Just ordered a GamePark Caanoo and I've been thinking about the best way to learn how to code for it.
I could either look through the SDK and try to figure it out that way.
Or I could learn LUA and wait a full featured LUA player to come out for it, (like the PSP had).
EDIT: Found a third option: BennuGD
Might try that...
Also I made a hand-drawn 320,240 grid, and photocopied it to make lots of smaller copies.
I plan to write down and draw any ideas I have.
If I get it to look nice on paper, I can then get an approximate idea of scale and where to put the sprites in the code.
I made one third of a game a few years back with Visionaire (couldn’t finish it because of personal issues). I even made an extensive step by step tutorial for it which was adopted by the tool makers.
I’ve tried many engines and tools and Visionaire is by far the best one out there (for point click adventures --and maybe RPG's).
No, as every successful game designer starts with portuguese first.
I'm not sure if this sarcasm was meant as "Lua is as useful to know as Portuguese," or "of course you learn Lua! It's useful and clearly the best choice."
Generic. I have, as of right now, an idea for a platformer, a point'n'click, and a game that won't work in either of these categories (undecided on the style).
Got my Caanoo the other day. It is an excellent little console.
For 100 quid I have something that can play music, watch movies, and play a good chunk of emulators (especially now that GINGE has been released on it (its an interpreter that allows GP2X games to work on it (not 100 percent compatible, but its still very good))).
Homebrew wise, there are quite a few good games on there. The Giana returns port plays fabulously, as does cave story, and jump to the moon is supprisingly fun.
As for features there are quite a few there.
It has a touchscreen, rumble (though a little primative), and a G-sensor (I played Pac-man with it. Tough but cool).
Console is beautiful, the buttons are great (though the shoulders are initially odd, but you get used to it).
I will admit the thumbstick isn't perfect for some games, but it works well, (much better than the PSP's cheese grater! XD).
Looks like I need to learn some coding and try to make something great for it!
(At least try to come up with a game concept, and some backgrounds and sprites for a bit of practice)
So far I have eliminated the SDK, (seems to hard for a weak coder like me), so its either LUA or BennuGD.
(I think I'm leaning towards Bennu since some nice stuff has been made with it)
I think i wrote this already but as you want to be flexible and are uncertain/open about the platform(s), which does matter a lot, i would suggest going with a more flexible programming rather than some click&drag solution. monkey (which will be released in a few weeks) or BlitzMax for your 2d needs or Unity or Shiva for your 3D needs.
monkey will be a easy to use OO-Basic with a basic 2D module called mojo which will enable you to publish games for Win/OSX/Lin/iOS/Android/HTML5/Flash/XBox360. If you don't want to wait until it arrives or the teething problems are ironed out you can take the more mature and more capable BlitzMax as well which enables you to release apps for Win/OSX/Lin.
Unity on the other side is a good tool if you want to focus on 3D. You can code in Unityscript(Javascript), Boo(Python) and C#. The Indie version is for free and can publish for browser(plugin)/OSX/Win, Pro a.o adds the opportunity to add additional publishing platforms like iOS/Android/Wii/Xbox360/PS3 but each platform will cost you additional money so that you end up paying thousands of dollars easily. The less professional but a lot cheaper option is Stonetrip's Shiva which can publish for multiple platforms as well.
If you don't want to code then there exist a number of genre specific alternatives like Visionaire for adventure games and so on. You can use google and check out those sites a bit to get some further information.
Obviously you can code your way from scratch as well and add this engine and that framework but in 99% of the cases choosing some middleware like the ones stated above will lead you faster to a result. If you do it right you'll be able to use the learned principles in other tools/languages as well, so you don't loose anything once you might have grown out a certain tool.
3D can look cooler but it's also harder to do as this extra dimension simply adds more complexity. I would suggest starting with some 2D games and if you groked those, you can climb the 3D ladder.
monkey will be open and free but the 2D module won't be, so you either write your own one or buy it. $80 for BlitzMax is a joke, regarding the generous crossplatform licence and for what it offers but if you want something completely free then there are also ways to go.
I've named the Indie version of Unity already (restricted platform-, featurewise and with watermark then) or you choose yourself some language and add the engines/frameworks you'll need. In the end it will cost you more time to get something accomplished this way but if you have enough of it and don't want to work a certain amount of time to buy a product then this might be the better way for you.
I've used quite a number of middleware but mainly on Win/OSX and only with a certain professional appeal. There exist tons of half baked products out there or professional tools/engines which are free for non commercial purposes but especially for Linux you'll have to find some on your on then.
