The previous section explained how to add a game score in the upper part of the pong court. This section (which is a continuation of part#8) will explain the VBA upgrades needed to make the score functional. We will add here new-game and end-game sound effects too. Next tutorial will explain how to create a “demo play” option which means that both bats… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #9"
I dedicate this section to modeling games in MS Excel. These are not the hidden Excel games such as the Easter Egg for instance. Download the free games available and use them in any version of Excel. Due to the excessive amount of new features, the new Excel versions would be slower though. Lean how to develop animations in MS Excel which you can use as games. You can certainly impress your colleagues. These are animations and games that YOU created! You can impress your bosses too. As a consequence you might snag yourself a bonus or even a promotion. Though seemingly hard, you might find developing certain games in a spreadsheet can be quite easy and satisfying. There nonetheless several different ways of creating such games. The first thing people are concerned when seeing excel games is animation. How can you possibly do that, they ask? Without trying to be exhaustive, there are essentially three methods to create animation in a spreadsheet.
Method #1 – Selective Cell Fill
The simplest method would be to selectively fill groups of spreadsheet cells with different colors and use VBA code (Visual Basic for Applications) to change these colors in time. This style of animation is better used in creating excel puzzles.
Method #2 – Shape Manipulation
You can create various shapes in PowerPoint or directly in Excel, using the “draw” menu. After properly renaming these shapes you can again use VBA game code to move them around, or re-scale them, or change the color in real time.
Method #3 – Using Wire Frames
You can also use a scatter chart to display x-y data as simple “wire-frame” objects. Of course you will need to develop basic algorithms or code to manipulate and change the data in time.
Method #4 – Scatter Charting
You can also use a scatter chart to display x-y vertices only and instead of markers you will paste an image on each vertex. This method is very similar to the previous one. The images manipulated on the chart are called “sprites”. Imagine a puppet show, where you can handle many different dolls but only a few are “active”, which means the spectators see them displayed above the curtain.
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #8
This section explains how to add score board logic on the worksheet and how to display the score on the court chart using sprites. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #8 – creating a score display by George Lungu – The previous tutorial showed how to associate sound effects (including crowd applause and laughter) to ball collision events. This section (which is a… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #8"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #7
This section of the tutorial explains how to add sounds to the Pong game created previously. There are four types of sound effects: collision with the walls, collision with the bats, missed ball by the player (crowd laughter) and missed ball by the virtual opponent (crowd applause). [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #7 – associating sound effects to ball collision events by George Lungu… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #7"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #6
In the previous section a special ball return formula was implemented. Bat #1 was assigned the y-coordinate of the ball and in this way a very simple opponent algorithm was implemented. The problem with this algorithm is that by having Bat #1 perfectly tracking the ball, the opponent was unbeatable. This section shows how to add adjustable skill levels to… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #6"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #5
In this part of the tutorial, the analysis of the ball movement is continued. The effects of the collision events are introduced in the equations of movement. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #5 by George Lungu – combining kinematics with collision events – In this tutorial (which is a continuation of part#4) the kinematics of the ball is further analyzed… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #5"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #4
In this part of the tutorial the analysis of the ball movement is taken farther, to include such effects as bouncing off the walls of the court and collision with the bats. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #4 – combining kinematics with collision events by George Lungu – In this tutorial (which is a continuation of part#3) the kinematics of… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #4"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #3
In this tutorial (which is a continuation of part#2) the kinematics of the ball starts being implemented. Two new macros are being introduced, the “Serve” macro and the “Play” macro. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #3 – ball kinematics analysis – the serve by George Lungu – In this tutorial (which is a continuation of part#2) the kinematics of the ball… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #3"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #2
In this section two bats are created (the opponent’s bat and the player’s bat). The player’s bat movements are controlled by the vertical mouse movement. The geometry of movement, placement and charting of the bats are explained. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #2 – creating the pong bat animation with various options by George Lungu -In this tutorial (which is a… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #2"
How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #1
This post contains the first part of a series of tutorials demonstrating how to build a lively game of Pong in Excel. The section deals with the bat movement VBA macro, and plotting the “court” or “tennis-table” on a 2D scatter chart. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Excel PONG Tutorial #1 – creating the pong table and bat animation by George Lungu PONG facts:… Read More... "How to make a game of PONG in Excel – part #1"
Instant 3D-2D Perspective Mapping – the Navigator Functions – a convenient pair of user defined functions
This tutorial explains a pair of important user defined functions, the “Navigator_u()” and the “Navigator_v()”. These functions save the user nine columns of formulas by calculating the effects of: 3-dimensional shift, rotations around the three axes of coordinates and 3D-2D perspective mapping. These user defined functions are also easy to use compared to writing all the perspective mapping equations from… Read More... "Instant 3D-2D Perspective Mapping – the Navigator Functions – a convenient pair of user defined functions"
3D-2D Perspective Mapping in Excel – part #2
The first half of this presentation dealt with mapping a 3D scene onto a 2D surface which can be a computer screen, a projection screen or the retina of the eye. By doing so we preserve much of the feel of depth of the scene. Of course when we look at an picture we get only part of the feel… Read More... "3D-2D Perspective Mapping in Excel – part #2"
3D-2D Perspective Mapping in Excel – part #1
In computer graphics we often need to be able to display a three-dimensional image in two dimensions and preserve the perspective appearance. If we walk on a straight road, it appears that the road narrows with the distance. This is the perspective effect and it is a result of mapping a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional surface (i.e. a computer… Read More... "3D-2D Perspective Mapping in Excel – part #1"
A Virtual Joystick – How Can You Make That ? – tutorial
Hello everyone, this is a tutorial in which a virtual Excel joystick controlled by mouse movements on a scatter chart has been demonstrated . While in operation, a macro updates the coordinates of the pointer in two spreadsheet cells. The two coordinates are then incorporated in formulas which limit the range of motion of the joystick. Just like a real… Read More... "A Virtual Joystick – How Can You Make That ? – tutorial"
Game of PONG #2
Hi there, this is a better version of Pong, in which you play with a virtual opponent. It does not have a score board yet and the opponent is theoretically unbeatable. I will be improving it further. Excel 2007 is quite slow on this one. In order to get maximum speed out of Excel 2007 make sure you zoom in as much as… Read More... "Game of PONG #2"