Best type of game to start with
Author
Hey, I'm new to game programming. I want to use C# and I was wondering what was the best type of game to start with. I know 2D, but what sort of game should I make?
I.e. pong, platform game, etc.
Create something that will keep you interested. If you're not interested in the project, there is a greater chance you won't finish it. :)
That said, I'm almost finished my version Frogger before moving on to a side scrolling shooter. :)
That said, I'm almost finished my version Frogger before moving on to a side scrolling shooter. :)
Pong. It will get you familiar with your chosen language and toolkit. It won't take too much time to make.
Pong takes about 4 hours (for me, in C++, programming ~2 yrs purely self-taught). Try and make it so that is is easily modifiable (it is easy to change the length and width of the paddle, the radius of the ball, the dimensions of the court, and how much everything is offset from the corner of the window). Then, expand on it and make breakout, a game that is actually fun :)
pong is mandatory since it will teach you basic collision detection and bounds checking(making sure ball,paddle don't leave screen) and tons of other stuff not to mention that it's not too hard and not too easy to write.
then I'd suggest:
tetris clone
space invaders type game
then finally
basic 2d side scroller game
etc
then I'd suggest:
tetris clone
space invaders type game
then finally
basic 2d side scroller game
etc
Why not start with 3D pong? :)
It shouldn`t be much more work, but it will be much more fun...
It shouldn`t be much more work, but it will be much more fun...
Quote:Original post by Bulma
Why not start with 3D pong? :)
It shouldn`t be much more work, but it will be much more fun...
3D pong is much more complex than a 2D version. If he's already comfortable with working in 2D and really wants to work on 3D it might be an idea, but as a basic learning excersise it's better to keep it in 2D so you can focus on the game mechanics rather than having to set up 3D rendering.
I don`t think so... I don`t have much experiences with pong, but this version:
was done in less than 3 hours, and has a little more than 200 lines of code... I don`t think you can do 2D pong in much less code... [cool]
was done in less than 3 hours, and has a little more than 200 lines of code... I don`t think you can do 2D pong in much less code... [cool]
using System;using System.Collections.Generic;using System.ComponentModel;using System.Data;using System.Drawing;using System.Text;using System.Windows.Forms;using Microsoft.DirectX;using Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D;using DInput=Microsoft.DirectX.DirectInput;using DSound=Microsoft.DirectX.DirectSound;namespace Pong3D{ public partial class Pong3D : Form { private Mesh box; private Mesh table; private Mesh ball; private Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font font; private Device device; private DInput.Device keyboard; private DSound.Device soundDevice; private DSound.SecondaryBuffer hitSound; private const float FieldLength = 100; private const float FieldSize = 100; private const float TableSize = 10; private const float Ballradius = 2; private Vector3 ballPosition; private Vector3 ballDirection; private Vector3 table1Position; private Vector3 table2Position; private int score1 = 0; private int score2 = 0; private Material m = new Material(); public Pong3D() { InitializeComponent(); // init 3D PresentParameters pres = new PresentParameters(); pres.SwapEffect = SwapEffect.Discard; pres.Windowed = true; pres.AutoDepthStencilFormat = DepthFormat.D24X8; pres.EnableAutoDepthStencil = true; device = new Device(0, DeviceType.Hardware, this, CreateFlags.HardwareVertexProcessing, pres); keyboard = new DInput.Device(DInput.SystemGuid.Keyboard); keyboard.SetCooperativeLevel(this, DInput.CooperativeLevelFlags.Background | DInput.CooperativeLevelFlags.NonExclusive); keyboard.Acquire(); soundDevice = new DSound.Device(); soundDevice.SetCooperativeLevel(this, DSound.CooperativeLevel.Normal); hitSound = new DSound.SecondaryBuffer("hit.wav", soundDevice); box = Mesh.Box(device, FieldSize, 2, FieldLength ); table = Mesh.Box(device, TableSize, TableSize, 1); ball = Mesh.Sphere(device, Ballradius, 30, 30); font = new Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font(device, new System.Drawing.Font(FontFamily.GenericSerif, 20)); ReStart(); } public void ReStart() { ballPosition = new Vector3(FieldSize / 2, FieldSize / 2, FieldLength / 2); ballDirection = new Vector3(0.2f, 0.1f, -0.7f); table1Position = new Vector3(FieldSize / 2, FieldSize / 2, FieldLength); table2Position = new Vector3(FieldSize / 2, FieldSize / 2, 0); } public void Draw() { // set lights device.RenderState.CullMode = Cull.Clockwise; device.RenderState.Lighting = true; device.RenderState.Ambient = Color.DimGray; device.Lights[0].Type = LightType.Directional; device.Lights[0].Diffuse = Color.WhiteSmoke; device.Lights[0].Direction = new Vector3(-0.8f, 0.3f, -1); device.Lights[0].Enabled = true; device.Transform.World = Matrix.Identity; device.Transform.View = Matrix.LookAtRH(new Vector3(FieldSize*2, -FieldSize*2, FieldLength*2), new Vector3(FieldSize / 2, FieldSize / 2, FieldLength / 2), new Vector3(0, 0, 1)); device.Transform.Projection = Matrix.PerspectiveFovRH(0.5f, (float)this.Size.Width / this.Size.Height, 1, 1000); device.Clear(ClearFlags.Target | ClearFlags.ZBuffer, Color.Black, 1, 0); device.BeginScene(); // draw walls m.Diffuse = Color.Red; m.Ambient = Color.Red; device.Material = m; device.Transform.World = Matrix.Translation(FieldSize / 2, FieldSize, FieldLength / 2); box.DrawSubset(0); device.Transform.World = Matrix.RotationZ((float)Math.PI/2)*Matrix.Translation(0, FieldSize/2, FieldLength / 2); box.DrawSubset(0); m.Diffuse = Color.White; m.Ambient = Color.White; device.Material = m; device.RenderState.FillMode = FillMode.WireFrame; device.Transform.World = Matrix.Translation(FieldSize / 2, 0, FieldLength / 2); box.DrawSubset(0); device.Transform.World = Matrix.RotationZ((float)Math.PI / 2) * Matrix.Translation(FieldSize, FieldSize / 2, FieldLength / 2); box.DrawSubset(0); device.RenderState.FillMode = FillMode.Solid; // draw ball m.Diffuse = Color.SteelBlue; m.Ambient = Color.SteelBlue; device.Material = m; device.Transform.World = Matrix.Translation(ballPosition); ball.DrawSubset(0); // draw shadow Matrix shadow = new Matrix(); Plane plane = new Plane(0, 0, 1, 0); shadow.Shadow(new Vector4(0, 0, 1, 0), plane); Matrix shadowWorld = Matrix.Translation(ballPosition) * shadow; device.Transform.World = shadowWorld; ball.DrawSubset(0); plane = new Plane(0, 0, 1, -FieldLength); shadow.Shadow(new Vector4(0, 0, 1, 0), plane); shadowWorld = Matrix.Translation(ballPosition) * shadow; device.Transform.World = shadowWorld; ball.DrawSubset(0); // draw tables m.Diffuse = Color.Yellow; m.Ambient = Color.Yellow; device.Material = m; device.Transform.World = Matrix.Translation(table1Position); table.DrawSubset(0); device.Transform.World = Matrix.Translation(table2Position); table.DrawSubset(0); font.DrawText(null, string.Format("Score: {0}:{1}", score1, score2), 10, 10, Color.White); device.EndScene(); device.Present(); } public void Process() { // move tables DInput.KeyboardState state = keyboard.GetCurrentKeyboardState(); if (state[DInput.Key.A]) { if (table1Position.X > 0 + TableSize/2) table1Position.X -= 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.D]) { if (table1Position.X < FieldSize - TableSize / 2) table1Position.X += 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.S]) { if (table1Position.Y > 0 + TableSize / 2) table1Position.Y -= 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.W]) { if (table1Position.Y < FieldSize - TableSize / 2) table1Position.Y += 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.NumPad4]) { if (table2Position.X > 0 + TableSize / 2) table2Position.X -= 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.NumPad6]) { if (table2Position.X < FieldSize - TableSize / 2) table2Position.X += 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.NumPad5]) { if (table2Position.Y > 0 + TableSize / 2) table2Position.Y -= 1; } if (state[DInput.Key.NumPad8]) { if (table2Position.Y < FieldSize - TableSize / 2) table2Position.Y += 1; } // process ball ballPosition += ballDirection; // check end if (ballPosition.Z < 0) { score2++; ReStart(); return; } if (ballPosition.Z > FieldLength) { score1++; ReStart(); return; } // check panel hit if (ballPosition.Z < 1) { if ((ballPosition.X > table2Position.X - TableSize/2 && ballPosition.X < table2Position.X + TableSize/2) && (ballPosition.Y > table2Position.Y - TableSize/2 && ballPosition.Y < table2Position.Y + TableSize/2)) { ballDirection = Reflect(ballDirection, new Vector3(0, 0, 1) ); } } if (ballPosition.Z > FieldLength-1) { if ((ballPosition.X > table1Position.X - TableSize / 2 && ballPosition.X < table1Position.X + TableSize / 2) && (ballPosition.Y > table1Position.Y - TableSize / 2 && ballPosition.Y < table1Position.Y + TableSize / 2)) { ballDirection = Reflect(ballDirection, new Vector3(0, 0, -1)); } } // check wall hit if (ballPosition.X < 0) ballDirection = Reflect(ballDirection, new Vector3(1, 0, 0)); if (ballPosition.X > FieldSize) ballDirection = Reflect(ballDirection, new Vector3(-1, 0, 0)); if (ballPosition.Y < 0) ballDirection = Reflect(ballDirection, new Vector3(0, 1, 0)); if (ballPosition.Y > FieldSize) ballDirection = Reflect(ballDirection, new Vector3(0, -1, 0)); } private Vector3 Reflect(Vector3 input, Vector3 normal) { // play sound hitSound.Play(0, DSound.BufferPlayFlags.Default); return input - 2 * Vector3.Dot(input, normal) * normal; } }}
You need a good understanding of maths to do the 3d stuff, and to do that in such a small amount of code means you'd need to be a very tidy programmer too.
I think if you're new to programming / problem solving then something slightly simpler would be more helpful in letting you develop the foundation skills you need.
I think if you're new to programming / problem solving then something slightly simpler would be more helpful in letting you develop the foundation skills you need.
Pong's a fair enough response, but perhaps after it you'll want to think about doing a Mario clone. Lots of different components and interactive things knocking about - orders of magnitude more complex than Pong.
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