Learning XNA 3.0

Creating a Chasing Sprite

As mentioned previously, when it comes to computer-controlled objects, the goal of any game is to make those objects appear intelligent to the point where a user may not be able to tell the difference between an object controlled by a human and an object controlled by a computer. We clearly aren't even close to that.

The automated sprites you've added do nothing more than move forward in a straight line. While you've done some great work on your SpriteManager, we haven't discussed how to do anything to improve the movement of your automated sprites.

Let's create a couple of different objects that do something a little more intelligent than simply moving in a straight line.

In this section, you'll create a new sprite type that will chase your user-controlled object around the screen. You'll do this with the following very simple chase algorithm:

if (player.X < chasingSprite.X)
    chasingSprite.X −= 1;
else if (player.X > chasingSprite.X)
    chasingSprite.X += 1;

if (player.Y < chasingSprite.Y)
    chasingSprite.Y −= 1;
else if (player.Y > chasingSprite.Y)
    chasingSprite.Y += 1;

Essentially, the algorithm compares the position of the player with that of the chasing sprite. If the player's X coordinate is less than the chasing sprite's X coordinate, the chasing sprite's coordinate is decremented. If the player's X coordinate is greater than the chasing sprite's X coordinate, the chasing sprite's X coordinate is incremented. The same is done with the Y coordinate.

To implement ...