I've been a game nerd ever since I was 5 and planted in front of a NES with the original Mario Bros. I was designing Mario levels (on paper) by age 8 and have been toying with ideas for games ever since.

Lately I've been unemployed and looking for things to devote my time to. I'm thinking now might be a good time to get started on making some basic games (at first) until I've built up enough knowledge to make something half decent. Eventually I'd like to make my own epic style of RPG (and maybe one day MMORPG).

My biggest drawback - I know next to nothing about programming, bar what I can remember from computer studies in high school. Which is unfortunately also, next to nothing (we did a little bit in QBASIC but I was far more interested in girls and fireworks at the time).

I'm looking at putting together a basic platformer to get my head around game design. From what I can see on this website (great info by the way, thanks) PlayBasic would be a good place to start. I'm not all that worried about WHAT is going to be jumping from platform to platform at the moment, more how. Can anyone recommend some good reading to get me started?

Cheers.

I'd like to learn how to create mods for things like civillization, turn old board games and things into working games on the computer, and eventually create a good sports game (im thinking touch footy because I love it) thats actually fun to play for more then half an hour. But really I just want to learn how to design in whatever form so that I can make whatever pops into my mind :)

This site looks awesome, everyone seems so friendly and helpful, Hopefully i can spend a bit of time here :)

I have searched for tutorials on this everywhere, but they are either not detailed enough or are for creating a field of view in top-down shooters…can someone post a tutorial on this or point me to an existing tutorial on this?

I'm using Game Maker 7 btw

MIDBOSS: Mr. Eyeball
A giant eyeball that has many tentacle thingies that must be shot. The eye itself is invelnerable until the tentacles are shot, then you can get hits on him. He shoot one homing blast from his eye, and one homing shots ffrom each of his four tentacles.

FINAL BOSS: Zombie Generator
A simple machine that spawns zombies that run straight down. Also fires homing bullets. A moving sphere moves left and right and must be shot. Three machines do the spawning and two turrets shoot.

In the following months I'm hoping to contribute greatly and remain an active participant in this wiki. I think wiki's are the way of the future, and since game design is still so very young, and by that I mean very little actual research has been done, I think wiki's are probably one of the best sources of information around. I've read several game-design books, and while I find them fascinating, I noticed that most are drastically incomplete and overall, under thought and missing meaning. I'm hoping that this online community of people, who share common intrests, can establish a formal forum to discover and discuss true theories in the hope of advancing game design. Perhaps I've jumped the shark. Time will tell, looking forward to becoming an active member and reading the insight others have about this hobby of mine. -Krete

Red door, red key. Is that a puzzle?

— hartnell

Here's the concept :

This area an RPG character / party can move around in based on his / their ability to combat monsters.

Example: A player starts the game at level 1, doesn't stop at any towns, and just keeps moving forward. How far does he get before the monsters wear him down to the point of death?

What do you think this concept should be called?

— hartnell

ChibiLeen said : I was also thinking about ways of removing linearity in terms of exploration possibilities. I can't say I enjoy having to visit towns and dungeons in sequence, without having the freedom to roam how I want.

I find that hard to implement. There's a natural limit to the ability of a character to explore in an RPG game based on his level and the difficulty of the monsters in various areas.

How do you plan to get around this?

— hartnell

Well, this is Box Chaser. It's a multiplayer FPS I've been working on in C++ using OpenGL, Sockets, and appropriate Windows functions.

I've been working on it for about… 5-6 weeks now, or thereabouts. So far, there isn't much in terms of gameplay, I've spent all my time setting up client/server connectivity and making sure that all works well, which it does by now.

Apologies to Linux/Mac users, it is designed for Windows, but I really don't know anything about developing for Linux and stuff, so I can't do much right now. But maybe it would run under Wine, or a Mac Windows emulator or something.

There's instructions included for those that want to test out the client/server connections, just to help you get started and stuff. It's not that complicated.

