Developing my first game

[manunderground]

I am an experienced programmer but am new to game programming, so I am interested in hearing from y'all about some of the best practices associated with the trade. For instance, I really don't know how to go about preparing artwork for games. I've heard that a lot of people use tile maps, but I don't know how to construct them or what to do with results. Can someone shed some light on how experienced game developer's go about making a game?

Thanks!

[Nexic]

Really what you're asking for is a ton of very general information. Your best bet is to find some tutorials online or buy a book to get you started. I doubt anyone on here is going to come even close to explaining everything you want to know.

[PrefixEx]

Nexic is pretty much spot on. But I think there is some info that can help get you in right direction; what type of game (genre of game) are you building?

[Mattias Gustavsson]

Originally Posted by manunderground

some of the best practices associated with the trade

There aren't many, if any. It's not an established trade yet, so best practices haven't been established. Depending on who you ask, you'll get wildly different answers, so always make sure to get information from many sources, and then try various approaches yourself, to find what works best. It's quite a slow process, but there's no real alternatives, unfortunately.

[manunderground]

Thanks for the replies guys. Maybe you're right and there are no established practices/tools, but let me try to be more specific. Maybe then you can point me in the right direction.

I'd like to make a game that has uses a tile map to construct the level. I've seen one tile map editor here: http://www.mapeditor.org/. However, before I can really use this thing I need to understand how a tile map fits into the big picture. Furthermore, there may be some other editor which is the "right" one. Finally, I don't know how to make tile sets for the tile map (at least in what I consider to be a reasonable amount of time). So, I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that other game developers have used tile maps before and was curious about what they did; I'd love to hear (or read) their experiences if they were written down anywhere.

Is that a little clearer? I can go buy a book if necessary, but it seems like for virtually every other programming related topic there is a plethora of resources online discussing the problem from all angles -- could it be that game programming lacks those resources?

Thanks again!

[Nikos Beck]

What sort of game are you thinking of developing? There might be someone on the forum who's working on that type of project that might be able to give you a little guidance.

For example, if it's a side-scroller you can use tiles but there are 2D engines that allow for rigid physics so you can have odd-shaped obstacles, complex characters interacting with the world.

You posted as I was writing.

I use Torque Game Builder so building tile maps is very easy. I create separate images of all the same size. I then use the editor to link the separate images together. They're still separate files so I can modify and change them at any time. Once they're linked I drop into tile-map mode and paint the level. I can overlay maps as well so that I can allow a player to go behind some tiles but not others.

[manunderground]

Sorry for not saying so sooner; I'd like to make a 2-d platformer. I have found a framework, http://slick.cokeandcode.com/, but am not wedded to using it; in fact I'd be just as happy to write in C, C++, or python.

[S2P]

I guess it really depends on what game engine you are going to use. You can create artwork on a 2D game, by using a paint program, create any border whitespace transparent, and then use the game engine tools to create a border around your character or object to give it collision detection that is more accurate on the boundries. It also depends on what type of game you are thinking of doing.

[RealityGuy]

You might check out XNA, its a game framework in C#, so it has allot of nice snipits and templates setup for you. I personally don't prefer using it, but you might it works for you. Its seems like 2D games are the most popular genre that are created with it as well. As for your question regarding 2D game content, they are sometimes referred to as a sprite sheets, where you have all your game art on one or two image files, then you specify what section of the image that contains the image you want in you code, and then you add it into your game code. So for example, XNA takes are of the tileing for you, it tiles the selected part of the sprite sheet and adds it to the game screen. sort of a handy and quick way to do it.

Hope this helps some, its kinda late here so im not sure if im being to clear or not.

[Mattias Gustavsson]

I think it's a bit unfair to mention XNA/C# without mentioning the HUGE runtime dependency it incurrs.

So, be aware that if you use XNA/C#, your customers will have to download hundreds of MB of .NET runtime to be able to play your game, and that's the kind of thing that will lose you sales...

[RealityGuy]

my mistake, I didn't leave that part out on purpose, just made a late post.

[Backov]

Originally Posted by Mattias Gustavsson

I think it's a bit unfair to mention XNA/C# without mentioning the HUGE runtime dependency it incurrs.

So, be aware that if you use XNA/C#, your customers will have to download hundreds of MB of .NET runtime to be able to play your game, and that's the kind of thing that will lose you sales...

That's wrong. I am making an XNA game with my current company, and I believe our total download is something like 75 megs, that includes the .NET 2.0 installer, the XNA installer, the DX9C web installer, the game and the assets.

Yes, it's big for a casual game, but it's also seriously overkill for a casual game.

[Xymbiot3]

If you're planning on making your own game (i.e. starting a team, developing an idea), I'd make sure you understand how to define a suitable project scope. For example, if you have 2 people (an artist and a programmer) and plan on making the next World of Warcraft I can almost guarantee your project will 1) fail, 2) take 20 years. That's assuming your creating all your own stuff. As the others mentioned, using the XNA GS API or Torque will reduce the difficulty of creating your game and potentially the time it would take to make that game. Just make sure you aren't trying to make some massive game starting out, start simple.

I believe XNA Development has some tile-based tutorials if you are looking into tile-based XNA games.

[Davis]

For a non-XNA approach, I remember that SAMS Publishing had a "Game Programming in 24 Hours (or 21 Days)" book that was pretty darn good for a "My First Game" approach. I've always been a fan of the SAMS books, and I would certainly recommend them for an introduction into making a game.

If I remember correctly, the demo game it teaches you with is a tile-based 2D game. It may be right up your alley.

[manunderground]

Thanks Davis that does sound like it'd be the right thing. One question about the book, does the game run across platforms or does it require DirectX?

[akash_9105]

Depending on who you ask, you'll get wildly different answers, so always make sure to get information from many sources, and then try various approaches yourself, to find what works best.

[angie1313]

My first advice is to ask as much people in the industry for advice as you can like this forum for example and then use what will work best for what you want and can do.