Input events are delivered to the Gosu::Window instance. In the main loop, before update is called, Gosu will deliver events for all buttons that have either been pressed or released. It does this by calling the button_down and button_up methods, passing the id of the key or button pressed.
In the button_down and button_up methods, you often find a case statement. This, beside being very function, provides a very elegant and expressive way to decide what to do depending on which button was pressed or released. The following is a short example of what a button_down method can look like. It should be placed in your Gosu::Window subclass, and will close the window (ending the program) when the escape key is pressed.
def button_down(id)
case id
when Gosu::KbEscape
close
end
end
Easy, right? Let's expand this. Here is a Player class. It can move left and right if the left and right keys are pressed. Note that this class also has button_down and button_up methods. They work just like the methods from a Gosu::Window subclass. Gosu doesn't know anything about Player though, we'll be calling the Player's methods manually from the Gosu::Window's methods. A full, runnable example can be found here.
class Player
# In pixels/second
SPEED = 200
def self.load(window)
with_data('player.png') do|f|
@@image = Gosu::Image.new(window, f, false)
end
end
def initialize(window)
@window = window
@x = (@window.width / 2) - (@@image.width / 2)
@y = @window.height - @@image.height
@direction = 0
end
def update(delta)
@x += @direction * SPEED * delta
@x = 0 if @x < 0
if @x > @window.width - @@image.width
@x = @window.width - @@image.width
end
end
def draw
@@image.draw(@x, @y, Z::Player)
end
def button_down(id)
case id
when Gosu::KbLeft
@direction -= 1
when Gosu::KbRight
@direction += 1
end
end
def button_up(id)
case id
when Gosu::KbLeft
@direction += 1
when Gosu::KbRight
@direction -= 1
end
end
end
This article is part of a series. Read more articles about Rapid Game Prototyping in Ruby
