-------------------------------------------------- QNews QBasic Newsletter Issue Number 10 0 Members! -------------------------------------------------- Inside This Issue: 1. qb:Tile-based engines? 2. project idea: Circuit analysis 3. QB: AI in movement 4. qb:idea 5. The Final Say -------------------------------------------------- 1. qb:Tile-based engines? From: Brian Smith Date: Monday, November 30, 1998 9:50 AM I am pretty new to BASIC programming and there is one thing I would like talked about in this list. It has to do with tile-based engines for games (mainly RPG's). Does anyone have any good tutorials or excellent ways of explaining these. I have read several tutorials, but most of them just give you huge chunks of code with very little information on them. Brian Smith dw039@freenet.carleton.ca -------------------------------------------------- 2. project idea: Circuit analysis From: Fiach Reid Date: Tuesday, December 01, 1998 6:17 PM Hi Jeff & (all other qbasic Programmers) As regards the Qbasic Project you mentioned the the Final say, I'd like to propose a program Idea that may be of benifit to professionals in the Electronics field, rather than a game or graphics 'look what qb can do' program. Who knows, It may even be marketable.What I had in mind would be rather a mamoth task for one individual programmer, but if it were to be organised over a group (i.e people who are reading this) it may turn out well. The program Itself would be based on circuit analasys. That is for those unfamiliar with the process is how the voltage at, or the current flowing through ant point in an electric circuit can be predicted mathematically. However the program would not hinge on complex number crunching, in fact, One Sub-program would be a user-freindly GUI, in which resistors (----/\/\/\/----) and power sources (-----|:|:----) could be interconected in any combination desired by the user. If this GUI would be able to return simplified information, possibly to the effect of (N1R1N2, N2R2N0, N1=12, R1=270,R2=1000,N0=0) could represent the circuit;--------> N1 N2 N0 -----\/\/\/\/------------\/\/\/\/\------ | 270ohm 1Kohm | (Jeff, move to HTML!) | | -----------------|;|;----------------- 12 V >From then on it's maths, firstly finding the loops in the circuit, removing the loops that contain other loops using mesh analysis to convert the loops into simultaionus equations then using matrix inversion to solve for all the currents. From there The unknown Node voltages (in this case N2) could be found using Ohm's Law or a voltage dividor. Personally I would like to work on the maths end of the project with anybody else out there with a knowledge of mesh analysis. Contact me at fiach@tinet.ie p.s: please add this to Qnews! Jeff, use an inkey$ routine in your review program, It's awkward not being able to put commas or press enter. Also Compile the program. it saves time having to open it from QB. -------------------------------------------------- 3. QB: AI in movement From: MR A STERLING CHRISTENSEN Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 5:52 PM I want to try to write a game in which you can click on a tank (or soldier of whatever) then click somewhere, and it will go there. That's easy. The hard part is that I want it the go around anything it runs into. YOU tell it where to go, and IT figures out how to get there. Like in C&C (and Warcraft?). Would anyone like to write an article (or tutorial) that explains how to do stuff like this? or... Does anyone know of a tutorial that covers this? Thank you for any help you can offer! -Sterling Christensen TO: jrapp@geocities.com -------------------------------------------------- 4. qb:idea From: william bulmer Date: Saturday, December 05, 1998 10:57 AM qb:You know, we could have a contest. What about one involving the creation of a 2D scroller game? Screen scolling is perhaps one of the hardest things to do in QBasic. In fact, I'm trying to do that very thing. Of course, I have a slow computer, so it will be extra hard for me (oh well.). What about a contest concerning the creation of something more useful, like one which solves immense algebraic equations. I, myself am working on one which can do boolean algebra. One more thing, what appened to Robert E. Aukerman? Usually, he has something to say. He's answered many of my letters about QB. I hope that you all start writing in, because this is a very useful mailing list where QB programmers can ontain needed information from others. -William Bulmer -------------------------------------------------- 5. The Final Say From: Jeff Rapp Date: Sunday, December 6, 1998 12:00 PM Hi all. I am sorry about the problems that I had with the list last week. Some people received around 90 messages. Because of that, I have changed the messaging system. It is now web-based and joining the newsletter is instant. You can also easily remove yourself, but why would you want to do that? ;) Anyway... We've gotten some good ideas for the list project. I may put up an online voting system for the list project. I'm glad to see that we've gotten some more messages this time. If you answer a persons question via their personal email, please foward or carbon copy (CC:) it to the list, because someone else may have the same question. Thank You. Jeff Rapp Editor of the QNews jrapp@geocities.com