LifeBarBuddy
This is a library for MonoGame projects for creating life bars, energy bars, & other types of meters.
How it works is create 3 images, the background, a mask for the meter, and an alpha gradient from 0-1. When the meter is drawn, all those assets and meter information are passed to a special shader that renders everything.
To use this library, install from the Nuget package
It will also add the MeterShader.fx file to the Content directory of your project. Make sure this gets added to you MonoGame content .mgcb project!
Check out the example project at LifeBarBuddySample
First create an instance of the type of meter you'd like. There are currently two built-in types: basic LifeBar and SuperBar (a single-stock super gauge similar to Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo)
public override void LoadContent()
{
base.LoadContent();
//create the lifebar
lifeBar = new LifeBar(maxHP, Content, "lifebarBorder.png", "lifebar.png", "lifebarGradient.png");
//create the MeterRenderer object, which is used to do the rendering for all the meters in the game
meterRenderer = new MeterRenderer(Content, new Filename("MeterShader.fx"));
//Load the rest of your game assets...
}
The object instance needs to be updated each frame with the current time:
public override void Update(GameTime gameTime, bool otherScreenHasFocus, bool coveredByOtherScreen)
{
base.Update(gameTime, otherScreenHasFocus, coveredByOtherScreen);
lifeBar.Update(gameTime);
//Update the rest of your game objects...
}
Call the correct methods to indicate to the meter when events occur:
private void Heal(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var damage = 10f;
hitPoints += damage;
lifeBar.Heal(damage);
}
private void TakeDamage(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var damage = 5f;
hitPoints -= damage;
lifeBar.AddDamage(damage);
}
Lastly, the meter itself is stateless, so make sure you pass the correct current values in the Draw method:
public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
base.Draw(gameTime);
//Draw all your game objects here...
//draw the meters on top once everything else has finished rendering
meterRenderer.SpriteBatchBegin(ScreenManager.SpriteBatch, Resolution.TransformationMatrix());
lifeBar.Draw(hitPoints, meterRenderer, ScreenManager.SpriteBatch, lifebarRect);
ScreenManager.SpriteBatch.End();
}
