[Pietepiet]

Your art is cool, and so is Vlambeer.

Thank you! I love your stuff :)

I made my own game...it is called "Go! Go! Kokopolo - Harmonious Forest Revenge"

Very cool! I still need to buy this, but it definitely caught my eye :)
Also, let me know if you guys ever need an additional animator/pixelartist ;)

Here's a few concepts for a game that a couple of friends and I have been working on.

This looks really nice. Love it!

***Bow*** it's like Megaman, SMB2 and DKC3 rolled together. And then given the art style of Cave Story but with it's own feel. I love it.

Thanks! :D

Man, I love this thread! Keep it coming, guys!

Also, do any of you ever go to GDC/IGS? We should totally meet up in March if so

[GrayFoxPL]

Hi Everyone, I made my own game...it is called "Go! Go! Kokopolo - Harmonious Forest Revenge" and was released just over a month ago for Nintedo DSiWare and the 3DS eShop... I know quite a few Gaffers are really enjoying it, and there is a |OT| here - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439604 So feel free to check the game out if it looks like your cup of tea! :) It took a team of just 2 (sometimes 3) of us to develop it...and we are very proud of how it turned out! Feel free to ask me any questions regarding the development of it of you are interested! EDIT: Click for Trailer :) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_t0MHeJZ10

Whaaat? Game with such beautiful sprites and animation was made by 2 people?
You're putting in shame everyone here. Amazing details in this game!

Btw. I loved you in SFEX. I knew you had the potential. Skullodreeeeeeeeeeeeeam!

[Mengy]

Hi Everyone, I made my own game...it is called "Go! Go! Kokopolo - Harmonious Forest Revenge" and was released just over a month ago for Nintedo DSiWare and the 3DS eShop... ... I know quite a few Gaffers are really enjoying it, and there is a |OT| here - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439604 So feel free to check the game out if it looks like your cup of tea! :) It took a team of just 2 (sometimes 3) of us to develop it...and we are very proud of how it turned out! Feel free to ask me any questions regarding the development of it of you are interested! EDIT: Click for Trailer :) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_t0MHeJZ10

Wow, good trailer, your game looks fun! I especially like how the trailer ended, lol! I hope it sells very well.

[Mista Koo]

I've always wanted to start making games and have 10 years worth of ideas but never really did anything. Although my plans are getting a bit serious recently.

But I wanted to ask about what IDE/engine to go for? The game is mainly gonna be downloadable freeware for PC, but I would like to use something expandable. Most of the games I'll be making are 2D/2.5D sidescrollers.
My first choice was Unity although it doesn't natively handle 2D as well as 3D, but it would make switching to 2.5D for other games easier. XNA is a good option except that I don't think you can put out free XBL indie games, can you?
Also why do a lot of you here go from scratch rather than use an engine? Are there any advantages (for such small scale projects) that I'm not aware of? I do have a fair programming background from college and I'm going to do some programming at work.

Jocchan I originally registered here (~1.5 years ago) for DBII but lost interest by the time I got approved. I used to lurk that thread everyday.
I also sort of made a design for bro-ken if that counts as a contribution :P

[Blizzard]

I've always wanted to start making games and have 10 years worth of ideas but never really did anything. Although my plans are getting a bit serious recently. But I wanted to ask about what IDE/engine to go for? The game is mainly gonna be downloadable freeware for PC, but I would like to use something expandable. Most of the games I'll be making are 2D/2.5D sidescrollers. My first choice was Unity although it doesn't natively handle 2D as well as 3D, but it would make switching to 2.5D for other games easier. XNA is a good option except that I don't think you can put out free XBL indie games, can you? Also why do a lot of you here go from scratch rather than use an engine? Are there any advantages (for such small scale projects) that I'm not aware of? I do have a fair programming background from college and I'm going to do some programming at work. Jocchan I originally registered here (~1.5 years ago) for DBII but lost interest by the time I got approved. I used to lurk that thread everyday. I also sort of made a design for bro-ken if that counts as a contribution :P

I think learning about creating an engine is one of the main advantages to creating it from scratch, plus you get control over whatever you want. Of course, if I made awful design decisions making my own engine, maybe I'm teaching myself very bad lessons, so it could cut either way. At any rate, if I do 3D stuff, I use an engine, but for 2D stuff it doesn't seem as impossible to write one's own engine.

