood the problem... :-/
For normal single walls.... Say this element is a blue wall when still, a green wall when facing left, red right etc etc.
You could now use this single wall in your levels, and change the colour of of them all just by changing it's starting direction! (one click in the editor)
For my type of walls.... Say I had a bass relief box which is 2x2 CEs, to make another 4 differently coloured sets of this box would take 20 CEs! Using this new method it would only use the original 4 CEs.
Plus having a CE that starts facing a direction but doesn't move could be handy, like a cannon or something?
You could also have the none mover "follow player", this would face you but not move, like a gun turret.
I honestly think Alan's suggestion is excellent, this would be a CE-saver for graphics-only elements. However...it probably isn't that simple.
Different graphics for different moving directions is already possible; We all know that. (Otherways Rockford would always face one direction). But when a CE is set to non-moveable, but starts moving/facing left, the default animation will be used for the element. (A)
BUT - I'm not finished - Entering different starting directions for the same element types in the editor is not possible. So if (A) would be possible, it would still make no sence, because - as Holger says "As you need a different CE for each single direction anyway" - you need a different CE for each different direction, because the start direction is only set to the CE-type, not the specific CE itself.
I hope I've made the situation more clear, or maybe I also haven't understood the problem, maybe just messed things more
> For normal single walls.... Say this element is a blue wall when still, a green wall when facing
> left, red right etc etc.
> You could now use this single wall in your levels, and change the colour of of them all just by
> changing it's starting direction! (one click in the editor)
Ah, now I understand! You want to use this to have more decorative CEs available! :-)
> Plus having a CE that starts facing a direction but doesn't move could be handy, like a cannon
> or something?
Yes, sounds reasonable, but can you use this "static starting direction" for useful CE actions (like having the cannon fire in that direction)? I think you would still need four CEs for this (one for each shooting direction), or am I wrong?
> You could also have the none mover "follow player", this would face you but not move, like
> a gun turret.
This is a very good reason for such a feature -- you could then create CE with eyes that always look towards the player! (For example, a robot-style CE that first does not move, but only looks towards the player, and then after some delay changes to a CE that hunts the player!)
But would you be able to build a CE gun turret with such a feature that always turns towards the player and then shoots into the player's direction? I think this is not possible...
But I liked that idea so much that I just implemented it for testing, and it seems to be usable at least for such decorative effects! :-)
Zomis wrote:
> Different graphics for different moving directions is already possible; We all know that.
> (Otherways Rockford would always face one direction). But when a CE is set to
> non-moveable, but starts moving/facing left, the default animation will be used for the
> element. (A)
Hm, no, it should use the direction graphic (and it actually does, in my test code).
> BUT - I'm not finished - Entering different starting directions for the same element types
> in the editor is not possible. So if (A) would be possible, it would still make no sence,
> because - as Holger says "As you need a different CE for each single direction anyway" -
> you need a different CE for each different direction, because the start direction is only set
> to the CE-type, not the specific CE itself.
Of course, all CEs in that level would start facing in the same direction -- but when you use it for decorative purposes, you could use the red (left, for example) incarnation in the first level, the green (right, maybe) in the second level and blue (up) in the third one. I think that's what Alan thought of here.
