Frame
Syntax
| Syntax legend | |
|---|---|
| < ... > | item |
| [ ... ] | optional |
| ( ... ) * | 0 or more times |
| ( ... ) + | 1 or more times |
Frame [ ( <percentage> ) ] ;
Description
The frame; command tells the interpreter when a process is done for one game cycle. When the frame; is reached, the screen is updated. If there are several processes running, the screen is updated once every process has reached its frame; statement.
It is commonly used in loops of processes that should do something like moving around by a certain amount of pixels per game cycle (or per frame).
A possibility is to adjust the amount of cycles to wait. frame(100); would wait one cycle (100%), same as frame;. However frame(200); will wait two cycles (200% means the frame statement provides for 200% frame). So frame(50); will wait a half cycle or otherwise said, it will make a loop run twice per frame.
Example
Process Main()
Begin
square();
Repeat
frame;
Until(key(_ESC))
exit();
End
Process square()
Begin
graph = new_map(5,5,16);
map_clear(0,graph,rgb(255,255,255));
Loop
x += 2 * (key(_right)-key(_left));
frame; //<-vital part
End
End
This example process would give you a square you can move around the screen by 2 pixel before it gets showed again, before the game cycle is over, before the frame; happens. If there would be no frame; in the loop, it would just run forever and the interpreter would wait forever for the frame;, which would result in freezing.