checking to see which direction a sprite faces

[jetbuster]

We are working with XNA/monogame right now and I've gotten to rotating the sprite to face the direction you press on the dpad/arrowkeys but all I could think of to track which direction is 4 bools or an int (0-3). Any suggestions on making that more efficient/better suited?? Brains dead right now thats all

[Tigerbomb8]

You could use a single char to store the direction.

 

 

Edited by Tigerbomb8, Tommorow, 09:52 PM.

[Christicles]

Unless you are doing full angular rotation an int will work for 4 way direction and single bool will work for 2.

[Tigerbomb8]

Unless you are doing full angular rotation an int will work for 4 way direction and single bool will work for 2.

No I think a char would be better. It makes it easier for others to read without have to remember what number belongs to which direction.

 

"spriteDirection = 'u';"  vs  "spriteDirection = 1;"

[Christicles]

No I think a char would be better. It makes it easier for others to read without have to remember what number belongs to which direction.

 

"spriteDirection = 'u';"  vs  "spriteDirection = 1;"

Didn't say it would be better, said it would work. I've used it before for LHR movement. Easier to track and update the direction for AI. Both options would be on par with each other if they are using good coding practice and commenting their code.

[jetbuster]

Unless you are doing full angular rotation an int will work for 4 way direction and single bool will work for 2.

oh of course, I don't actually need 4 bools just 2 :S int/char or 2 bools thanks guys XD

[Christicles]

oh of course, I don't actually need 4 bools just 2 :S int/char or 2 bools thanks guys XD

Well a 1 bool if you are doing something like a platformer where you can only move left or right. 2 bools for 4 way would be a bit messy as far as trying to follow, so best go with an int/char.

[Flojer0]

What I've learned from experience is that it saves a lot of headaches to have input modify a variable and reference that variable whenever you need to know what it means. Which I'm assuming would help because you make it sound like your movement isn't quite so elegant.