Side-Scrolling Shoot-em Up's Engine interest
I was wondering, what would the interest be (for the people reading these forums) for using a side-scrolling (or vertial scrolling for that matter) Engine where a user creates his own images (the main ship, Bullets, enemies, upgrade objects, backgrounds, etc.), designs his own levels using some kind of level editor, and decides what each bullet and enemy does. Basically, a Shoot-em up game creator, where the user gets almost total control over every aspect of it.
I have created an engine, and I was wondering if it would be worth my time to make it easy-to-use for the general public.
Would any of you be intersted in this?
Thanks.
BeerNutts
Personally I prefer libraries to engines as engines tend to be a tad confining. However, go ahead and put it out there. Sure, there''s already a couple in the public domain, but we wont know if yours is better unless we try it, will we?
What I''d like to know is:
1. Are there any restrictions to the direction of scroll? ie, could I both scroll and pan?
2. Does the engine support sprite scaling? Can I simulate zoom effects?
3. How extensible is the engine? Am I confined (there''s that word again) to the behaviors specified in your code, or can I modify them (through scripts, plugins, function pointers, ...)?
My old DOS sprite library had properties 1 and 2. Property 3 is a must for any modern library/engine. In terms of structuring, I''d suggest that you publish the library - sort of the toolkit on which the engine is built - along with the engine, for best results.
Just my show of support.
What I''d like to know is:
1. Are there any restrictions to the direction of scroll? ie, could I both scroll and pan?
2. Does the engine support sprite scaling? Can I simulate zoom effects?
3. How extensible is the engine? Am I confined (there''s that word again) to the behaviors specified in your code, or can I modify them (through scripts, plugins, function pointers, ...)?
My old DOS sprite library had properties 1 and 2. Property 3 is a must for any modern library/engine. In terms of structuring, I''d suggest that you publish the library - sort of the toolkit on which the engine is built - along with the engine, for best results.
Just my show of support.
quote:
1. Are there any restrictions to the direction of scroll? ie, could I both scroll and pan?
No, there would be no restrictions as to which way you could scroll. It''s all defined by the user.
quote:
2. Does the engine support sprite scaling? Can I simulate zoom effects?
Currently, the user could not scale an object one way or another. I might consider adding that in.
quote:
3. How extensible is the engine? Am I confined (there''s that word again) to the behaviors specified in your code, or can I modify them (through scripts, plugins, function pointers, ...)?
This is the one I''m most definetly going to allow the suer to do. The behaviors can be specified through a script, so the user could define the behaviors of all their objects in the game.
I understand how me or you would rather have the library, but I was thinking of this being able to be used by Average computer users with no (or little) programming experience. I''d have to consider including the library as well. Hmmm...
Thanks for the input.
Nutts
If you create this sort of thing, you''ll be doing it for your own experience. There are already quite a few engines like this on several different platforms, including Win9x. Personally, I like shooters, but I don''t think I''ll ever make one.
2D games are fun jaunts every now and then, and I like letting someone else do my drudgery (boring stuff like sprite code - I did that 4/5 years ago). If I did use your library (unlikely since I'm not writing games right now), I'd use it for 2D sports sims - tennis, soccer. Fun stuff. That's why arbitrary motion and zoom would be important.
I really don't like seeing someone develop YASL - Yet Another Scripting Language. You can do that for your own education, but if you want me to use your product, use an existing, extensible and freely available scripting language like Python (or Perl, or Eiffel, or whatever - I'm not particular). Learning a language just to use in one product strikes me as a largely redundant endeavor (which is why I may never buy Shockwave and learn Lingo).
As Tom said, there are several libraries/engines of this sort already available - some with massive followings (Allegro is an extremely popular library). "Game Creators" don't generally do too well, but it's worth the learning value. (Plus, you always have something to go back and fool with when you're bored).
Edited by - Oluseyi on July 18, 2001 3:42:29 PM
I really don't like seeing someone develop YASL - Yet Another Scripting Language. You can do that for your own education, but if you want me to use your product, use an existing, extensible and freely available scripting language like Python (or Perl, or Eiffel, or whatever - I'm not particular). Learning a language just to use in one product strikes me as a largely redundant endeavor (which is why I may never buy Shockwave and learn Lingo).
As Tom said, there are several libraries/engines of this sort already available - some with massive followings (Allegro is an extremely popular library). "Game Creators" don't generally do too well, but it's worth the learning value. (Plus, you always have something to go back and fool with when you're bored).
Edited by - Oluseyi on July 18, 2001 3:42:29 PM
I think you guys are missing the point. He''s targeting it at the "average user", not programmers. I''ve yet to see a free library or engine with which almost anybody could put together a game. Allegro? Sorry, but the average user wouldn''t stick around long enough to put a pixel on the screen. I''m interested in this, and I think other non-programmers would be as well. If you have anything working right now I''d love to see it.
I do have something working right now, but I''m not going to release anything to anyone until I''m much happier with the way it works. Also, I''m not creating anything like Allegro, nothing near it. It''s going to be targeted for creating scrolling shooters (vertical or horizontal), but the ability to make more would be possible. Scripting won''t be a requirment either. That would be for the more advanced users. It''s not going to be the tile-based map/game creator thingy that seems to be everywhere. Think the current generation Shootem-ups (Raiden and it''s clones)
I''m still a ways away from having a good solid, publicly usable product (it''s the interface to creating levels that needs mucho work), but, for me to use ir right now, it''s satisfactory.
I''m still a ways away from having a good solid, publicly usable product (it''s the interface to creating levels that needs mucho work), but, for me to use ir right now, it''s satisfactory.
A game to do just that was created for the Super Famicon all the way back in ::gasp:: must have been pre-1997. It was like MarioPaint, but you create the different ships, and then you assign each enemy object a predefined flight path, bullet type, shooting AI and time to enter into the map... it was pretty fun, but took a long time to make a game. (My favorite one I mad was where you flew around a farm shooting chickens...) So yeah, but that idea sounds like a great one! When in doubt do... if it dosn''t work out blame it on someone else
CodeSmith the Pixel Pusher
www.cs.trinity.edu/~csmith8
CodeSmith the Pixel Pusher
www.cs.trinity.edu/~csmith8
Sure, I''d be interested...(though, is this technically in the correct forum?) I guess I tend to be more interested in seeing any engine code because I like to see examples of how things can be done. And to me, a public domain engine of any kind is going to be useful down the road for anyone trying to experiment with game design because it will leave them more time to tinker with the content and not have to worry about technical specifics (espcially with a 2d engine...you''ve done virtually all of the technical specifics).
--
WNDCLASSEX Reality;
...
...
Reality.lpfnWndProc=ComputerGames;
...
...
RegisterClassEx(&Reality);
Unable to register Reality...what''s wrong?
---------
Dan Upton
Lead Designer
WolfHeart Software
--
WNDCLASSEX Reality;
...
...
Reality.lpfnWndProc=ComputerGames;
...
...
RegisterClassEx(&Reality);
Unable to register Reality...what''s wrong?
---------
Dan Upton
Lead Designer
WolfHeart Software
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