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Character Controls

  1. // Character Controls "clean version" with Trails...
  2.  
  3. // dynamically handle keys instead of explicitly
  4. // checking each one
  5. const keys = {}
  6. document.addEventListener('keydown', e => {
  7.   e.preventDefault();
  8.  
  9.   // store a boolean on the `keys` object
  10.   // to keep track of whick keys are down
  11.   keys[e.key] = true;
  12. });
  13.  
  14. document.addEventListener('keyup', e => {
  15.   e.preventDefault();
  16.    keys[e.key] = false;
  17. });
  18.  
  19. // setup motion
  20. let x = 100;
  21. let y = 300;
  22. let vx = 4;
  23. let vy = -10;
  24.  
  25. // put gravity in a variable
  26. const GRAVITY = 1;
  27. // replace "magic numbers" with constants
  28. const FLOOR_BOUNCE = -.33;
  29. const JUMP_POWER = 15;
  30. const ARROW_VEL = 3;
  31. const VX_DECAY = .8;
  32.  
  33. const TRAIL_NUM = 10;
  34. const chars = [];
  35. // store the size of the character
  36. const charWidth = 50;
  37. const charHeight = 80;
  38. for (let i = 0; i < TRAIL_NUM; i++) {
  39.   // create the character
  40.   const char = document.createElement('div');
  41.   chars.push({ char, x, y });
  42.   Object.assign(char.style, {
  43.     position: 'absolute',
  44.     width: `${charWidth}px`,
  45.     height: `${charHeight}px`,
  46.     background: 'black',
  47.     // add border radius for no reason
  48.     borderTopLeftRadius: '20px',
  49.     borderTopRightRadius: '20px',
  50.     opacity: i === 0 ? 1 : .25 - (.25 / TRAIL_NUM) * i
  51.   });
  52.  
  53.   document.body.appendChild(char);
  54. }
  55. const char = chars[0].char
  56.  
  57. function setLocs({ x, y }) {
  58.   for (let i = 0; i < TRAIL_NUM; i++) {
  59.     const char = chars[i];
  60.     if (x != null) char.x = x;
  61.     if (y != null) char.y = y;
  62.   }
  63. }
  64.  
  65.  
  66. // some bounds variables for the screen
  67. let floor;
  68. let screenRight;
  69. let screenLeft;
  70.  
  71. // main loop
  72. function loop() {
  73.   // we want to recalculate these
  74.   // so things work when the screen resizes
  75.   floor = innerHeight - 80;
  76.   screenRight = innerWidth + 50;
  77.   screenLeft = -charWidth;
  78.  
  79.   // update the characters velocity
  80.   x += vx;
  81.   y += vy;
  82.  
  83.  
  84.   // handle floor and screen sides
  85.   if (y > floor) {
  86.     vy *= FLOOR_BOUNCE;
  87.     y = floor;
  88.  
  89.     // @TODO set char xs
  90.   }
  91.  
  92.   if (x > screenRight) {
  93.     x = screenLeft
  94.     setLocs({ x })
  95.   }
  96.  
  97.   if (x < screenLeft) {
  98.     x = screenRight;
  99.     setLocs({ x })
  100.   }
  101.  
  102.  
  103.   // update the characters velocity with arrow keys
  104.   if (keys['ArrowRight']) {
  105.     vx += ARROW_VEL;
  106.   }
  107.   if (keys['ArrowLeft']) {
  108.     vx -= ARROW_VEL;
  109.   }
  110.  
  111.   // character can only jump up when it is on the floor
  112.   if (keys['ArrowUp'] && y >= floor) {
  113.     vy -= JUMP_POWER;
  114.   }
  115.  
  116.   if (keys['ArrowDown']) {
  117.     vy += ARROW_VEL;
  118.   }
  119.  
  120.   vy += GRAVITY;
  121.   vx *= VX_DECAY
  122.  
  123.   // update the characters styles
  124.   Object.assign(
  125.     char.style, {
  126.       // use template string instead of x + 'px'
  127.       left: `${x}px`,
  128.       top: `${y}px`
  129.     }
  130.   );
  131.  
  132.   // update trails stuff
  133.   chars[0].x = x;
  134.   chars[0].y = y;
  135.   for (let i = 1; i < TRAIL_NUM; i++) {
  136.     const char = chars[i]
  137.     char.x += (chars[i - 1].x - char.x) / 4;
  138.     char.y += (chars[i - 1].y - char.y) / 4;
  139.  
  140.     Object.assign(
  141.       chars[i].char.style, {
  142.         // use template string instead of x + 'px'
  143.         left: `${char.x}px`,
  144.         top: `${char.y}px`
  145.       }
  146.     );
  147.   }
  148.  
  149.   requestAnimationFrame(loop);
  150. }
  151. loop();

Click once on the preview area to give keyboard focus – then use arrow keys to move the character. I recently created a tutorial about this over on dev.to… check it out…

snippet.zone ~ 2021-24 /// {s/z}