Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 16.3
A flowchart detailing
part of the corner kick
situation in soccer
Before
Corner Kick
Ball Kicked
Ball in Air
Kicker handles
ball outside the
penalty area
Kicker handles
ball inside the
penalty area
Ball touches
another player
Out of
bounds
Kicker
touches ball
Indirect
Free Kick to
Opponents
Direct
Free Kick to
Opponents
Penalty
Kick to
Opponents
Normal Play
Continues
Corner Kick is
Retaken
SETTING COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL GOALS
After you define the game states, you can start thinking about what the team
should do in each state—where each athlete should be trying to go and what he
should be trying to do to support the team's collective goal at that moment. In
some cases, these activities are defined with reference to a specific individual on
the opposing team, for example, trying to prevent an opposing player from doing
his job. The software must have a way of matching up athletes with their oppo-
nents, just as the real athletes do.
After you define what the team should be trying to accomplish in a particular state
and have assigned each athlete a role, you then must define exactly how the athlete
is to perform that role: what direction he moves, what other movements he makes,
which animations should be displayed, and so on.
An athlete with nothing to do shouldn't just stand still. Most sports games include
fidgets
, short animations in which the athlete shifts his weight, stretches his arms,
or makes some other neutral action every few seconds. If play is under way, an ath-
lete not closely involved—the third baseman on a fly ball to right field, for instance—
should turn and watch the action.
