Linked sprite support, custom MovingSprite light sprites

[Vankata453]

Custom light sprites can now be added to all objects, which inherit MovingSprite. Setting a custom color for the light sprite is also possible, as long as the object is not designed to use foreign color values (for example, from an option).

To add a light sprite with an RGB color of 0.5, 0.2, 0.25, in a .sprite file:

(linked-sprites
  (light "path/to/light/sprite" 0.5 0.2 0.25)
)

Keep in mind that specifying color values is optional. The entry can also end after specifying the file.

Additionally:

• Objects which utilize more than 1 sprite are now able to get the files of their additional sprites from the main one's linked-sprites list (the same block where light sprites can also be added, as shown above). This allows for expanded sprite customization for objects.

To add linked sprites, in a .sprite file:

(linked-sprites
  (key "path/to/sprite")
  (key2 "another/sprite/file")
)

Linked sprites can be added under sprite actions, too. If a sprite with the same key is found in the general linked sprites block and the action-specific one, the sprite specified by the action will be prioritized, thus overriding the default linked sprite file.

Sprites, which the specific object does not support, will be ignored.

• Sprite actions now support the flip-offset property, which determines how much the sprite should be vertically offset when flipped vertically.

[Rusty-Box]

Do the light sprites work per action or is it one for all?

[Vankata453]

Do the light sprites work per action or is it one for all?

One for all, currently. I think per-action could be done, though.

[Rusty-Box]

One for all, currently. I think per-action could be done, though.

That would be nice to have for sure

[Vankata453]

One for all, currently. I think per-action could be done, though.

I'm thinking it could be done by having the same block available in action, and if a sprite with the same key as in the global block is available, then prioritize the one of the action.

[MatusGuy]

What was this trying to fix?

[Vankata453]

What was this trying to fix?

Hardcoded sprites.

[Rusty-Box]

@Vankata453 My brain explodes by trying to form this words so I'll do it like this. Can I:

• Make a light .sprite file with 2+ actions
• Link that .sprite file to the object's .sprite file
• Assign individual actions of light sprite to each action of the object .sprite if needed

The way I originally was hoping we could achieve that was through a special tag within an action.
Here is an example Dive Mine.sprite file using the theoretical ([key name]-action "[action name]") tag:

 (action
  (name "left")
  (fps 12.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (ticking-glow-action "idle")
  (images "left-0.png"
          "left-1.png"
          "left-2.png"
          "left-3.png"
		  "left-4.png"
		  "left-5.png"
		  "left-6.png"
		  "left-7.png"
		  "left-8.png"
		  "left-9.png"
		  "left-10.png"
		  "left-11.png"))

 (action
  (name "right")
  (fps 12.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (ticking-glow-action "idle")
  (mirror-action "left"))
 
 (action
  (name "iced-left")
  (hitbox 5 8 32 32)
  (ticking-glow-action "idle")
  (images "left-0.png"))
 
 (action
  (name "iced-right")
  (hitbox 5 8 32 32)
  (ticking-glow-action "idle")
  (mirror-action "iced-left"))

 (action
  (name "ticking-left")
  (fps 15.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (ticking-glow-action "ticking")
  (images "ticking-0.png"
          "ticking-1.png"
          "ticking-2.png"
          "ticking-3.png"
          "ticking-4.png"
		  "ticking-5.png"
		  "ticking-6.png"
		  "ticking-7.png"
		  "ticking-8.png"
		  "ticking-9.png"))

 
 (action
  (name "ticking-right")
  (fps 15.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (ticking-glow-action "ticking")
  (mirror-action "ticking-left"))

  (linked-sprites
    (ticking-glow "images/creatures/dive_mine/ticking_glow/ticking_glow.sprite")
  )
)

The way the tag would work is that it will check for action names within the linked sprite file (in this case dive_mine/ticking_glow/ticking_glow.sprite), i.e. "idle" and "ticking".

[Vankata453]

@Rusty-Box Action-specific linked-sprites are already supported, so what I believe only needs to be done to support this is to be able to link sprites with custom default actions.

I modified your example, so by default it globally (for all actions) links the ticking-glow sprite with the action idle (since most actions seem to use it). Since only the last two actions use the ticking action from the sprite, it's declared again in a new linked-sprites block inside of them, with the same name (thus it will override the global ticking-glow linked sprite, which has the idle action).

