2 replies to this topic

[fiddilydee]

Here is the long and short of it, I am working on a board game, I have a very basic prototype and a rule-set that I'm ironing out. It's more akin to a miniatures game than a true board game. As the rules become more complicated I am starting to think a video game might be the way to go. I want to make a very basic, prototype of the game. I want it to be turned based and I want movement to be limited to a certain number of squares per turn. I want random numbers for dice rolls and card draws, the game would mostly be a database that would be manipulated by different variables and random numbers, with minimal graphical output.

I don't know anything about coding, I could probably learn the basics if I need to but I don't even know where to begin as most tutorials are aimed towards real time type games, with free movement. I have a fair amount of experience with RPG Maker, I have done a bit of of 3d and a ton of audio/video stuff over the years so I am decent at learning new programs. I tried construct 2 but I don't think they're movement engine accommodates what I'm trying to do, and I have game Maker but I can't find any decent tutorials. I think this would be a really easy first project, and one that I can build over time, adding more mechanics and tweaking to get the balance. It would definitely beat having to keep track of all the rule changes in my head. I may decide after it's done to get some good graphics and finish the game or I may decide to re-interpret the rules back into the board game format.

Can anyone point me in the right direction here? What would be the best program? Where can I find appropriate tutorials etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fluidic ice]

A maze game or a degrees converter would be an easy first game/program lol, this sounds complex as you'd need arrays, pathfinding and a few other things. I do agree that this would be easiest to do in game maker though because things such as choosing a random card is as easy as: choose(card1,card2,card3...) and random numbers with irandom(100) which will give you a random number between 0 and 100. I would start off with the grid styled movement and from there it would be fairly easy to add small features every day until it grows into what you envision it to look like.

There's also plenty of tutorials around to get started with as well, doing a quick google search will result in many although here's a link to Nocturnes examples which have helped me in the past achieving my goals:
http://nocturnegames...om/examples.htm

Also here's two intro guides to programming:
http://gmc.yoyogames...howtopic=492028
http://gmc.yoyogames...howtopic=424410
I don't recommend starting off with drag and drop as it can lead to bad habits sometimes, as well as being very limiting. But it's there if you need it.

If you get stuck or have any questions there will always be people here to help out!
And welcome to the forums =)

Edited by fluidic ice, 21 May 2012 - 09:30 PM.

[PetzI]

You should do the "Your First Game" tutorial and the "Scrolling Shooter" tutorial: http://sandbox.yoyog.../make/tutorials

The first tutorial, "What is a good game?", has some useful concepts about game design, but is purely theoretical. "Your first game" teaches the very basics of Game Maker and "Scrolling Shooter" teaches you some basic programming themes, like variables. I've never done any of the other tutorials on the page, but they might be useful as well. Anyway, you should do at least those two in order and start messing around with Game Maker by yourself; just play around, get ideas, and make some very small games. Even if you don't ever complete them or make anything good out of them, you'll start getting practice by running into problems and being forced to find a solution. You'll learn a lot this way.

fluidic ice said you shouldn't start with Drag and Drop, but I don't see why not. On the other hand, the only reason I see for not jumping straight to GML is that the tutorials I mentioned are both in D&D. You should just do the tutorials in D&D and then look for a GML tutorial.

And finally, when you've got a problem or a question, just ask right here on the forums!

Btw, here's the link to the actual Game Maker program: http://www.yoyogames...memaker/windows

Edited by PetzI, 21 May 2012 - 09:18 PM.