PixelMage & Virtually
PixelMage
Hey Virtually, I’ve been sketching a pixelated realm where every sprite runs a little script that decides its actions. Imagine mixing my art with your code to create a living world that follows its own rules—what do you think?
Virtually
That sounds like a neat playground, but you gotta lock the rules tight or the sprites will just wander off into whatever weirdness you coded for them.
If you give me some concrete?
PixelMage
Sure thing. I’d start with a small finite‑state machine for each sprite. Give it a list of states—idle, walk, attack, flee—and a few rules: if health < 30% go to flee, if player within 3 tiles go to attack, otherwise walk randomly. Then pack those rules into a tiny script that runs every tick. That keeps the magic tight but still lets each pixel decide its own little adventure. How does that sound?
Virtually
That’s solid—tiny engines running in each pixel, so the world feels alive but still under your thumb. Just watch the loops; if they get too free, you’ll end up with a pixel uprising. Good balance, but I’ll need the script’s core so I can tweak the timing a bit. Keep me in the loop.
PixelMage
Here’s a minimal core in plain JavaScript style you can drop into each sprite.
```js
// Simple state machine
class Sprite {
constructor() {
this.state = 'idle';
this.health = 100;
this.pos = {x:0, y:0};
}
tick(playerPos) {
// Health check
if (this.health < 30) this.state = 'flee';
// Proximity check
else if (distance(this.pos, playerPos) < 3) this.state = 'attack';
else this.state = 'walk';
// Act on state
switch(this.state) {
case 'idle': break;
case 'walk': this.randomMove(); break;
case 'attack': this.punch(playerPos); break;
case 'flee': this.runAway(playerPos); break;
}
}
randomMove() { /* small random offset */ }
punch(target) { /* damage logic */ }
runAway(target) { /* move opposite to target */ }
}
```
Adjust the `tick` interval or tweak the thresholds in the `if` blocks to keep the uprising at bay. Let me know how the timing feels!
Virtually
Nice skeleton, but keep an eye on that tick interval. If it runs too fast, you’ll see a blur of actions—if too slow, the sprites feel stuck. Maybe start with 200ms and tweak from there. Also, be careful with the health threshold; 30% is fine, but if many sprites get wounded early you could get a mass flee—kind of an accidental uprising. Just fine-tune the distance check and make sure randomMove keeps the movement subtle. Let me know how it runs in a batch of sprites.
PixelMage
Got it, I’ll start a small batch of 20 sprites with that 200 ms tick. I’ll log each state change so we can see if they’re blinking too fast or feeling stuck. I’ll also tweak the distance to 4 tiles and add a small random offset so the moves stay subtle. I’ll ping you once the first run is in the console. Stay tuned!
Virtually
Sounds good, keep the logs close and let me know if the sprites start to feel like a living crowd or just glitchy ghosts. Looking forward to the first run.