Grab the Flag

#1 Check the players speed on collision... if its bigger then a certain value (experiment with this value) then swap the flag.
This way, if player collides and his speed is high enough the flag is swapped, but becuase of the collision the speed is reduced and the second time it doesn't execute the code anymore.
I'm using a similar system in my car game for a similar problem.

#2 I would use #1 but have it so NO ONE could grab the flag until the schedule "releases" it. In this way, you solve problem #2 where another person nearby could grab it immediately. Depending on the pace of your game, the "hold" duration could be anywhere from a few tenths of a second to a few whole seconds.

#3 That's a great idea!

UPDATE: Heh.. I implemented the "game flag delay" solution, and it does work.. but backwards. You can GIVE the flag to somebody, but not TAKE it! I'll try to figure out why .. ;)

#4 The person who LOSES the flag should be scheduled NOT to be able to grab again for X number of seconds. That solves all your problems because there can be no flip-flopping, and if some guy jacks you a tenth of a second after you jack someone else, then to bad, so sad.

#5 @Gonzo: It may be a gameplay decision whether jacking within 1/10 second is allowed. If it is interesting gameplay
for the intended design, so-be-it. But that may not be the case. I don't know enough about the situation.

@Andrew: I don't understand how it could be backwards. The logic I was thinking of was that the flag couldn't transfer *at all* within X seconds - either give or steal. The schedule() would clear the flag in X seconds and then it would be up for grabs again to whoever.

I tried something like this for a football mod in CoD. Got it working, but CoD is *krap* for modding, so I gave up due to some other features that just wouldn't work. But the basic idea of the "ball" passing was the same.

#6 I'm at a loss to understand it myself, Eric!

According to what I see in the code, it's a grab, not a give. The grabbable timeout works perfectly tho. The flag is "given" perfectly each time.. Now if I can only figure out how to reverse it :)

However, Gonzo's idea is better. After I try to figure this, I might implement that instead.

UPDATE: I just retested it,.. I realized the code wasn't being updated.. there was a dumb syntax error (a ; at the end of a function) so the updated script wasn't actually loading. With the check on the flag it DOES work. Not.. perfectly, but.. works :)

#7 My way would be pretty easy...

Just add this function to your player.cs in your server folder...

function Player::flagGrabReset(%player)
{
	%player.canGrabFlag = true;
}

Then when the player that has the flag drops it(gives it away, whatever) immediately after the drop set the player grab flag to false. Then schedule that player to be reset after x seconds(2 seconds in my example). Something like this....

{

stuff happens

player drops flag

%player.canGrabFlag = false;

%player.schedule(2000, "flagGrabReset");

}

And of course, wherever a player is eligible to pick up a flag(collision) you'll just need to check if the player can grab it...

if(!%player.canGrabFlag) { return; }

Edit: If you use this method, make sure that every new player is initialized with %player.canGrabFlag = true; when they first start out or nobody will be able to grab one, lol.