Or if you're Notch, you can just write your own pseudo-Doom pseudo-3D engine from memory in a weekend. =P

XNA games can be distributed freely to Windows people, I believe, using the XNA redistributable.

[FoxSpirit]

Hi Everyone, I made my own game...it is called "Go! Go! Kokopolo - Harmonious Forest Revenge" and was released just over a month ago for Nintedo DSiWare and the 3DS eShop... I know quite a few Gaffers are really enjoying it, and there is a |OT| here - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439604 So feel free to check the game out if it looks like your cup of tea! :) It took a team of just 2 (sometimes 3) of us to develop it...and we are very proud of how it turned out! Feel free to ask me any questions regarding the development of it of you are interested! EDIT: Click for Trailer :) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_t0MHeJZ10

Wait, wait... YOU made this??

As I won't get a 3DS in the soonish future, any port plans? The game looks awesome.

[Nuclear Dimorphism]

For a couple years now I've been working on creating my own indie studio. It's finally gotten going, and we're working on an XBLA game (so I guess not every developer is deserting XBLA?) It's too soon to show it off, so instead here's a flash game I made earlier this year:

www.kongregate.com/games/pouchmouse/edmus

It's an asynchronous multiplayer Cannabalt game I cooked up while experimenting with web programming. Did it make money? Yes, technically, but not that much. Still, I had a blast working on it, and the feedback from fans more than justified the time it took to make it.

[beril]

I think learning about creating an engine is one of the main advantages to creating it from scratch, plus you get control over whatever you want. Of course, if I made awful design decisions making my own engine, maybe I'm teaching myself very bad lessons, so it could cut either way. At any rate, if I do 3D stuff, I use an engine, but for 2D stuff it doesn't seem as impossible to write one's own engine. Or if you're Notch, you can just write your own pseudo-Doom pseudo-3D engine from memory in a weekend. =P XNA games can be distributed freely to Windows people, I believe, using the XNA redistributable.

A 3D engine really doesn't have to be that complex. If you're a somewhat experienced programmer you can probably whip up a simple 3d engine in week or two by just studying some basic OpenGL. If your dead serious on releasing a game for profit on PC, it might be a bit hard to make it stable on all possible hardware, but otherwise I say go for it.
Using a middleware engine can be very frustrating as well. It'll force you to work in a specific way and they usually have a ton of features that you won't use and don't want, which will only get in the way. Most of all it's very fun and rewarding to make your own engine, and you have complete control and don't have to care about any licenses, and you have complete bragging rights for your game.

[Feep]

The plot thickens. If this expands and gets big, I'm going to regret giving you music gratis xD

<3

[Mista Koo]

So maybe I should've emphasized this part, how should I start?
I'm worried that making my own engine would be too ambitious and the project never gets complete :/

XNA games can be distributed freely to Windows people, I believe, using the XNA redistributable.

I meant for Xbox, since most engines allow free games distribution.

[Blizzard]

So maybe I should've emphasized this part, how should I start? I'm worried that making my own engine would be too ambitious and the project never gets complete :/ I meant for Xbox, since most engines allow free games distribution.

I don't know any way to distribute free XBox games unless it's some sort of homebrew stuff. Assuming you target making a simple/free PC game then, what sort of genre is it? What's the scope? I understand you might not want to give your idea away, but if it's 2D and limited scope, or 3D with very limited scope, that is doable for a beginner game.

If you have bigger dreams, that's great! However, I'm someone with horrible problems of self-discipline when working on my own hobby projects, so I highly recommend starting with something simpler. The classic suggestions are things that may have already been mentioned -- making a simple text adventure, or a tetris/pong/breakout clone.

I feel it it is hard to recommend something specific without knowing anything about what you want to do. If you want to learn a programming language, there are some suggestions already. C#/XNA should be "expandable" in the sense that as far as I know, some existing downloadable XBox360 and Steam games use it and have sold copies. If you want to prototype something in 2D without doing much programming, there is GameMaker and Unity available for free. If you want to dabble in 3D without much programming, there is the UDK, Source, and CryEngine 3.

[Kalnos]

So maybe I should've emphasized this part, how should I start?

All you need to get a game on XLIG is $100 to register as a developer and to get your game approved on the service. Not too bad.

