About

I'm a software engineer who works on game development part time. I teach game development (on gamedev.stackexchange.com and lynda.com). I'm always working on something, and I'll post updates here. Let me know if there's a game development topic you want to know more about, I probably know the answer, or at least where to get one.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

My early thoughts on Gadgets


All gadgets are controlled via the magic of “wireless” or as the head goblin gadgeteer calls it “Quantum steam entanglement”.
Gadgets are controlled by a Gadget Controller Cube, one cube can handle up to 128 gadget pairs (256 gadgets for those keeping track). Gadget links are paired with punch cards, in the form of: Activator->Reactor. Where, Activator and Reactor are both gadgets placed anywhere in the world. For example, the goblins have built a door, a pressure plate, and a lamp. If I want the door to open and the lamp to light when something steps on the pressure plate. I can create one of the following punch cards:

Pressure Plate -> Door
Pressure Plate -> Lamp

I can get the same results if I define it like this:
Pressure Plate -> Door
Door -> Lamp
This also means that the lamp will light any time the door opens, not just when the pressure plate is stepped on.
Of course I can define it like this as well:
Pressure Plate -> Lamp
Lamp -> Door
So that the door opens whenever the light is on, maybe not as useful, but you get the idea. Every gadget has an input and an output. When the gadget is “Active” its output is active. All gadgets can have multiple gadgets on its output, but many will be limited to a single input. However, for you advanced gadgeteers, there are OR (2 inputs), AND(2 inputs) and NOT(1 input) logic cards that will help you create everything you want. Logic cards are just like punch cards, and fit inside the gadget control cube, so you don’t have to clutter everything up.
Finally, I’ve updated the wiki with a very small list of gadgets.

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