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#Post#: 120--------------------------------------------------
A challenge : can you write such a Big Dipper program?
By: mr why Date: May 25, 2012, 11:55 am
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The challenge is to make a computer game more fun even than the
hardware game I was given as a Christmas present.
In the hardware game the entire big dipper is enclosed in a
transparent sphere clasped in our hands.
We shake and gyrate this sphere so that the ball on the rails of
this "Funfare Big Dipper" experiences the dynamic forces that we
hope (vainly) will keep it on the rails.
Instead of the "seat-of-the-pants" terrifying sensations of the
big dipper we have only the VIEW (our external view) of the ball
rolling down the slope and soon leaving the rails! This big
dipper has no seat belts nor restraining structures. Only two
narrow rails whose spacing and incline vary and whose banking is
"all wrong".
The FUN lies in creating a game where the computer provides ONLY
the visual feedback required for those of skill to be able to
win.
We must manipulate the sphere so the ball rolls down the slopes
1. So it is ALWAYS above the rails (in the gravitational sense)
2. NOT so fast it goes off the rails due to centrifugal force on
corners (curved sections)
3. Not so SLOW that it fails to traverse straight sections where
the two rails are almost touching.
In the code snippet below I have tried to illustrate these
ideas:
A. A pitch, roll, yaw headup display for the HANDS that control
the SPHERE
B. A "pilot's view" from atop the ball looking down the track
the way the ball is rolling
The twists and turns of the descent seen ahead lets the pilot
GUESS what motions of the sphere will all-too-soon be required
if the ball is to stay on the rails
We will NOT spoil all the fun by giving too much help from the
computer - such as displaying the force currently exerted by
each rail.
But we may decide to help with a warning flashing red dot when
the force on any rail goes to zero.
Assuming consumate skill from the hands that control the sphere
(correcting for all incorrectly-banked turns etc annd
successfully controlling speed along the rails) there are TWO
situations:
1. The ball is stably supported above rails that appear CONCAVE
to it. (bottom of a valley)
2. The ball is supported above rails that appear CONVEX to it
(top of a hill)
In case 1 the game CAN be paused, for a breathtaking cuppa: the
ball "parked" there at rest
But case 2 is UNSTABLE - the ball is about to plunge down the
valley!
OK here is my ATTEMPT at showing a portion of the game (towards
its end, when "NOT TOO SLOW" is demanded to reach the goal over
a SINGLE rail straight section). Run it in any flavor of BASIC
[code]
'@ help guiding a ball down a Roller Coaster
SCREEN 12
WINDOW (-1.5, -1)-(1.5, 1)
PRINT
PRINT " Lost contact warning lights"
PRINT " Left rail
Right rail"
CIRCLE (-1, .78), .031
CIRCLE (1, .78), .031
LOCATE 24, 1: PRINT "View down track from atop ball";
LOCATE 24, 40
PRINT "Headup display Pitch, Roll, Yaw"
PRINT " rate for hands
controling Sphere"
LOCATE 7, 28: PRINT "goal"
CIRCLE (-.8, .2), .5, 14, 1.4, 3.34, 1
CIRCLE (-.745, .195), .5, 14, 1.45, 3.6, 1
LINE (-.68, .632)-(-.5, .632), 4
CIRCLE (-.42, .57), .1, 2
LINE (-.68, .6)-(-.75, .5)
LINE (-1.29, .11)-(-1.2, -.5), 14
LINE (-1.2, .014)-(-.8, -.5), 14
LOCATE 5, 1: PRINT "Too fast"
PRINT "here and"
PRINT "Fall off"
LINE (-1.33, .53)-(-1.23, .4)
LOCATE 9, 16
PRINT "Too SLOW here"
LOCATE 10, 16
PRINT "and fall off"
LOCATE 11, 16
PRINT "one rail only!"
LOCATE 14, 40
PRINT "How to show RATE of roll, pitch, yaw"
LOCATE , 40: PRINT "and control in a way understood!"
[/code]
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