I have no idea how long you have been programming/scripting but the first thing you will need to learn are the basics of programming. C# might be a good language choice for you since it can be used both in Unity and with XNA. Starting by making a game isn't going to go very well, trust me, I think creating a game is much harder than my programming day job. If you're comfortable with basic OOP though, then I would choose between XNA/Unity and try to learn the tool/framework to make a simple game (I.E. Pong), that will go a long way towards starting.

Why do people opt to use XNA instead of a predefined tool/engine like Unity? Flexibility, XNA is a framework not an engine. Unity will provide you with the ability to make something quickly and takes care of a lot of the drudge work of making a game (It isn't easy to make your own component system like Unity has). Honestly, Unity is a good tool for prototyping even if you aren't going to use it for a full game.

[charsace]

I don't know any way to distribute free XBox games unless it's some sort of homebrew stuff. Assuming you target making a simple/free PC game then, what sort of genre is it? What's the scope? I understand you might not want to give your idea away, but if it's 2D and limited scope, or 3D with very limited scope, that is doable for a beginner game. If you have bigger dreams, that's great! However, I'm someone with horrible problems of self-discipline when working on my own hobby projects, so I highly recommend starting with something simpler. The classic suggestions are things that may have already been mentioned -- making a simple text adventure, or a tetris/pong/breakout clone. I feel it it is hard to recommend something specific without knowing anything about what you want to do. If you want to learn a programming language, there are some suggestions already. C#/XNA should be "expandable" in the sense that as far as I know, some existing downloadable XBox360 and Steam games use it and have sold copies.

With xna you can learn a lot, with the difference being the things you are doing are easier to get working than they would be in C++ DX/OGL.

[Feep]

I would point out that XNA is completely free. The $100 fee is only for when you decide to publish on XBLIG.

[Dark Octave]

Wow, some amazing looking games here. Go Go Kokopolo looks amazing and so does the concept from Super Giant Games. I'm also interested in the Tactics Ogre style game posted on page 4.

The game I'm working on is called No No and the Cursed Treasure. We are about 85% done so we'll have more screenshots and a trailer out this month.



It's a trip seeing the Go Go trailer because for a while, I was going to animate No No's run the same way with the Sonic legs.

[Kalnos]

I would also like to add that SFML is a great API for 2D games and is nearing it's 2.0 release. I have used it with both C++ and C# and it has bindings for other languages.

[Forsaken82]

I was able to find a more complete version of my car game in video form that I can show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlNu82vQYI8

[kingschiebi]

So maybe I should've emphasized this part, how should I start? I'm worried that making my own engine would be too ambitious and the project never gets complete :/

Even if it did sound weird, but make simply text adventure similar to a MUD and build upon that by added mobs and some interaction possibilities.
That might also be a good way to get familiar with objects and inheritance (make a mob object and derive specific monsters to add individual traits)

Another good start (or possibly build-up exercise) would be to try and simply do a Pong clone. Good start to go for simple graphics, collision detection and a render loop.

After that, why not add multiplayer by taking a look into server/client models (try a REST webservice or a really simple socket implementation for a single connection only)

I'd love to recommend a good book, but my books are all heavily outdated (mostly O'Reilly stuff, if you just want a primer at a direction) and the more recent ones only cover high-level topics and/or very specific areas.

If you endured that (don't worry, it can actually be fun), you'll have a lot more knowledge about what you can do and how long it might take to do more complex things.
The most important advice would be - start very, very simple

You can also go for things that are not game related at all, but I assume that other things might be less motivational (i.e. I started writing perl mods for YaBB - a sort of predecessor to phpBB).

[TheCongressman1]

Go Go Kokopolo looks amazing and so does the concept from Super Giant Games.

This looks really nice. Love it!

Thanks a ton, guys!

As far as the programming goes, I have it to where the player can move around and jump. I just can't get past that part. I've still got a LOT to learn. It doesn't help that my friends that were in on the project no longer seem interested. I'm pretty much running this show solo. I won't let it die though, some day or another I will finish it.

[mr. puppy]

there's a lot of good drawing in that game you've got going

[qq more]

Great to see there's so many indie devs on GAF. Might as well share a bit of info about my own game.

The final name hasn't been completely decided yet (it's called "Prototype N" at the moment). It's a freeware 16-bit-inspired platformer with a few Mega Man-like elements (such as shoot and slide, everything else is original).

I'll post snapshots later but for now I'll post this level tile-set I made a few months ago:



Don't mind the layout, it's not in-game and just shows off how the tile-set looks when pieced together.

