Contents  Introduction  Rotation Solution  The Sound Module  One Big Headache  Screen Transitions  Putting More Pieces  Together  Until Next Time  Printable version     The Series  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6

Where Did We Leave Off?

Until last issue SPACE-TRIS wasn't even a game, it was merely an exercise in coding modules. Well, now we have a game that is working, it is just ugly. Sadly enough though, we are back to coding modules today. The good news is these modules will pretty things up by a large margin.

The modules that we will be covering today are Direct Sound (YUCK!) and screen transitions (YA!). The Direct Sound module isn't going to be anything to complex, just a simple sound effects manager that allows you to play, stop, delete, add, or set variables on the sounds themselves. The screen transitions module is going to consist of one main function that gets called and then a transition is selected at random to perform.

When we last saw each other, the game also needed a way to check for an "out-of-bounds" occurrence while rotating pieces. You guys were working on it, like I told you too, right? Yeah, I'm sure. Anyway, I will present my quick hack of a solution in a few moments. But first, I want to say that I am going to be glossing over many of the things we have already covered in past issues. For instance, in the Direct Sound module you guys have all seen how to check for an error, so I won't be explaining that again. This means, if you are new to the series, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning. This isn't your favorite TV series where you can just pop by, on any old day, and know what is going on. We are going to be moving at warp speed through a lot of things. All I am really going to provide now is an overview of the techniques I use ... it is up to you to understand them.

With that said, let us get right down to business with that solution to the rotation problem.

Next : Rotation Solution