You can also try some more general purpose approaches like processing or HTML5 directly. There are many possibilities. But if you want my advice i would get some work, pay the peanuts and save me some time instead.
BlitzMax is a mature and proofen product, it's available on Linux already, there are many ressources out there, it's more capable than monkey will be at least in the beginning and for some further time, due to its open nature you can expand BlitzMax to use with almost anything (Box2D, 3D engines, Midi, ...), the syntax is compareable to what money will offer but it's also not the same (you can google the docs).
monkey is exciting if you want to target platforms beside of what BlitzMax supports, like iOS and Android for instance and if you don't want to spend thousands of dollars for doing so, it's open and free, if you want a well designed and easy to use language from a developer who has a track record since the Amiga, if you want something brand new.
Out of those two i would choose BlitzMax if i need something reliable right now and if i need features which monkey doesn't support and am happy with Win/OSX/Lin support. I would wait for monkey instead if i'm uncertain what to do, don't mind some hickups in the beginning and also want to show my games to others in the browser or would like to target mobiles as well.
Nope, BlitzMax is for standalone on the systems i've noted above only. If you want to target mobiles then you'll have to go with monkey, some of the other tools i've mentioned above, others which i didn't mention because they in my opinion suck or which i don't know or do it natively for each OS.
Here is a link of a game done with the Beta of monkey.
Just be aware of the tiny little things like that you generally can't compile games for iOS for instance on any other platform beside of OSX, no matter which tool you use.
Ruby, Phyton, Java, Pascal, Fortran, LISP, C++, C#, Basic, ... you can use any language. You'll have to check out a language on your own. How does it suit your personal needs? Do you want a high level language? Do you want a garbage collector? Which middleware/frameworks/libs can you use with this language? ...
I wouldn't recommend using C++ because i don't like it personally and as for technical reasons but maybe you want to give C# a try which would be a lot more comfortable.
But no matter which language you choose you also have to care about tons of other things like how you want to load a picture into memory, how to make it available as a texture, transform and display it, get rid of it once you don't need it anymore and so on. Beside of using some abstract layer in a middleware, you'll have to take care of all of such things in a more complex way on your own or using libs.
With C++ you can't target iOS because you need to use Objective-C or the web because of blahblah. Then again you could wrap certain functionality, ... as a beginner do yourself a favour and go with the easiest possible solution for your personal needs and try to concentrating more on the game instead of the technology running the game.
So. Monkey will be C based, though? Would it be worth it to learn C++, and add Monkey to that knowledge? (I chose C++ because it is C with a bit more, and I have a book for it.)
So. Monkey will be C based, though? Would it be worth it to learn C++, and add Monkey to that knowledge? (I chose C++ because it is C with a bit more, and I have a book for it.)
Nope, monkey is an OO-Basic with a easy&effective command set. Depending on the target platform it will translate or translate&compile by hitting F5. For instance for iOS it will create an Objective-C project which then wil be compiled by Apple's SDK.
I wouldn't choose a language just because i found a book of it as a) it's in no way productive if it's still the wrong language and b) you can find online manuals/tutorials/example projects/ask users on the forums for most languages.
As i wrote earlier, considering the tool and the licence that's very cheap. But you can also use the demo version (available for OSX and Win right now) for non commercial projects, which is able to compile to HTML-5.
I'm a programmer, and I like playing games, so naturally I've made a few.
I've made an internet chess game, bejewled type game, sudoku games etc.
I also have a little experience with game maker, a friend of mine was making a
game in it but it was loading terribly slow due to the pre-loading game makers does. I wrote a wrapper for him doing just-in-time resource loading instead. Speeded up the game a lot
Currently working on a game for the android OS, will hopefully be able to put it in the google store sometime this summer
Alright so I've had a look at monkey and its seems reasonably easy to learn and use.
However, I'm not going to make the mistake of rushing in and buying something I barely know about (well at that price at least)
I'm going to finish reading all the documentation, look at some examples, and try to make some stuff before I decide whether or not to buy it.
Sure, just beware that a) monkey is just one day out and b) that the HTML-5 performance isn't the fastest one. A.o. IE9 and Chrome 1o will come with some serious boosts in the future.
Technically this would be possible as monkey comes without any DRM but it would be against the licence or the spirit of the licence sharing it this way.
But you can start with HTML-5 already just for free. The output is lot more jerky than if you publish for instance to GLFW but if you're so thight on budget you will most likely run into problems with other platforms like iOS for instance because beside of the hardware this will cost you another $100 dev licence from Apple and so on. The HTML-5 export will improve in the future, both from monkey's as well as big chunks from the browsers sides.
