Pong: How does the paddle know where the ball will hit?

Question

After implementing Pacman and Snake I\'m implementing the next very very classic game: Pong.

The implementation is really simple, but I just have one little problem rema

Answer 1

It just so happens I wrote a pong clone the other day just for fun.

You can play it here and view the source code here.

The AI takes the ball's current speed and multiplies the x-distance away from the wall. It then moves towards that calculated position at a capped speed. It doesn't account for vertical bounces, but that's sort of intended (to make the AI beatable).

Here is the relevant snippet:

/* Update enemy based on simple AI */
enemy.update = function (delta) {
    var impactDistance, impactTime, targetY, speed;
    speed = .25; // a little slower than the human player

    if (ball.vx < 0) {
        // Ball is moving away, AI takes a nap ..
        return;
    }

    // Figure out linear trajectory ..
    impactDistance = width - ball.width - ball.x;
    impactTime = impactDistance / (ball.vx * .25 * 1000);
    targetY = ball.y + (ball.vy * .25 * 1000) * impactTime;

    if (Math.abs(targetY - (this.y + this.height/2)) < 10) {
        // AI doesn't need to move
        return;
    }

    if (targetY < this.y + (this.height / 2)) {
        // Move up if ball is going above paddle
        speed = -speed;
    }

    this.y += speed * delta;
    this.keepInBounds();
};