[Bit-Bit]

I just started Construct2 this week and I've got to say, it's a very awesome menu based system for designing games. An Indie Game Blog I followed showed a trailer for a game that was made using this engine so I figured I'd give it a try. Man, it's really easy to use and the best part is that it outputs in HTML5 so you can upload it to Google's App Store.

Here's their website for those who are interested. http://www.scirra.com/

[kamspy]

What the hell did happen to Dudebro?

[Andrex]

I just started Construct2 this week and I've got to say, it's a very awesome menu based system for designing games. An Indie Game Blog I followed showed a trailer for a game that was made using this engine so I figured I'd give it a try. Man, it's really easy to use and the best part is that it outputs in HTML5 so you can upload it to Google's App Store. Here's their website for those who are interested. http://www.scirra.com/

HTML5 you say? Hmm...

[Dark Octave]

Great to see there's so many indie devs on GAF. Might as well share a bit of info about my own game. The final name hasn't been completely decided yet (it's called "Prototype N" at the moment). It's a freeware 16-bit-inspired platformer with a few Mega Man-like elements (such as shoot and slide, everything else is original). I'll post snapshots later but for now I'll post this level tile-set I made a few months ago: Don't mind the layout, it's not in-game and just shows off how the tile-set looks when pieced together.

You had me at "Megaman" and that screenshot looks sick. I can't wait to see more.

[likeGdid]

I just started Construct2 this week and I've got to say, it's a very awesome menu based system for designing games. An Indie Game Blog I followed showed a trailer for a game that was made using this engine so I figured I'd give it a try. Man, it's really easy to use and the best part is that it outputs in HTML5 so you can upload it to Google's App Store. Here's their website for those who are interested. http://www.scirra.com/

I've been playing with Construct Classic for a bit, and I definitely liked what I saw. The event sheet is pretty intuitive. Although I'm a bit hesitant to jumping onto Construct 2, since Classic looks to be pretty satisfactory the way it is.

[Andrex]

Wow, Construct 2 is fricking fabulous.

[Jocchan]

What the hell did happen to Dudebro?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=146 :)

[Drkirby]

Eh, it isn't much, but I am currently fiddling with a FE Like game that randomly generates levels. I think I got decent random level generator, but that is just a small piece in the puzzle. Still need to show it to a few friends, and fine tune it. I don't like how the rivers are coming out. The random Patches of desert, forests, and lakes are pretty nice, the mountain/hills look decentish too. Also, I need to figure out what should be the min and max sizes for the maps. Right now working with 15-75 being the range.

[Andrex]

Really, this program is blowing my mind right now. I think I'll definitely use it for my next game.

[Bit-Bit]

Really, this program is blowing my mind right now. I think I'll definitely use it for my next game.

Yeah, I'm so glad that I found it cause I've tried several other systems like it and the closest one I could find was Game Factory. But Construct2 looks cleaner and allows for touch interface. Plus it outputs in HTMl5 so it's future proof.

I'm not a programmer, but this could be my ticket into the Android and iOS app stores.

[Jocchan]

Great to see there's so many indie devs on GAF. Might as well share a bit of info about my own game. The final name hasn't been completely decided yet (it's called "Prototype N" at the moment). It's a freeware 16-bit-inspired platformer with a few Mega Man-like elements (such as shoot and slide, everything else is original). I'll post snapshots later but for now I'll post this level tile-set I made a few months ago: Don't mind the layout, it's not in-game and just shows off how the tile-set looks when pieced together.

The tileset looks beautiful.

[Andrex]

Yeah, I'm so glad that I found it cause I've tried several other systems like it and the closest one I could find was Game Factory. But Construct2 looks cleaner and allows for touch interface. Plus it outputs in HTMl5 so it's future proof. I'm not a programmer, but this could be my ticket into the Android and iOS app stores.

Same here, I've tried a lot but always fell back to pure text editors for code. But this is incredible. I'm more of a coder than an artist and this is making me rethink that.

The HTML5 support is just the tops, I probably wouldn't have even looked at it if it hadn't done that. But thankfully it did. I remember the original Construct getting some hype before it came out, but I never paid much attention. Now I'm completely on board.