At the end, the modified example looks like this:

 (action
  (name "left")
  (fps 12.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (images "left-0.png"
          "left-1.png"
          "left-2.png"
          "left-3.png"
		  "left-4.png"
		  "left-5.png"
		  "left-6.png"
		  "left-7.png"
		  "left-8.png"
		  "left-9.png"
		  "left-10.png"
		  "left-11.png"))

 (action
  (name "right")
  (fps 12.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (mirror-action "left"))
 
 (action
  (name "iced-left")
  (hitbox 5 8 32 32)
  (images "left-0.png"))
 
 (action
  (name "iced-right")
  (hitbox 5 8 32 32)
  (mirror-action "iced-left"))

 (action
  (name "ticking-left")
  (fps 15.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (linked-sprites
    (ticking-glow "images/creatures/dive_mine/ticking_glow/ticking_glow.sprite" "ticking")
  )
  (images "ticking-0.png"
          "ticking-1.png"
          "ticking-2.png"
          "ticking-3.png"
          "ticking-4.png"
		  "ticking-5.png"
		  "ticking-6.png"
		  "ticking-7.png"
		  "ticking-8.png"
		  "ticking-9.png"))

 
 (action
  (name "ticking-right")
  (fps 15.0)
  (hitbox 14 19 32 32)
  (linked-sprites
    (ticking-glow "images/creatures/dive_mine/ticking_glow/ticking_glow.sprite" "ticking")
  )
  (mirror-action "ticking-left"))

 (linked-sprites
   (ticking-glow "images/creatures/dive_mine/ticking_glow/ticking_glow.sprite" "idle")
 )

[Rusty-Box]

@Rusty-Box Action-specific linked-sprites are already supported, so what I believe only needs to be done to support this is to be able to link sprites with custom default actions.

Wait but Dive Mine's glow never changes. Rather is disappears when it should begins playing the ticking action, as of now. Is there just no way to define that right now? I'm so confused

[Vankata453]

Wait but Dive Mine's glow never changes. Rather is disappears when it should begins playing the ticking action, as of now. Is there just no way to define that right now? I'm so confused

As I mentioned in the beginning, it still has to be done, I just offered a way it could work.

[Rusty-Box]

Okay. Good to know. I thought I was going crazy here 😅
In that case I guess my only note would be that I feel like my proposal looks a bit better in terms of readbilty and having to type less but I ain't a coder so I don't wanna pretend I know better. Atleast I know now that I wasn't crazy, so that's nice :]

[Vankata453]

May be better in terms of readability, but would be more of a pain to implement. :D

(Oh, and this approach is also way more flexible, since you can also change the whole sprite, not just the action.)

[Rusty-Box]

Is it just me or is it not working? I updated Dive Mine's sprite file to look like you showed in this example here but it doesn't seem to work. The light keeps disapearing when you approach Dive Mine instead of changing the action of the linked sprite. Am I doing something wrong here?

[Rusty-Box]

Also the candle light doesn't seem to be rendered as a lightmap since you get a black box when you place it

[Rusty-Box]

Another thing: the lit object crashes the game if you place it

[Rusty-Box]

@MatusGuy Why does Dart Traps light have numbers in its linked sprite and why (when I change it) it either crashes my game or doesn't show any glowing. Is it hardcoded? It should care what I put there, should it? Since this is were you set it up to how you please when it comes to naming. It works with Dive Mine seemingly and I tried a similar naming convention.

[Rusty-Box]

So there's missing sprites for the sparkle effect on keys and gold bomb uses the wrong glow path. It uses the same as Mr.Bomb but the image path looks for one in the gold bomb folder (obviously there's nothing there).

I'll test adding more linked sprites to some enemies myself and see if that works as well.

[weluvgoatz]

The strawbox also is missing its lightsprite when enflamed, as it produces a black missing texture image.

[MatusGuy]

While reviewing this there was one main thing in my mind: Is the loading cached? When a sprite is loaded, and then the same sprite is loaded, does it parse again? I'm unsure about the efficiency on this.

Also, in my review comments I mention a lot of stuff that looks like it only happens once, but it doesn't. A good example is several classes having their own light sprite.

Fantastic work though. I saw some great effort put into this.

[MatusGuy]

So if sprites can have their own color then why is Candle for example using its own m_lightcolor?

[Vankata453]

Because I thought it'd be more important to leave the property there as Candle is meant to have it customizable from the object.

[Vankata453]

When a sprite is loaded, and then the same sprite is loaded, does it parse again?

No, it's created through SpriteManager::create(), which caches SpriteData.

[weluvgoatz]

The key linked sprite is fixed! But the strawbox one isn't. Also, now the gold bomb just doesn't have a glow at all.