Technically this would be possible as monkey comes without any DRM but it would be against the licence or the spirit of the licence sharing it this way.
But you can start with HTML-5 already just for free. The output is lot more jerky than if you publish for instance to GLFW but if you're so thight on budget you will most likely run into problems with other platforms like iOS for instance because beside of the hardware this will cost you another $100 dev licence from Apple and so on. The HTML-5 export will improve in the future, both from monkey's as well as big chunks from the browsers sides.
Monkey looks great, but I have a few issues...
The price (I know it's cheap, but I just can't spend $120 on something like this!)
I'm on Linux
My father programs in C, C++, C# (among others), so I have him to help me learn these.
I don't know what it exactly /is/...
I know NOTHING about coding...
I don't know what will be provided, what won't, and what else I'll need...
Then take a look at BlitzMax ($80, available on Linux, easy&powerful, comes with many examples). Valid for most languages: if you grok the concept of one, it doesn't take a lot to getting into others afterwards, so your father should be able to help you also with languages he doesn't know this much. Again i wouldn't choose C++, that's like using assembly years ago. You often only need this for certain purposes and i don't think yours are one of them. Out of those three you should go with C# but then again you need some middleware again (the languages you listed are just programming languages, no 3d/2d engine, no gamedevtool, just no middleware. Have a look at Processing or any of the other options which were mentioned.
Comments
I could either look through the SDK and try to figure it out that way.
Or I could learn LUA and wait a full featured LUA player to come out for it, (like the PSP had).
EDIT: Found a third option: BennuGD
Might try that...
Also I made a hand-drawn 320,240 grid, and photocopied it to make lots of smaller copies.
I plan to write down and draw any ideas I have.
If I get it to look nice on paper, I can then get an approximate idea of scale and where to put the sprites in the code.
I made one third of a game a few years back with Visionaire (couldn’t finish it because of personal issues). I even made an extensive step by step tutorial for it which was adopted by the tool makers.
I’ve tried many engines and tools and Visionaire is by far the best one out there (for point click adventures --and maybe RPG's).
I'm not sure if this sarcasm was meant as "Lua is as useful to know as Portuguese," or "of course you learn Lua! It's useful and clearly the best choice."
Your question doesn't make a lot of sense unless you don't describe where you're coming from and where you want to go.
Love?
I have no coding experience (outside of HTML, which I don't think you can make a game with.) I want to make games. I know Telltale uses Lua, though.
Generic. I have, as of right now, an idea for a platformer, a point'n'click, and a game that won't work in either of these categories (undecided on the style).
Doesn't really matter. For selling them, Steam would be cool, but pretty much anything would work. And I don't plan to sell the first couple.
I'm in high school. So... I haven't taken any real computer classes, programming or otherwise.
For 100 quid I have something that can play music, watch movies, and play a good chunk of emulators (especially now that GINGE has been released on it (its an interpreter that allows GP2X games to work on it (not 100 percent compatible, but its still very good))).
Homebrew wise, there are quite a few good games on there. The Giana returns port plays fabulously, as does cave story, and jump to the moon is supprisingly fun.
As for features there are quite a few there.
It has a touchscreen, rumble (though a little primative), and a G-sensor (I played Pac-man with it. Tough but cool).
Console is beautiful, the buttons are great (though the shoulders are initially odd, but you get used to it).
I will admit the thumbstick isn't perfect for some games, but it works well, (much better than the PSP's cheese grater! XD).
Looks like I need to learn some coding and try to make something great for it!
(At least try to come up with a game concept, and some backgrounds and sprites for a bit of practice)
So far I have eliminated the SDK, (seems to hard for a weak coder like me), so its either LUA or BennuGD.
(I think I'm leaning towards Bennu since some nice stuff has been made with it)
monkey will be a easy to use OO-Basic with a basic 2D module called mojo which will enable you to publish games for Win/OSX/Lin/iOS/Android/HTML5/Flash/XBox360. If you don't want to wait until it arrives or the teething problems are ironed out you can take the more mature and more capable BlitzMax as well which enables you to release apps for Win/OSX/Lin.
Unity on the other side is a good tool if you want to focus on 3D. You can code in Unityscript(Javascript), Boo(Python) and C#. The Indie version is for free and can publish for browser(plugin)/OSX/Win, Pro a.o adds the opportunity to add additional publishing platforms like iOS/Android/Wii/Xbox360/PS3 but each platform will cost you additional money so that you end up paying thousands of dollars easily. The less professional but a lot cheaper option is Stonetrip's Shiva which can publish for multiple platforms as well.
