http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net Blog About Technical Aspects of Online Gaming And Clan Sites Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:05:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Q&A Q1: What is the purpose of a file handle? A1: Similar to other handles in Windows, such as window handles and bitmap handles, a file handle is a reference to a location in memory that stores information about a file. More importantly, a file ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/08/qa-q1-what-is-the-purpose-of-a/ 7: // The hi score file couldn't be created, so bail 8: return FALSE; 9: 10: // Write the scores 11: for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) 12: { 13: // Format each score for writing 14: CHAR cData[6]; ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/08/7-the-hi-score-file-couldnt-be/ 28: _iHiScores[i] = atoi(cData); 29: } 30: 31: // Close the file 32: return CloseHandle(hFile); 33: } The ReadHiScores() function reads the high score list from the HiScores.dat file. The CreateFile() function is again used to obtain a file handle, but this time ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/08/7-the-hi-score-file-couldnt-be-2/ 64: // Move the car back to the start 65: _pCarSprite->SetPosition(300, 405); 66: 67: // See if the game is over 68: if (--_iNumLives == 0) 69: { 70: // Play the game over sound 71: PlaySound((LPCSTR)IDW_GAMEOVER, _hInstance, SND_ASYNC | 72: SND_RESOURCE); ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/07/which-is-important-because-it-detects-when-a-2/ which is important because it detects when a game ends. Listing 24.2 contains the code for the SpriteCollision() function. Listing 24.2 The SpriteCollision() Function Updates the High Score List Whenever a Game Ends 1: BOOL SpriteCollision(Sprite* pSpriteHitter, Sprite* pSpriteHittee) 2: { 3: // ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/07/which-is-important-because-it-detects-when-a/ function instead of WriteFile(). Following is the ReadFile() function as it is defined in the Win32 API: BOOL ReadFile( HANDLE hFile, LPVOID pBuffer, DWORD dwNumberOfBytesToRead, LPDWORD pNumberOfBytesRead, LPOVERLAPPED pOverlapped); As you can see, the ReadFile() function actually takes ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/07/function-instead-of-writefile-following-is-the-readfile/ This call makes sure that the high score list is properly initialized before the game attempts to draw the scores later in the GamePaint() function. The GameEnd() function cleans up resources used by the game, and serves as a great place to write the high score list ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/07/function-instead-of-writefile-following-is-the-readfile-2/ to keep up with, and how. Modeling High Score Data I would love to tell you that I'm going to show you how to create a classic arcade game high score feature in which you get to enter your ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/06/to-keep-up-with-and-how-modeling-high/ specifics. All file input and output in Windows involves a small set of Win32 API functions. The most important of these functions is CreateFile(), which looks like this: HANDLE CreateFile( LPCTSTR szFileName, DWORD dwDesiredAccess, DWORD dwShareMode, ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/06/to-keep-up-with-and-how-modeling-high-2/ Summary This hour demonstrated an interesting feature of many commercial games that you now know how to add to your own games. I'm referring to demo mode, which allows a game to present to the game player a glimpse of how the game plays. Demo mode was ... http://www.clan.lunarwebhost.net/2007/07/06/summary-this-hour-demonstrated-an-interesting-feature-of/