[Adonthell-devel] Re: Remaining map tasks

[Kai Sterker]

On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Kai Sterker <address@hidden> wrote:

> * Character shadow:
>
> The question is, should it
> be created dynamically, based on the characters bounding box, or do we
> want to use a special image for it?

That seems to be decided. For now, lets use a dynamically generated
shadow, based on the character bounding box.


> * Rendering
>
> As part of the rendering, we should also consider if we want to have
> composite entities on the map or not. Having them would mean less
> individual entities on a map and therefore some speed improvements in
> collision and render parts. OTOH, even with the simplified structure
> of the map stuff, I don't see where they would fit nicely.

Here is an idea. The placeable_model class groups sprite and shape
together. It is extended by placeable and in turn by object and
character. If instead of extending, placeable would contain a list of
placeable_models, we would have the grouping. Internally, each model
would have all the information to get rendered correctly. To the
outside, it could be represented as one entity whose bounding box
encloses all contained models and their individual shapes.

In preparation for rendering, the individual models could be added to
the render queue, sorted, then post-processed for non-solid entities
and finally drawn on screen.

This will add one more level of indirection, but placeable_model does
not have many methods that need to be called in context of a
placeable. It's mostly setting the current shape, which could be done
through placeable, which would apply it to all parts of the model.


I think I will give that a try. Hope it doesn't fail as miserably as
my last approach :-).

Kai