Basically, we wanted to imitate an NES game, so we introduced the locked framerate. So I argued that in order to imitate a virtual machine, love2d would read true inputs, but the “console” would only update 60 times a second, including all state calls and input updates.
e.g. love2d is taking inputs, but it only outputs whether a key is held/not held every 60th second. Everything in the game is completely synced to 60fps including virtual button presses.
all the animations, states, and checks will be completely in sync with the virtual framerate so that it perfectly runs as if it were on a 60hz monitor from a game console
I argued for the game running exactly the same way, pixel perfect, every time, to preserve the speedrunning feel of a non-random NES game
this game is gonna be linear with a level select, kind of like mega man
so technically you can tap the jump button really quickly and it won’t come out, but this is intentional
because I would like to force the player to act deliberately
this prevents accidental button presses from fucking up the player in what will be a very strict spelunker-style game.
anyway sorry for multiposting
plus, during the prejump state, the player has exactly that many frames, every time, to adjust their jump trajectory. so it sounds janky in theory but it feels smooth and solid to play
Ah, yeah, we’re talking about the same thing – your game logic (and the logic recording the controller state) will update at 60hz, and you have three system-level button states you can pay attention to (button was pressed, button is down, button was released). Cool, this is standard to my understanding. Since you’re on modern fast computers you’re probably completing all the processing in a few milliseconds and then just waiting until you’ve passed 16ms.
aw, it’s great! delta time is one of the most beautiful things and is really great at representing reality glimpsed in slices, a more honest account of how computers work.
but if you’re on a fixed hardware spec or you’re mimicking something you can’t possibly not have plenty of CPU time for, fixed frames can make life easier.
Oh, neat. I was indoctrinated into delta time from when I first started learning to program so I’ve never dipped into discrete frame counting or the integer math of older systems. My aesthetic is usually simulationist, maximalist – I like to push towards barely-controlled chaos until I’m reprimanded by engineers (Bangai-o was formative), so I don’t have a lot of experience with tight restrictions on character count and the like. It probably also speaks to not being a level designer by temperament; I get antsy to add new pieces to create new situations rather than find a new way to put them together.
I can’t wait until I see my Lucky Chloe on a fighting game gamer stream. Can’t wait until we both get endorsed by Razer or Red Bull or Pornhubs or whoever’s throwing around that esports money nowadays.
