Game utilities

[rileybot9000-design]

Here is the code: class GameUtilities {
getInfo() {
return {
id: 'gameutilities',
name: 'Game Utilities',
color1: '#4C97FF',
color2: '#3373CC',
blocks: [
{
opcode: 'distanceTo',
blockType: Scratch.BlockType.REPORTER,
text: 'distance from x1 [x1] y1 [y1] to x2 [x2] y2 [y2]',
arguments: {
x1: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
y1: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
x2: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
y2: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER }
}
},
{
opcode: 'angleTo',
blockType: Scratch.BlockType.REPORTER,
text: 'angle from x1 [x1] y1 [y1] to x2 [x2] y2 [y2]',
arguments: {
x1: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
y1: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
x2: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
y2: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER }
}
},
{
opcode: 'clamp',
blockType: Scratch.BlockType.REPORTER,
text: 'clamp [value] between [min] and [max]',
arguments: {
value: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
min: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
max: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER }
}
},
{
opcode: 'lerp',
blockType: Scratch.BlockType.REPORTER,
text: 'lerp [a] to [b] by [t]',
arguments: {
a: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
b: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER },
t: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.NUMBER }
}
},
{
opcode: 'distanceToSprite',
blockType: Scratch.BlockType.REPORTER,
text: 'distance to sprite [NAME]',
arguments: {
NAME: { type: Scratch.ArgumentType.STRING, menu: 'sprites' }
}
}
],
menus: {
sprites: {
acceptReporters: true,
items: '_getSprites'
}
}
};
}

_getSprites() {
    const targets = Scratch.vm.runtime.targets;
    return targets
        .filter(t => !t.isStage)
        .map(t => t.sprite.name);
}

distanceTo(args) {
    const dx = args.x2 - args.x1;
    const dy = args.y2 - args.y1;
    return Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}

angleTo(args) {
    return Math.atan2(args.y2 - args.y1, args.x2 - args.x1) * (180 / Math.PI);
}

clamp(args) {
    return Math.max(args.min, Math.min(args.max, args.value));
}

lerp(args) {
    return args.a + (args.b - args.a) * args.t;
}

distanceToSprite(args, util) {
    const sprite = util.target.sprite;
    const targets = Scratch.vm.runtime.targets;

    const other = targets.find(t => t.sprite && t.sprite.name === args.NAME);
    if (!other) return 0;

    const dx = other.x - sprite.x;
    const dy = other.y - sprite.y;
    return Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}

}

Scratch.extensions.register(new GameUtilities());

Has these blocks: clamp, lerp, and other blocks, they could be useful for game making/editing.

[milkyestway]

Yes it very much is a nice utility as the performance is probably better than using custom functions. Is there a official extension file or not?

[GarboMuffin]

It is very likely that custom functions will outperform this because they do not require the full overhead of calling an extension block (rather significant).

[rileybot9000-design]

@milkyestway Not currently. This is the code for the extension I was experimenting with, but I haven't released it as an official extension file yet.

[rileybot9000-design]

@GarboMuffin Thanks for the explanation! That makes sense. I hadn't considered the overhead involved in calling extension blocks. My goal was mostly to make common game calculations easier to use and read without having to rebuild the formulas each time. Do you think blocks like distanceToSprite, which access the runtime, would still make sense as extension blocks?