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<p><font size="4">Hi Tommy,</font><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Le 16/02/2022 à 00:30, Tommy Pettersson
a écrit :</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:Ygw3nGLEcysL0w+9@kelsos">
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I don't understand fully what you want to do, I should ask to physics
teachers in my school, but it will be interesting to play with an
improved version of the game.
</pre>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">The game already deviates from newtonian physics to be more
enjoyable -- torpedoes point in the direction of velocity --
but this is duely mentioned. My suggestion is to briefly
also mention that a spaceship brought to rotate would
continue rotating until stopped.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I will be more than happy to add paragraphs you think will improve the
quality of the book.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">To explain it in a simple way (I hope): to rotate a
spaceship you have to accelerate a spinning motion by
shortly firing opposite rockets on the sides.
<== ==>
O O
==> <==</pre>
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<p>Got it!<br>
</p>
<p>Oh, you can improve the drawing of the ship too to represent the
gas exhaust of these four thrusters.<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:Ygw3nGLEcysL0w+9@kelsos">
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">The spaceship will then continue to spin with constant speed
until you fire the rockets again in the reverse direction,
to decelerate the spin to zero.
I first thought the game would be very difficult to play
this way, but it turned out to be quite fun. You have to
keep count on how many times you press the left button, and
then press the right button equally many times to stop
turning left. You can also accelerate to an insane spin, and
rapidly fire all torpedoes in a pretty pattern around the
ship. <span class="moz-smiley-s1" title=":-)"><span>:-)</span></span>
I've attached a modified .pck.st file.</pre>
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<p>It is fun to play! <br>
</p>
<p>And it is even more fun, and rewarding, to see a reader (and
reviewer) of the book to hack the game to improve it!<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I don't know the proper terms for spaceship piloting, so
there is probably room for improvement. It turned out to be
very little extra code, and pretty easy to understand.
Smalltalk is fantastic in that regard. It may still be</pre>
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<p>There is this Alan Kay mantra about that at the beginning of
chapter 7.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:Ygw3nGLEcysL0w+9@kelsos">
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">totally unnecessary to complicate the example in the book
with this extra feature though.</pre>
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<p>I want to keep the game simple enough, and only modify it to
clarify it, as you helped me to do so. Nevertheless, your
improvements of the game makes me think about a place where we
suggest to the readers challenges to improve the game, then people
will share their own package of the game.<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:Ygw3nGLEcysL0w+9@kelsos">
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">About torpedoe heading: in the Cuis 5 version, when the
heading was only used to draw torpedoes, it worked. But in
this version the acceleration of the torpedo is applied in
its current heading, and that makes the torpedoes behave
very unnaturally. If I speed up the ship enough, turn it
around, and fire, the torpedo will actually turn around.
So what do I want?</pre>
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<p>I think reader should just modify the game as they wish. If they
do so, we can say the book is a success ;-) The game is an excuse
to learn Cuis-Smalltalk, nothing more.
</p>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
I think my point is that the book uses the formulas from
Newton's physics model to make it look more like a physics
simulation than a game. The note about the torpedoes
direction being an exception from true physics emphasizes
this view.
There's an excellent book <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://natureofcode.com/book/" moz-do-not-send="true">https://natureofcode.com/book/</a>
that explains the artistry behind making games feel natural,
by being inspired rather than slavishly following the laws
of physics.</pre>
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<p>Nice reference, thanks! Have you read the book in its entirety ?<br>
</p>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
I think this distinction between games and physics
simulations should be made clearer in the book, in case
anyone reading it will become a spaceship pilot in the
future. <span class="moz-smiley-s1" title=":-)"><span>:-)</span></span></pre>
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<p>Ah Ah, I hope it will not be likely<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
GNU Dr. Geo
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://drgeo.eu">http://drgeo.eu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://blog.drgeo.eu">http://blog.drgeo.eu</a></pre>
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