[Diablohead]

I work part time in a regular job (well more like 30 hours a week) but in 2 months I plan to release my first iOS game. It's 2d and it's a metroidvania, already sunk over a year into it on and off and it's shaping up really well :)

I do plan to post about it soon.

[Postman]

I made a game for the Android market. Its a high score shooter that just keeps throwing more and more stuff at you. Its buggy lol. I put it out for way too much right when the 99 cent craze hit.



there is a demo if you want to try. It is called Xel.



I actually have a opengl es shooter with real stages in the works but my real job keeps me from finishing it. Maybe one day.

[Songbird]

Man, it's really easy to use and the best part is that it outputs in HTML5 so you can upload it to Google's App Store. Here's their website for those who are interested. http://www.scirra.com/

HTML5, huh? Definitely fights for attention with Java and Unity now for web game development.

Great to see there's so many indie devs on GAF. Might as well share a bit of info about my own game. The final name hasn't been completely decided yet (it's called "Prototype N" at the moment). It's a freeware 16-bit-inspired platformer with a few Mega Man-like elements (such as shoot and slide, everything else is original). I'll post snapshots later but for now I'll post this level tile-set I made a few months ago: Don't mind the layout, it's not in-game and just shows off how the tile-set looks when pieced together.

So many DOS and Amiga memories!

[qq more]

The tileset looks beautiful.

Thanks :>

Looking forward to the Dudebro game by the way!

So many DOS and Amiga memories!

Interesting enough, I've never played an Amiga game (nor seen many pics of the games) but this is actually the second time someone brought that up. I should look up the games sometime.

Thanks too by the way!

[Songbird]

Interesting enough, I've never played an Amiga game (nor seen many pics of the games) but this is actually the second time someone brought that up. I should look up the games sometime. Thanks too by the way!

The shading of the rocks and hills remind me of games on that system, like a strange mix of Shadow of the Beast and Superfrog.

[hoverX]

Been slowly working on an iOS game with some friends. Probably wouldn't interest most of you unless you've got kids in the 3-5 year age range.

[kevinski]

Before reading a lot of the posts in this thread, I didn't think to mention that I've been involved in the development of several games. I mostly just throw out ideas or give my opinion on other people's ideas, but it's nice to have some input on what ends up in a game.

I've given input and/or assisted with play-testing the following games, all of which are made by Del Duio of DXF Games:

- Hasslevania (I've also archived the GameFAQ's thread that spans the game's development.)

- Hasslevania 2 (This one isn't finished yet, but it's already a huge improvement over the original.)

- Neil Peart Mission: The Camera Eye (I don't recall having given much - if any - input on this one, as I'm not familiar with RUSH. I did play-test it, though. XD)

[Blizzard]

Thanks to the mention of SFML in this thread, I tried something in response to a friend asking a question about drawing pixels. They wanted to write pixels (generated from some application-specific code) and display the image on the screen. Not animated or anything, even. I figured that is an easy test for a game/graphics library, right?

It took me an hour or two of poking around the internet to basically end up with this:
http://pastebin.com/rS01z68f

Main problems encountered:
* SFML is not prebuilt for Visual Studio Express 2010, so your best bet is to load the VS2008 project, ignore any errors, rebuild certain libraries, copy them to the right place, configure your project per the instructions, and then build your project itself.

* Apparently the stable release 1.6 does not have UpdatePixels like 2.0 does. So I tried using LoadFromPixels, but apparently using LoadFromPixels inside the main loop maxed out one of my CPU cores and dropped the frame rate to 16 fps no matter what, even if I tried a 512x512 texture. I probably spent half an hour alone trying to figure out the weird CPU usage spike from using this function. I guess it's making a new texture each time, but I wouldn't expect even that to take so much CPU.

So at first glance it seems like a nice-looking library, and once you get a project setup it should be easy to do stuff, but I feel like there should be some way to update raw pixel data and display it once per frame without going crazy. I -might- try downloading a 2.0 development snapshot tomorrow and looking into UpdatePixels, but that's the sort of thing I really wouldn't want to recommend to someone trying to learn basic programming. =P

[Drkirby]

Yeah, I had feeling you misinterpreted what I want. I simply wanted to make an image.