If you don't want to code then there exist a number of genre specific alternatives like Visionaire for adventure games and so on. You can use google and check out those sites a bit to get some further information.
Obviously you can code your way from scratch as well and add this engine and that framework but in 99% of the cases choosing some middleware like the ones stated above will lead you faster to a result. If you do it right you'll be able to use the learned principles in other tools/languages as well, so you don't loose anything once you might have grown out a certain tool.
3D can look cooler but it's also harder to do as this extra dimension simply adds more complexity. I would suggest starting with some 2D games and if you groked those, you can climb the 3D ladder.
I've named the Indie version of Unity already (restricted platform-, featurewise and with watermark then) or you choose yourself some language and add the engines/frameworks you'll need. In the end it will cost you more time to get something accomplished this way but if you have enough of it and don't want to work a certain amount of time to buy a product then this might be the better way for you.
I've used quite a number of middleware but mainly on Win/OSX and only with a certain professional appeal. There exist tons of half baked products out there or professional tools/engines which are free for non commercial purposes but especially for Linux you'll have to find some on your on then.
You can also try some more general purpose approaches like processing or HTML5 directly. There are many possibilities. But if you want my advice i would get some work, pay the peanuts and save me some time instead.
BlitzMax is a mature and proofen product, it's available on Linux already, there are many ressources out there, it's more capable than monkey will be at least in the beginning and for some further time, due to its open nature you can expand BlitzMax to use with almost anything (Box2D, 3D engines, Midi, ...), the syntax is compareable to what money will offer but it's also not the same (you can google the docs).
monkey is exciting if you want to target platforms beside of what BlitzMax supports, like iOS and Android for instance and if you don't want to spend thousands of dollars for doing so, it's open and free, if you want a well designed and easy to use language from a developer who has a track record since the Amiga, if you want something brand new.
Out of those two i would choose BlitzMax if i need something reliable right now and if i need features which monkey doesn't support and am happy with Win/OSX/Lin support. I would wait for monkey instead if i'm uncertain what to do, don't mind some hickups in the beginning and also want to show my games to others in the browser or would like to target mobiles as well.
Here is a link of a game done with the Beta of monkey.
Just be aware of the tiny little things like that you generally can't compile games for iOS for instance on any other platform beside of OSX, no matter which tool you use.
( I don't think it's finished )
I wouldn't recommend using C++ because i don't like it personally and as for technical reasons but maybe you want to give C# a try which would be a lot more comfortable.
But no matter which language you choose you also have to care about tons of other things like how you want to load a picture into memory, how to make it available as a texture, transform and display it, get rid of it once you don't need it anymore and so on. Beside of using some abstract layer in a middleware, you'll have to take care of all of such things in a more complex way on your own or using libs.
With C++ you can't target iOS because you need to use Objective-C or the web because of blahblah. Then again you could wrap certain functionality, ... as a beginner do yourself a favour and go with the easiest possible solution for your personal needs and try to concentrating more on the game instead of the technology running the game.
So. Monkey will be C based, though? Would it be worth it to learn C++, and add Monkey to that knowledge? (I chose C++ because it is C with a bit more, and I have a book for it.)
Nope, monkey is an OO-Basic with a easy&effective command set. Depending on the target platform it will translate or translate&compile by hitting F5. For instance for iOS it will create an Objective-C project which then wil be compiled by Apple's SDK.
I wouldn't choose a language just because i found a book of it as a) it's in no way productive if it's still the wrong language and b) you can find online manuals/tutorials/example projects/ask users on the forums for most languages.
120$!!
Do they hava de student discount? :X
(I could afford $40, maybe at a squeeze 60, but 120. Damn! it would have to be worth its weight in gold for me to bite!)
I've made an internet chess game, bejewled type game, sudoku games etc.
I also have a little experience with game maker, a friend of mine was making a
game in it but it was loading terribly slow due to the pre-loading game makers does. I wrote a wrapper for him doing just-in-time resource loading instead. Speeded up the game a lot
Currently working on a game for the android OS, will hopefully be able to put it in the google store sometime this summer
However, I'm not going to make the mistake of rushing in and buying something I barely know about (well at that price at least)
I'm going to finish reading all the documentation, look at some examples, and try to make some stuff before I decide whether or not to buy it.
But you can start with HTML-5 already just for free. The output is lot more jerky than if you publish for instance to GLFW but if you're so thight on budget you will most likely run into problems with other platforms like iOS for instance because beside of the hardware this will cost you another $100 dev licence from Apple and so on. The HTML-5 export will improve in the future, both from monkey's as well as big chunks from the browsers sides.
Monkey looks great, but I have a few issues...