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I have breakout mostly working, but I can't figure one issue out. Sometimes, my ball will break through multiple bricks. Instead of hitting one and bouncing back towards the bottom, it rips through a bunch.

// move ball along at angle
        move(ball, velocityX, velocityY);

        // bounce off right edge of window
        if (getX(ball) + getWidth(ball) >= getWidth(window))
        {
            velocityX = -velocityX;
        }

        // bounce off left edge of window
        else if (getX(ball) <= 0)
        {
            velocityX = -velocityX;
        }

        // bounce off top edge of window
        else if (getY(ball) <= 0)
        {
            velocityY = -velocityY;
        }
        // hits the bottom edge of window
        else if (getY(ball) + getHeight(ball) >= (getHeight(window) - getHeight(paddle) - 5))
        {
            lives = lives - 1;
            printf("Lives remaining: %i\n",lives);
            setLocation(ball, (WIDTH / 2) - (RADIUS / 2), (HEIGHT / 2) - (RADIUS / 2));
            waitForClick();
        }
        // linger before moving again
        pause(10);

        // detect ball collision
        GObject object = detectCollision(window, ball);
        if (object != NULL)
        {
            // if ball collides with a rectangle
            if (strcmp(getType(object), "GRect") == 0)
            {
                // reverse y velocity if ball collides with paddle
                if (object == paddle)
                {
                    velocityY = -velocityY;
                }
               // remove brick, decrease brick count, increase points count
                else
                {
                    velocityY = -velocityY;
                    removeGWindow(window, object);
                    points = points + 1;
                    updateScoreboard(window, label, points);
                    bricks = bricks - 1;
                }
            }
        }
    }
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  • How big is your ball and how much space is there between your bricks? May 12, 2015 at 4:49
  • @SimpleSnail my ball has a radius of 10 and the space between my bricks is 3
    – JR34
    May 13, 2015 at 1:16

1 Answer 1

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Probably the ball hits a brick, the velocity on the y-axis gets inverted and the ball goes down, the ball hits another nearby brick, the velocity on the y-axis gets inverted again and the ball goes up again and so on.

I imagine the fix could be a bit difficult to implement but feel free to try! My suggestion is to implement something as follows:

1. if the ball hits a brick
2.     handle brick collision // remove the brick, update the score, etc.
3.     if the brick is hit from its bottom
4.         change the velocity on the y-axis so that the ball moves down
5.     else if the brick is hit from the top
6.         change the velocity on the y-axis so that the ball moves up   

You may also implement the way the ball should bounce off horizontally (on the x-axis).

5
  • Thanks @Kareem for the suggestion. I don't think this is it, but it may be that this is happening very quickly. It looks more like sometimes it just blows through a bunch of them, not bouncing up and down repeatedly.
    – JR34
    May 13, 2015 at 1:18
  • @JR34 Indeed it happens quickly, if it happens. Did you try using gdb to figure out what was going on?
    – kzidane
    May 13, 2015 at 10:58
  • I slowed down the speed and you were right. On your fix, isn't this what is already happening? Also, if I submitted this do you think I would I have points deducted?
    – JR34
    May 13, 2015 at 21:08
  • @JR34, not quite. You're inverting the velocity on the y-axis depending solely on whether the ball hit a brick. There are situations where you don't want the velocity of the ball on the y-axis to be inverted. For example, physically speaking, in a situation like this, where the ball hits an a brick as it was going down as a result of hitting another brick earlier shouldn't make the ball go up again unless the second brick was hit from the top. For your other question, I'm afraid breakout isn't checked (i.e., you get a 1.0 if you submit it).
    – kzidane
    May 13, 2015 at 22:03
  • ahh I get it now. Thanks for all the help!
    – JR34
    May 13, 2015 at 23:43

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