Jeff Molofee - NeHe's OpenGL Tutorials

I used the code from lesson 1 as a starting point while writing this tutorial. We start off by adding the required header files. stdio.h is used for file operations, and we include stdarg.h so that we can display variables on the screen, such as the score and current stage.

// This Code Was Created By Jeff Molofee 2000

// If You've Found This Code Useful, Please Let Me Know.

#include // Header File For Windows

#include // Standard Input / Output

#include // Header File For Variable Argument Routines

#include // Header File For The OpenGL32 Library

#include // Header File For The GLu32 Library

#include // Header File For The Glaux Library

HDC hDC=NULL; // Private GDI Device Context

HGLRC hRC=NULL; // Permanent Rendering Context

HWND hWnd=NULL; // Holds Our Window Handle

HINSTANCE hInstance; // Holds The Instance Of The Application

Now we set up our boolean variables. vline keeps track of the 121 vertical lines that make up our game grid. 11 lines across and 11 up and down. hline keeps track of the 121 horizontal lines that make up the game grid. We use ap to keep track of whether or not the 'A' key is being pressed.

filled is FALSE while the grid isn't filled and TRUE when it's been filled in. gameover is pretty obvious. If gameover is TRUE, that's it, the game is over, otherwise you're still playing. anti keeps track of antialiasing. If anti is TRUE, object antialiasing is ON. Otherwise it's off. active and fullscreen keep track of whether or not the program has been minimized or not, and whether you're running in fullscreen mode or windowed mode.

bool keys[256]; // Array Used For The Keyboard Routine

bool vline[11][10]; // Keeps Track Of Verticle Lines

bool hline[10][11]; // Keeps Track Of Horizontal Lines

bool ap; // 'A' Key Pressed?

bool filled; // Done Filling In The Grid?

bool gameover; // Is The Game Over?

bool anti=TRUE; // Antialiasing?

bool active=TRUE; // Window Active Flag Set To TRUE By Default

bool fullscreen=TRUE; // Fullscreen Flag Set To Fullscreen Mode By Default

Now we set up our integer variables. loop1 and loop2 will be used to check points on our grid, see if an enemy has hit us and to give objects random locations on the grid. You'll see loop1 / loop2 in action later in the program. delay is a counter variable that I use to slow down the bad guys. If delay is greater than a certain value, the enemies are moved and delay is set back to zero.

The variable adjust is a very special variable! Even though this program has a timer, the timer only checks to see if your computer is too fast. If it is, a delay is created to slow the computer down. On my GeForce card, the program runs insanely smooth, and very very fast. After testing this program on my PIII/450 with a Voodoo 3500TV, I noticed that the program was running extremely slow. The problem is that my timing code only slows down the gameplay. It wont speed it up. So I made a new variable called adjust. adjust can be any value from 0 to 5. The objects in the game move at different speeds depending on the value of adjust. The lower the value the smoother they move, the higher the value, the faster they move (choppy at values higher than 3). This was the only real easy way to make the game playable on slow systems. One thing to note, no matter how fast the objects are moving the game speed will never run faster than I intended it to run. So setting the adjust value to 3 is safe for fast and slow systems.

The variable lives is set to 5 so that you start the game with 5 lives. level is an internal variable. The game uses it to keep track of the level of difficulty. This is not the level that you will see on the screen. The variable level2 starts off with the same value as level but can increase forever depending on your skill. If you manage to get past level 3 the level variable will stop increasing at 3. The level variable is an internal variable used for game difficulty. The stage variable keeps track of the current game stage.

int loop1; // Generic Loop1

int loop2; // Generic Loop2

int delay; // Enemy Delay

int adjust=3; // Speed Adjustment For Really Slow Video Cards

int lives=5; // Player Lives

int level=1; // Internal Game Level

int level2=level; // Displayed Game Level

int stage=1; // Game Stage

Now we create a structure to keep track of the objects in our game. We have a fine X position (fx) and a fine Y position (fy). These variables will move the player and enemies around the grid a few pixels at a time. Creating a smooth moving object.

Then we have x and y. These variables will keep track of what intersection our player is at. There are 11 points left and right and 11 points up and down. So x and y can be any value from 0 to 10. That is why we need the fine values. If we could only move one of 11 spots left and right and one of 11 spots up and down our player would jump around the screen in a quick (non smooth) motion.

The last variable spin will be used to spin the objects on their z-axis.

struct object // Create A Structure For Our Player

{

int fx, fy; // Fine Movement Position

int x, y; // Current Player Position

float spin; // Spin Direction

};

Now that we have created a structure that can be used for our player, enemies and even a special item we can create new structures that take on the characteristics of the structure we just made.

The first line below creates a structure for our player. Basically we're giving our player structure fx, fy, x, y and spin values. By adding this line, we can access the player x position by checking player.x. We can change the player spin by adding a number to player.spin.

The second line is a bit different. Because we can have up to 15 enemies on the screen at a time, we need to create the above variables for each enemy. We do this by making an array of 15 enemies. the x position of the first enemy will be enemy[0].x. The second enemy will be enemy[1].x, etc.

The last line creates a structure for our special item. The special item is an hourglass that will appear on the screen from time to time. We need to keep track of the x and y values for the hourglass, but because the hourglass doesn't move, we don't need to keep track of the fine positions. Instead we will use the fine variables (fx and fy) for other things later in the program.

struct object player; // Player Information

struct object enemy[9]; // Enemy Information

struct object hourglass; // Hourglass Information

Now we create a timer structure. We create a structure so that it's easier to keep track of timer variables and so that it's easier to tell that the variable is a timer variable.

The first thing we do is create a 64 bit integer called frequency. This variable will hold the frequency of the timer. When I first wrote this program, I forgot to include this variable. I didn't realize that the frequency on one machine may not match the frequency on another. Big mistake on my part! The code ran fine on the 3 systems in my house, but when I tested it on a friends machine the game ran WAY to fast. Frequency is basically how fast the clock is updated. Good thing to keep track of :)

The resolution variable keeps track of the steps it takes before we get 1 millisecond of time.

mm_timer_start and mm_timer_elapsed hold the value that the timer started at, and the amount of time that has elapsed since the the timer was started. These two variables are only used if the computer doesn't have a performance counter. In that case we end up using the less accurate multimedia timer, which is still not to bad for a non-time critical game like this.