And, after taking more time to make the "small" function to convert the 2D array of map tiles to a BMP image then the current random map maker, I can now easily show off my in progress random map maker (Half the time, the BMP thing just fails, the image data gets corrupted, but I am not sure why. Most likely something with the offsets or the size being overloaded, but I don't know)

Here is the output in text form:

pppppppppppppDpDDDpDDDDDWWWDDDDDDDpDDDpDpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
ppppppppppppDDDDDDDDDDDDWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppDDDDDDDDDDDDDWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDpppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
ppppppppppppDDDDDDDDDDDDWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppppDpDDDpDDDDDDDpDDDDDDDpDDDpDpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
ppppppppppppppppDpppDDDpDpppDpDDDpppDppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppppppWpppWpDpppppppppDpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
ppppppppppppppWWWpWWWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppWpWWWWWWWWWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppDppppWWWWWWWWWWWWWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
ppDpDDDWpWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pDDDDDWWWDWWWWWWWWWWWWWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
DDDDDWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWpppWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
DDDDWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWpWWWpWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
DWDWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDWWWWWWWpWWWpWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
DWDWWWDWWWWWWWDppWpWWWpppWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pDDDWDDDWWWpWpppppppWppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
ppDpDDDppWpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppDpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

And the same map in image from:


(Yes, the image is mirror flipped, BMP save the rows last to first for some reason, it wasn't worth the effort to correct for what I am using it for)

Here are some other maps made from it:












They would be 2D maps for a tactics game. Do they look a bit overly artificial?

If you can't tell, light green is planes, dark green is forest, blue is water, yellowish is desert, light brown is hills, dark brown is mountains.

Early work stuff, but one of my friends said I should first try and make sure I can easily make random maps. I still need to add in the bits to add in some stuff like towns, castles, and towers, and also some code to add in bridges over "impassible" bodies of water. I also think I am going to add in a few more functions to pepper the map with some single forests and mountains.

When I first started generating the lakes, I ran into the fun problem that I more or less caused the process to run at 4^n-1. The 1st square would make 4, those 4 would make 4 more each, and so on and so forth, until it got to the "Kill" generation (The recursive function kept track of how many times it had been called by the current version). These could get upto something like 40 though, so you have the function get called something like 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 times. Now, CPUs are fast, but they aren't that fast. The main way I made that bit of the program faster, was simply going "If there is a water tile in the space you are going to create one, don't bother". The fact that the later the generation, the less of a chance a water tile would be made was already part of the code too.

The smaller maps definitely look more interesting then the larger ones, I could ether lower the max map size, or make the larger maps do more rolls for the content that isn't the main tile.

[Mista Koo]

Ok seems like I'll be going for Unity. It's like a midpoint between something like Construct and XNA, I don't think I need that much flexibility but yet I think I'd be more comfortable coding when needed.

For now it sounds like the only merit of starting from scratch is the discipline which I don't really care about :P Using an engine would require less work and therefore more chances of actually delivering something.
I might try XNA after getting the hang of actual game development. I don't think I'm experienced enough in programming and requiring too much to learn will hinder the progress.

Thank you all for your help.

I don't know any way to distribute free XBox games unless it's some sort of homebrew stuff. Assuming you target making a simple/free PC game then, what sort of genre is it? What's the scope? I understand you might not want to give your idea away, but if it's 2D and limited scope, or 3D with very limited scope, that is doable for a beginner game. If you have bigger dreams, that's great! However, I'm someone with horrible problems of self-discipline when working on my own hobby projects, so I highly recommend starting with something simpler. The classic suggestions are things that may have already been mentioned -- making a simple text adventure, or a tetris/pong/breakout clone. I feel it it is hard to recommend something specific without knowing anything about what you want to do. If you want to learn a programming language, there are some suggestions already. C#/XNA should be "expandable" in the sense that as far as I know, some existing downloadable XBox360 and Steam games use it and have sold copies. If you want to prototype something in 2D without doing much programming, there is GameMaker and Unity available for free. If you want to dabble in 3D without much programming, there is the UDK, Source, and CryEngine 3.

I've already said it was a sidescroller so didn't think it was necessary elaborate more (it's probably action platformer/metroidvania).
My objectives are a bit hazy so I can't get them through well. But the main goal of this game is to get things going, I just want to try and experiment with a bunch of things without following a strict design or limitations. It's just that the Engine vs Framework argument got me lost.

I'll post snapshots later but for now I'll post this level tile-set I made a few months ago: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16312377/pro...intileset5.png Don't mind the layout, it's not in-game and just shows off how the tile-set looks when pieced together.

