Potential tick_lag changes

ID:94708
 
Apr 25 2010, 11:41 am
Resolved
world.fps has been added as a convenient shortcut for world.tick_lag. They both act on the same internal value. world.fps rounds to the nearest whole number.
Applies to:DM Language
Status: Resolved (490)
This issue has been resolved.
Now that tick_lag can be lower than 1 (thanks for that) it seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea to review it.

One possible change could be to specify "frames/ticks per second" opposed to the delay between ticks. Perhaps even providing the developer with the option.

tick_per_second = 10 // tick_lag = 1
tick_per_second = 20 // tick_lag = 0.5
tick_per_second = 60 // tick_lag = 0.1667(-ish)


Icon animation time could also use some attention. Right now it appears the animations change each tick as opposed to 1/10th of a second(when using tick_lag less than 1).

This makes it tricky if you wish to change ticks per second at runtime. Requiring you to manually adjust animation times in all of your icons.

Ideally having animation delay being dynamically changed through a variable would be convenient.

Thank you.
Apr 26 2010, 12:37 pm
Icon animation has always been defined in terms of ticks--that's how it's supposed to be. Those who want faster animations have the option of lowering tick_lag to accomplish it. Changing the format of the icons to tie delay to the clock instead of ticks would be difficult to impossible, and would break existing games.

Also since we have a world.tick_lag var, having a separate var that is just 1/world.tick_lag wouldn't be all that productive.
Apr 26 2010, 4:13 pm
When changing icon_state delay in the icon editor it displays:
Delay: [ ] in 1/10th seconds
This is what led me to believe it was intended otherwise. Perhaps something just overlooked.

I used definitions with my game to encapsulate the tick_lag to make more sense to work with(to me at least), just felt it could be potentially confusing for developers, hence the suggestion.

Thanks for the response.
Apr 26 2010, 5:36 pm
Ah, I do see where the editor terminology could lead to confusion. That would be good to change.
Aug 31 2011, 10:07 am
Moved from Not Feasible to Resolved!

The icon animation thing is in too, but if I can't find a separate feature request for that I'll post one so it can go into the release notes on its own.