There's also an associated Heightmap editor that I've been working on in Visual C#, which I downloaded a little while back considering I'd like to get to know XNA some day. Normally I'd stick to the C++ and stuff, but in the end C# with its Forms editor was a pretty good option to get something up and running without having to take much time from the actual game. The Editor isn't included in this download but I might put it up in a separate file, though I still don't know much about redistributing .NET programs so I'm not sure how easy it will be for others to use.

Work most recently has been sparse, but I'm doing exams and stuff at the moment, so I do have good reason.

I think that's about all. No doubt I'll remember some other bit of interesting information later on, but hey. Feel free to ask questions if you have any troubles.

Here are a couple of projects and concepts I'd like to develop in the long run. Let me know what you think!

My game ideas are rather complex to implement as a first project, but mainly I'd like to explore the notions of time and player choice in CRPGs.

I'd like to find ways to break linearity in story-driven games by giving as much choice to the player as possible, both in story and puzzle solving. I'm very inspired by the system of Quest for Glory, for example, and I'd like to take that to another level, to adapt it to a "classic" CRPG instead of a point and click adventure. Also, the player should be able to change the story by his or her choices, not just in small ways - like who's going to be paired with whom at the end of the game - but radically.

Also, I'd like to incorporate time flow in a significant way. For example, the world has to be saved in a set amount of time, or the player can get a bad ending (or a default ending, like in Valkyrie Profile). Or if the party doesn't complete a task in a set amount of time, someone else will beat them to it or the story will be affected. Also, this notion has, in my humble opinion, a good potential in terms of side quests (like creature breeding, or planting, or special events that take place on specific days).

My pet project is centered around a girl who can follow three different paths in the story. Depending on the choice she (ie the player) makes at the beginning of the game, the story will unfold in a completely different way. She will side with different characters, and will be able, ultimately, to save the world in three different ways. The player's choices can wrap up the plot rather quickly (with lots of possible bad endings), or on the contrary, weave an elaborate tale. I have one "true" story in mind, but all the "good" endings should be satisfying. I've designed all the characters, written a synopsis of the possible stories, and jolted down lots of small notes on gameplay, but the game still isn't finished on paper. :/

I would also like to make a fangame based on the world of Glorianna - as a homage to the creators of Quest for Glory. It's not a very original idea - since the world and concept aren't mine - but there's much potential for new stories and places in that setting. Plus, I'd like the Hero to be a Heroine, and add races and at least one new class as starting choices (which consisted of the Fighter/Paladin, Magic User and Thief classes).

And finally, I have a budding monster breeder in my mind. The game would borrow some basic concepts from Jade Cocoon, Zanzarah, Harvest Moon and Atelier Iris, and blend them into a colorful and cute fantasy game where players can breed fairy-like creatures for different purposes, depending on the character they choose to play (Hunter, Breeder and Apothecary, each "class" having their own skills, goals and story).

… so here's a sample of what I'd like to do. But as I said above, this is a bit beyond my means and knowledge right now. I would really like to come up with something that could be useful as experience for one or all of these projects, but I don't seem to be able to keep my ideas small. I probably shouldn't try to make an RPG at all at first, but then I wouldn't be working on the genre I want to explore the most. Any advice would be REALLY helpful!

Cheers,

Leen

im not really creative, so ill probably need lots of help there, but i dont know some programming, html, css, and im learning php and javascript.

hmm what else? i dont know.. if you want to know more, ask, i guess :D

I need few line stories from You, about books, basic dialects, websites, peoples, games, codes, tutorials, forum posts…just name it, as long as it is someway related to basic programming and has had some influence or just a big meaning for you.

Is there some dialect that did woke up your interest to program? Some simple basic game what you have played with your friends hours after hours? Some website with awesome athmosphere perhaps? A programming book, which is above law books in your opinion?

Throw me PM or email about them, add few lines of story why. Email is asciiworld(AT)gmail.com

Ill reveal the idea of this in a near future, after i have some "data" on my hands. If you dont want, i do not reveal your personality, when i do use these replies in public later.

So, give me some data to use, please :)

• Capacity

Discuss. :)

— hartnell