Brainfold

As part of my effort to integrate Lepton for particle effects, I have been implementing a system of triggers and payloads to make projectiles more interesting in general. The system is heavily inspired by the similar payload system for my old artillery game, Arty, which I wrote about earlier, but of course redesigned and modernized to make it more generic and cleaner. I haven’t settled on an interface yet, and looks like I’ll have to make yet more changes to the entity system, but every change is a step closer to perfection, right? Anyway, about triggers and payloads…

Any number of triggers and payloads can be attached to entities. For now, they will only be used for projectiles (artillery shells), but later they could be used for many other gameplay applications. Triggers can react to collisions, height from ground, proximity to units, or they could activate after a delay. Almost anything is possible, really, but I’m starting with just collision triggers. Payloads are triggered, well, by triggers; they are the “meat” of the projectile system. Again, I’m starting simple with just kinetic (contact damage based on mass, velocity and an armor piercing multiplier) and explosive (yay, particle effects and shrapnel projectiles) payload, but almost anything would be possible. For example, it would be easy to make a cluster bomb that explodes above ground (height trigger attached to directed explosive payload) into many small bomblets (individual projectiles with contact triggers attached to explosive payloads).

More on the triggers and payloads when I get the system implemented.

Tags: Artillery Brawl, entity system, lepton, particles, triggers