WASSUP!!! Sorry I just wanted to show how annoying that commercial is now. Anyway I was thinking about a game design recently and I'm sick of doing that. Thinking about it... > I WANT TO DO IT!!! I'm still learning C++, but I've got classes and objects down (ooh, that feels good), so I say I'm ready for something harder. I want to make a game similar to the original Zelda , but not an RPG. Man, I hate RPGs... Eventually, I'll probably convert it to a real sidescroller like MegaMan or something. I'm only starting here because in the old Zelda, it was all just screen-by-screen scrolling, rather than one big long level like in MegaMan. Not quite ready for that yet. I'll have to add the enemies later, but I want to start from the ground up. I just want to get the engine to work and continuously add onto it until I'm satisfied. That's how things go anyway, right? So help me out here: In an engine, there are definitions for everything. There is a definition for the walkplayer (the character the player moves around), and every type of NPC and actor. With every definition, there's an algorithm on how to use that item, but how exactly? There are also definitions for all the file formats to be read in by the game (WAVs, container files, etc.). Without the definitions for these formats as well as algorithms to use them, the engine could never even load a level-- which leads me to my next subject. The levels. Of course besides there is a definition for the level (dimensions, textures, NPC and script placements), there should also be a container file for everything right? That way you can put a .map file or whatever together with scripts, etc., together in one folder to be opened. Well... (questions about to begin... ...now) How do you make a container file? Where can I find decent algorithms to follow for all this? Edited by - Some Guy on February 25, 2001 4:02:06 AM