Camera in 2D

Questions
1

Is it possible to have a camera follow your character in a 2D side scrolling game? I know you can use it in 3D, but I don’t know much about its use in 2D.

2

Use translate for 2d scrolling.

Go to the coolcodea blog, and read the series of post on making a 2D side-scroller. It’s got tonnes of great info

3

Sounds cool! Thanks @yojimbo2000

4

So, I couldn’t find anything on that blog that actually suited me. Could you help me out at all? @yojimbo2000

5

I was thinking about moving the entire world and keeping the character in place, but this a terrible approach as the game would lag for my larger worlds. In fact, my game is already lagging and it’s only attempting to draw like 30 dirt block sprites. I have no clue what I’m doing wrong with the lag.

I was thinking there would be some way to follow the character’s movements, and keep him centered on the screen. That’s the best approach, however I cannot figure out how.

6

@Ignatz you think you could help me out at all?

7

Try this

function setup()
    --define size limits of map that player can walk around in
    --define two opposite corners
    mapBottomLeft=vec2(-500,0)
    mapTopRight=vec2(WIDTH+500,HEIGHT*1.5)
    pos=vec2(WIDTH/2,HEIGHT/2) --player pos
end

--to move player, touch, on left or right of screen, or above or below the centre
function AdjustPosition()
    local t=CurrentTouch
    if t.state==CANCELLED or t.state==ENDED then return end
    if t.x<WIDTH*0.5 then pos.x=pos.x-1 else pos.x=pos.x+1 end
    if t.y<HEIGHT/2  then pos.y=pos.y-1 else pos.y=pos.y+1 end
    --stop player going off the edge of the map
    pos.x=math.max(mapBottomLeft.x,math.min(mapTopRight.x,pos.x))
    pos.y=math.max(mapBottomLeft.y,math.min(mapTopRight.y,pos.y))
end

function draw()
    background(0)
    AdjustPosition()
    --this line centres the player
    translate(WIDTH/2-pos.x,HEIGHT/2-pos.y)
    --now draw everything normally
    --fill the whole map space with an image
    sprite("Cargo Bot:Starry Background",WIDTH/2,HEIGHT*0.75,WIDTH+1000,HEIGHT*1.5)
    --do your other drawing here
    --now draw the player  
    fill(255,255,0
    ellipse(pos.x,pos.y,50)
end