Hi all, I just joined the forum.

I'm new to Game Design, but I have a degree in Software Engineering so I'm ok with code but the creative aspect of game design is new to me, although I do enjoy playing games.

I'm doing an experimental game in C# to practice my game design skills.

I'm interested in making a top down 2D scrolling game, which would look similar to Pokemon (simple tile design) and would involve adventuring, fighting monsters, leveling your character, and finding items as you progress through the available lands.

Does anyone know a good place to start with understanding how to make a good game which is similar to what I have described above?

Making a game like you describe is going to be a rather large undertaking. Assuming you will be coding the game entirely from scratch I would recommend prototyping all the various aspects first, and only start off with a very small trial level.

If you're looking for a guide specifically tailored to top-down RPGs then I'm not sure where to start. I would recommend finding some more general guides on Game Design. If this is going to be a project for learning, then I would tone it down and start with something smaller.

I'd look at rogue-likes but using tiles instead of ascii. I was working towards something similar with html5 based off an array. http://simplehotkey.com/largeTile/tiles/main.html It's not dynamically generated but it's drawn based off an array (array copied out of the Tiled program's file.) Would be much faster in a different language but in that example I test 150,000 entry array in javascript (32000 x 19200 pixel map with varying performance across browsers).

I remember reading an article about Nintendo's design formula for it's games and it said if you stray from the formula (in that type of game) it destroys the design. I'd read up on it. Also for level design learning from Disney and theme park layouts is useful.

Prototype, test, see what works and what doesn't, tweak. If there's a specific aspect of the game that doesn't feel right and you can't figure out how to make it work well, that's when you should consult forums/books/etc with a more specific question.

Prototype, test, see what works and what doesn't, tweak. If there's a specific aspect of the game that doesn't feel right and you can't figure out how to make it work well, that's when you should consult forums/books/etc with a more specific question.

Well said. Good advice!

I'd look at rogue-likes but using tiles instead of ascii. I was working towards something similar with html5 based off an array. http://simplehotkey....tiles/main.html It's not dynamically generated but it's drawn based off an array (array copied out of the Tiled program's file.) Would be much faster in a different language but in that example I test 150,000 entry array in javascript (32000 x 19200 pixel map with varying performance across browsers).

Very nice demo! I love the feel of the horse's acceleration and deceleration. Good job! Can't wait to play your game.

Very nice demo! I love the feel of the horse's acceleration and deceleration. Good job! Can't wait to play your game.

my intention was to rebuild this javascript rpg game I made over top the generated tile map
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But I've moved on, with a decent 2d artist it could have been pretty fun though, I roughed out a menu system, barter system, multiple dungeon levels, recalling/marking runestones like UO. I'd intended to hook up multiplayer with Node.js and socketio haha Killing dwarves dropped pickaxes which could be cashed in at the mine for ingots. If you died before turning them in you lost them, but if you turned them in the ingots were persistent. Spawn points were somewhat randomly generated in zones, you could give it a random range to spawn in or make it completely random somewhere on the map. Damages were tied to skills/stats/modifiers. The map was divided into 25 chunks, 1000x1000 pixels and moving between chunks affected what monsters were spawned/despawned.

It even worked on my HTC mytouch 3g, you could shoot projectiles at touched location using elementary trig functions and I wrote most of it in notepad while on vacation outside of internet access/desktop working off a USB drive holding some sprites I downloaded off the net as placeholders beforehand.

I basically am rewriting it in Unity using c# right now with a better story, first person perspective, with a real writer I'm collaborating with. But I'm a student and it's a hobby atm. I worked as a general laborer in construction for 5 years before going back to school lol.

I basically am rewriting it in Unity using c# right now with a better story, first person perspective, with a real writer I'm collaborating with. But I'm a student and it's a hobby atm. I worked as a general laborer in construction for 5 years before going back to school lol.

Your game sounds amazing. Well you're not the only one with a humble background: I worked in various jobs (salesman, clerk, drafting blueprints, factory assembly line etc) before going back to school too. Now I'm making games as a hobby just like you.

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

I am taking the project slowly, I'm working on the basics and expanding on it. I've got a basic tile board now which scrolls as the player moves and I have some basic collision detection.

One thing I am curious of though, is how you get the background of your tileboard as a background to tiles which move on the board. For example, if I have a goblin image which I move across tiles, the background of the goblin image doesn't always fit the background it is moving across. So if the goblin has a white background and is moving across a green field, it looks a bit odd. Is there a certain design trick to accomplishing this? Or is it a case of making multiple goblin images each with a corresponding background, and altering the image depending on what background it should have (e.g. stone background, grass background).

But I'm a student and it's a hobby atm. I worked as a general laborer in construction for 5 years before going back to school lol.

Sounds like me. I was a self employed Plasterer and Contractor (started out as a laborer) for 8 years before I decided to go back to Uni. I used to enjoy programming as a hobby so I thought it would be great to do my hobby as a job and get paid for it. Now I'm a software engineer

I want to move into doing iPhone apps in my spare time for fun, and I've always wanted to make my own game. But I'm currently still learning the iPhone language as I've just started, so I'm trying to get to grips with game design now with C# and I can easily transfer the game over to iPhone when I'm more competent with it.

One thing I am curious of though, is how you get the background of your tileboard as a background to tiles which move on the board. For example, if I have a goblin image which I move across tiles, the background of the goblin image doesn't always fit the background it is moving across. So if the goblin has a white background and is moving across a green field, it looks a bit odd. Is there a certain design trick to accomplishing this? Or is it a case of making multiple goblin images each with a corresponding background, and altering the image depending on what background it should have (e.g. stone background, grass background).

Just use a transparent background on the goblin image.

Just use a transparent background on the goblin image.

lol, didn't even think of that. Thanks.