3. C++ Strings, SFML Time, Player Input, and HUD | Beginning C++ Game Programming

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Table Of Contents

Beginning C++ Game Programming

By : John Horton

3.4 (14)

Beginning C++ Game Programming

3.4 (14)

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

This book is all about offering you a fun introduction to the world of game programming, C++, and the OpenGL-powered SFML using three fun, fully-playable games. These games are an addictive frantic two-button tapper, a multi-level zombie survival shooter, and a split-screen multiplayer puzzle-platformer. We will start with the very basics of programming, such as variables, loops, and conditions and you will become more skillful with each game as you move through the key C++ topics, such as OOP (Object-Orientated Programming), C++ pointers, and an introduction to the Standard Template Library. While building these games, you will also learn exciting game programming concepts like particle effects, directional sound (spatialization), OpenGL programmable Shaders, spawning thousands of objects, and more.

Preface

Preface

Timber!!!

Zombie Arena

Thomas was Late

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

1. C++, SFML, Visual Studio, and Starting the First Game

1. C++, SFML, Visual Studio, and Starting the First Game

The games

Meet C++

Microsoft Visual Studio

SFML

Setting up the development environment

Planning Timber!!!

Creating a project from the template

Project assets

Understanding screen and internal coordinates

Starting to code the game

Opening a window using SFML

The main game loop

Drawing the game background

Handling errors

FAQ

Summary

2. Variables, Operators, and Decisions – Animating Sprites

2. Variables, Operators, and Decisions – Animating Sprites

C++ variables

Manipulating variables

Adding clouds, a tree, and a buzzing bee

Random numbers

Making decisions with if and else

Timing

Moving the clouds and the bee

FAQ

Summary

3. C++ Strings, SFML Time, Player Input, and HUD

3. C++ Strings, SFML Time, Player Input, and HUD

Pausing and restarting the game

C++ strings

SFML Text and Font

Adding a score and a message

Adding a time bar

FAQ

Summary

4. Loops, Arrays, Switch, Enumerations, and Functions – Implementing Game Mechanics

4. Loops, Arrays, Switch, Enumerations, and Functions – Implementing Game Mechanics

Loops

Arrays

Making decisions with switch

Class enumerations

Getting started with functions

Growing the branches

FAQ

Summary

5. Collisions, Sound, and End Conditions – Making the Game Playable

5. Collisions, Sound, and End Conditions – Making the Game Playable

Preparing the player (and other sprites)

Drawing the player and other sprites

Handling the player's input

Handling death

Simple sound FX

Improving the game and the code

FAQ

Summary

6. Object-Oriented Programming, Classes, and SFML Views

6. Object-Oriented Programming, Classes, and SFML Views

Planning and starting the Zombie Arena game

OOP

Building the Player-the first class

Controlling the game camera with SFML View

Starting the Zombie Arena game engine

Managing the code files

Starting coding the main game loop

FAQ

Summary

7. C++ References, Sprite Sheets, and Vertex Arrays

7. C++ References, Sprite Sheets, and Vertex Arrays

C++ References

SFML vertex arrays and sprite sheets

Creating a randomly generated scrolling background

Using the background

FAQ

Summary

8. Pointers, the Standard Template Library, and Texture Management

8. Pointers, the Standard Template Library, and Texture Management

Pointers

The Standard Template Library

The TextureHolder Class

Building a horde of zombies

Using the TextureHolder class for all textures

FAQ

Summary

9. Collision Detection, Pickups, and Bullets

9. Collision Detection, Pickups, and Bullets

Coding the Bullet class

Making the bullets fly

Giving the player a crosshair

Coding a class for pickups

Using the Pickup class

Detecting collisions

FAQ

Summary

10. Layering Views and Implementing the HUD

10. Layering Views and Implementing the HUD

Adding all the Text and HUD objects

Updating the HUD each frame

Drawing the HUD, and the home and level up screens

FAQ

Summary

11. Sound Effects, File I/O, and Finishing the Game

11. Sound Effects, File I/O, and Finishing the Game

Saving and loading the high-score

Preparing sound effects

Leveling up

Restarting the game

Playing the rest of the sounds

FAQ

Summary

12. Abstraction and Code Management – Making Better Use of OOP

12. Abstraction and Code Management – Making Better Use of OOP

The Thomas Was Late game

Structuring the Thomas Was Late code

Building the game engine

Coding the main function

FAQ

Summary

13. Advanced OOP – Inheritance and Polymorphism

13. Advanced OOP – Inheritance and Polymorphism

Inheritance

Polymorphism

Abstract classes - virtual and pure virtual functions

Building the PlayableCharacter class

Building the Thomas and Bob classes

Updating the game engine to use Thomas and Bob

FAQ

Summary

14. Building Playable Levels and Collision Detection

14. Building Playable Levels and Collision Detection

Designing some levels

Building the LevelManager class

Coding the loadLevel function

Updating the engine

Collision detection

Summary

15. Sound Spatialization and HUD

15. Sound Spatialization and HUD

What is Spatialization?

How SFML handles spatialization

Building the SoundManager class

Adding SoundManager to the game engine

Populating the sound emitters

Playing sounds

The HUD class

Using the HUD class

Summary

16. Extending SFML Classes, Particle Systems, and Shaders

16. Extending SFML Classes, Particle Systems, and Shaders

The SFML Drawable class

Building a particle system

OpenGL, shaders, and GLSL

Summary

17. Before you go...

17. Before you go...

Thanks!

SFML Text and Font

Let's briefly discuss the Text and Font classes with some hypothetical code, before we actually go ahead and add code to our game.

The first step to drawing text on the screen is to have a font. In the first chapter we added a font file to the project folder. Now we can load the font, ready for use, into an SFML Font object.

The code to do so looks like this:

Font font; 
font.loadFromFile("myfont.ttf");

In the previous code we first declare the Font object and then load an actual font file. Note that myfont.ttf is a hypothetical font and we could use any font that is in the project folder.

Once we have loaded a font we need an SFML Text object:

Text myText;

Now we can configure our Text object. This includes the size, the color, the position on screen, the string that holds the message, and, of course, associating it with our font object:

// Assign the actual message 
myText.setString("Press Enter to start!"); 
 
// assign a size 
myText...

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Programming languages

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