Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Save more on your purchases now! discount-offer-chevron-icon
Savings automatically calculated. No voucher code required.
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Arrow up icon
GO TO TOP
Beginning C++ Game Programming

You're reading from   Beginning C++ Game Programming Learn C++ from scratch by building fun games

Arrow left icon
Product type Paperback
Published in May 2024
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781835081747
Length 648 pages
Edition 3rd Edition
Languages
Tools
Concepts
Arrow right icon
Author (1):
Arrow left icon
John Horton John Horton
Author Profile Icon John Horton
John Horton
Arrow right icon
View More author details
Toc

Table of Contents (24) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Welcome to Beginning C++ Game Programming Third Edition! FREE CHAPTER 2. Variables, Operators, and Decisions: Animating Sprites 3. C++ Strings, SFML Time: Player Input and HUD 4. Loops, Arrays, Switch, Enumerations, and Functions: Implementing Game Mechanics 5. Collisions, Sound, and End Conditions: Making the Game Playable 6. Object-Oriented Programming – Starting the Pong Game 7. AABB Collision Detection and Physics – Finishing the Pong Game 8. SFML Views – Starting the Zombie Shooter Game 9. C++ References, Sprite Sheets, and Vertex Arrays 10. Pointers, the Standard Template Library, and Texture Management 11. Coding the TextureHolder Class and Building a Horde of Zombies 12. Collision Detection, Pickups, and Bullets 13. Layering Views and Implementing the HUD 14. Sound Effects, File I/O, and Finishing the Game 15. Run! 16. Sound, Game Logic, Inter-Object Communication, and the Player 17. Graphics, Cameras, Action 18. Coding the Platforms, Player Animations, and Controls 19. Building the Menu and Making It Rain 20. Fireballs and Spatialization 21. Parallax Backgrounds and Shaders 22. Other Books You May Enjoy
23. Index

Updating the HUD

As you might expect, we will update the HUD variables in the updated section of our code. However, we will not do so at every frame. The reason for this is that it is unnecessary, and it also slows our game loop down.

As an example, consider the scenario when the player kills a zombie and gets some more points. It doesn’t matter whether the Text object that holds the score is updated in one-thousandth, one-hundredth, or even one-tenth of a second. The player will discern no difference. This means there is no point rebuilding strings that we set for the Text objects every frame.

Therefore, we can time when and how often we update the HUD. Add the following highlighted variables:

// Health bar
RectangleShape healthBar;
healthBar.setFillColor(Color::Red);
healthBar.setPosition(450, 980);
// When did we last update the HUD?
int framesSinceLastHUDUpdate = 0;
// How often (in frames) should we update the HUD
int fpsMeasurementFrameInterval = 1000;
//...
lock icon The rest of the chapter is locked
Register for a free Packt account to unlock a world of extra content!
A free Packt account unlocks extra newsletters, articles, discounted offers, and much more. Start advancing your knowledge today.
Unlock this book and the full library FREE for 7 days
Get unlimited access to 7000+ expert-authored eBooks and videos courses covering every tech area you can think of
Renews at €18.99/month. Cancel anytime