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He uses a nice trick to approximate the real thing, however this algorithm wouldn't be able to deal with curved objects.
http://i.imgur.com/G5U43ZU.png
Calculate the edge points of the circle, draw a line between them, and then your shadow is simply a rectangle. Overlay the circle over the shadow to hide the line.
This will work with circles and ovals, but not more complex curves.
You, sir, must be from the future, what with the uncopyrighted, bitcoin-based crowdfunding campaign. Backing this effort is a no-brainer. https://back.nothingtohide.cc/
You, sir, must be from the future, what with the uncopyrighted, bitcoin-based crowdfunding campaign. Backing this effort is a no-brainer. https://back.nothingtohide.cc/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not too strong with trig. Would this also work with curves that have more than one bump? (sine, etc.)
Yes, with calculus you can find all the tangent lines from a point to any kind of curve. The exact equations vary based on what kind of curve it is (sine, parabola, cubic splines, Bezier curves, non-uniform rational B-splines, etc) and are kinda complicated.
I prefer using the technique shown in this classic article on 2D soft shadows: http://archive.gamedev.net/archive/reference/programming/fea...
The basic idea is to project the geometry, rather than ray cast. I've implemented this sort of technique in the past and it works well.
No criticism is intended towards OP's game; the "un-stealth game" is a different and interesting idea. I'm just throwing it out there for those dreaming up yet another top-down cone-of-vision stealth shooter to chew on.
I'm kinda tired of the "cone-of-vision" mechanic and associated visual effect common in modern 2D games. In traditional 2D games, being able to see things that are not visible to the player's avatar is, IMO, a significant part of the charm. Not being restricted to a realistic viewpoint lets you become the larger-than-life hero of cartoons and cheesy action movies that does impossible things like leaping into a room f…
Having some dynamic lighting does not mean that you must make it part of your game's mechanics. It's perfectly fine to do that kind of thing just for polish.
I had fun implementing this effect a long time, in a pre-graphics-shader era [1].