That's really well done, kudos.

[kevinski]

That's an interesting point, and the reason why I find games with lots of randomized replayability appealing from a design standpoint. I have lots of ideas for games I'd like to create, but the ideas at the very top of my list are the ones that are random or procedurally generated. The games that I could play myself and have it be a somewhat different experience every time. It's why games like Minecraft and even rogue-likes enthrall me. Sure I like playing them, but it's their DESIGN points that fascinate me. You could create a thousand Minecraft world maps and every one of them will be new, different, and full of exploration possibilities. I've played Stone Soup dozens of times and I've never won the game, nor experienced all it has to offers. I can't count how many hours I've put into Elder Scrolls games (although they accomplish this more by sheer amount of content). So many games today are canned story arcs on rails with very little flexible content. I'm more interested in creating something dynamic. Something that I the designer can play myself and still have "woah" moments to experience. I want to create something I can't just buy and something I can't "beat" and be done with. Of course, that's also quite the challenge, and most likely why I'll never design a full game of my own. But, it's good to have lofty goals to strive for. Like the creator of Dwarf Fortress. For him that game is a labor of love, a dream, and he is making it mostly because it's a game he wants to play. That's what I'm aiming for. To be able to do something like, to make a game and play it as well, and to even make a living doing it, well that sounds like the perfect job to me.

I've been considering randomization (or procedural generation) as an option, but I'm speaking more of the storyline in the sense of first experiences. As far as game play goes, my only real concern with creating and testing a game would be getting tired of playing the same thing over and over again. Thankfully, one of the first games that I plan on making (if and when I make a game, anyway) is one that I probably couldn't get sick of, and it'll actually be an adaptation of one of those older Tiger LCD-style games (although this one isn't made by Tiger) that simply isn't available in any other format.

I'm a huge fan of games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. In terms of a professional game-making career, my ultimately "dream gig" would be to create a remake of that game. Unless I get myself out there and somehow get hired by Konami, though, I doubt that'll ever happen. Haha. I'd love to make a game in that style, however. I suppose that I could maybe base my game around that style of game play, but allow support for user-made story packs that'd give me the surprise element that I'd seek in playing the game. Who knows?

I do have a surplus of great game ideas, however, so I have a feeling that I'd have serious trouble with completing any one project. While taking notes as to what sort of features I'd incorporate into a game, I find myself realizing that some of them would work well in other games that I'd like to make, so I tend to start up new "projects" by taking separate notes. It's all so messy.

One thing I've definitely decided upon, however, is that I'll never "finish" a game in the traditional sense. I do have some programming background, although it's largely Web-centric. I'm an optimization freak, and I plan on continually remaking any game that I "ship" and improving each one with each new release.

[Jocchan]

Jocchan I originally registered here (~1.5 years ago) for DBII but lost interest by the time I got approved. I used to lurk that thread everyday. I also sort of made a design for bro-ken if that counts as a contribution :P

Whoops, sorry I missed this. Could I see this design, please?

[Drkirby]

Well, decided to increase a bunch of the numbers, and the map both looks pretty interesting, and a nightmare to actually have to play on:


Could make nice long version of my current idea with something like this. In fact, it does give me a random minor idea.

[Mista Koo]

Whoops, sorry I missed this. Could I see this design, please?

This one.
I should've probably posted in the OT, but I didn't know it was bumped recently.

[Jocchan]

This one. I should've probably posted in the OT, but I didn't know it was bumped recently.

Oh, I remember this one. Haha, looks good. In the end, we went for Honolulu's revised design, with some small tweaks, but it's likely that some more will be made by the time we get to that part.
It needs to be freakin' huge.

[flkk]

Well, decided to increase a bunch of the numbers, and the map both looks pretty interesting, and a nightmare to actually have to play on: Could make nice long version of my current idea with something like this. In fact, it does give me a random minor idea.

Regardless of game/genre, I think that map looks interesting to play on.. it makes me want to explore it. Not convinced by the mountains however, those 1-tile widge ridges you have going through the map seem really thin (unless this is some crazy fantasy environment).

[qq more]

Well, decided to increase a bunch of the numbers, and the map both looks pretty interesting, and a nightmare to actually have to play on: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3496710/Maps/largeWorld.png Could make nice long version of my current idea with something like this. In fact, it does give me a random minor idea.

That looks really cool at least.