My 1st 2d game

[est000dog]

i like to show 1 picture(it's just a beginning) of it and please feel free to comment it...
thx

removed for some time...

[code_glitch]

Hmm. Its a bit hard to see what I'm looking at. Would that be a 2d tile based map?

[est000dog]

2d tile based world :(

[WILL]

Would this be an isometric style 2D game? Isometric graphics are a bit of a challenge, but they do look really neat and make for a unique style of gameplay.

What type of game are you planning? RTS, Squad-based combat, platformer, scrolling top-view shooter, god game? :)

[est000dog]

i have realy no idea what im doing.... :'(

[WILL]

lol well it is always good to experiment. ;) What I honestly suggest you do though, is stop yourself now. Grab a piece of paper (a nice 8.5 x 10 inch size is always great, grid, lined or plain, whatever you like best) and start to draw out your ideas on the paper before moving on. Draw what you want the tiled game to look like, draw in little foot notes for yourself. Think of what types of game you have played and enjoy playing the most. This will help you to just come up with a concept. Then once you have a basic idea of what you want then start to code.

It never hurts to start on paper first. A lot of the more experienced developers/programmers here at PGD do this approach since a lot of their games have a whole bunch of ideas and features that they want to put into the game, so it's a good practice to start on early. If you can do all the planning digitally using other programs that simulate this process, that's cool too, but sometimes it doesn't compare to the original old fashioned creative tools you can hold in your hands. :)

And if you make some cool sketches feel free to scan them and post them here, if you can. We love seeing that stuff!

[est000dog]

...
paper good hint, but i think that i have huge problem...
my only tools are pascal and notepad...
what tools you use, don't you wanna say that you make all that grafic in pascal...

[jdarling]

what tools you use, don't you wanna say that you make all that grafic in pascal...
Actually, no...

Typically another tools, paint, paint++, gimp, photoshop, or some 3D->2D tool is used for sprites and graphics. Simple basic graphics are sometimes done in code, but in general graphics, music, and other sound effects and other media are not hard coded.

I'm going to agree with Will on the paper bit. It makes life SOOOOOO much easier. There is a lot to work through and complete in a 2D game of just about any kind (even something as simple as my Pentominoes game) that paper just helps to keep you grounded in reality.

Start with a few basic questions:
What types of games do you like playing?
What skills do you posses; dev, graphics, music, soundfx, story, etc...
What skills can you (honestly) afford to hire out?
What skills can you live without :)

From that list, knowing this is your first game, find the EASIEST game and start with 1/2 of it. You already seem to have a rendering engine, and that's a good start. Take baby steps and post progress often, that way you can get quick and (most importantly) free feedback. Also, don't think your going to finish something in a week or two, it takes time and the more time typically leads to better quality.

Just my 2 cents :)

- Jeremy

[est000dog]

Also, don't think your going to finish something in a week or two, it takes time and the more time typically leads to better quality.

Just my 2 cents :)

- Jeremy

i have done 1 game already (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic=6299.0, made that more than 5 months), but now i wanna make 2D game in graf or something like that, not like my 1st in ASCII

[djcityscapes]

graf = graphics?

[est000dog]

sorry for bad english but just that is what i like to say

[WILL]

Well to be honest, of the first few games I made while learning to program with real graphics (non-ASCII) were simple clones of TRON, Arkanoid, Pong, Scorched Earth, a scrolling space shooter, etc. All of them I just drew basic shapes and lines to make up the objects in the game.

The basic idea was that I was just learning how to make objects and move them around the screen and detect when they impacted each other or the walls, etc. Maybe this approach is best for your next game. I don't think a tiled graphics game would serve you best as your first game outside of using ASCII. Try something simple like an old classic arcade game from the 80s first. It won't be a best seller on Steam, but that's not really the point it's for you to have fun and learn new things so your next project or projects can be even better.

Oh, but do post your progress here though. Sometimes the simple games can be fun too. (Remembering my old Arkanoid clone and Sky Blast/scrolling shooter games... :D)

[est000dog]

i downloaded "Lazarus", but i dont understand nothing about it and uninstalled it and tryed notepad++ and it's way much better than lazarus
pain++ looks old and i prefear to use my PS CS4 but can you kive me any 3d program thats runns on vista nice(3Ds max 9 failed)

[dazappa]

i downloaded "Lazarus", but i dont understand nothing about it...
pain++ looks old and i prefear to use my PS CS4 but can you kive me any 3d program thats runns on vista nice(3Ds max 9 failed)

Do you think Lazarus is a graphics editor?

For 3D modeling, check out blender (http://blender.org). It certainly isn't user friendly though, but it's free.

[WILL]

Lazarus is what is called an IDE which is short for integrated development environment, which is just a big winded wordy way of saying it's a cool program that you type your code into and save before you compile it. ;)

In Lazarus you have to first create a project before you start. Go to File -> New... and select Program NOT Application or you'll have a whole bunch of stuff you don't need. From there you go into the Code Editor and just write your game using whatever API you want, I'd recommend using SDL or for Pascal users JEDI-SDL. (http://jedi-sdl.pascalgamedevelopment.com/)

Learn how to install and setup JEDI-SDL for Lazarus from the documentation OR by visiting the JEDI-SDL forum here at PGD. I believe my small list of instructions is still a sticky at the top of the forum. That'll help you get started with using 2D graphics for the first time. There is lots to learn about SDL so look at the included demos and read the tutorials and documentation. There are also other tutorials out there that can help teach you to use it in lessons.

[est000dog]

so i made one simple dot that moves in box but i have problem, who to read multypressed keys?

[WILL]

Well that's a good start. I assume you are using SDL now?

SDL has an event handling system which will allow you to keep track on all your input devices (keyboard, mouse, joysticks, etc) button presses and releases along with Mouse cursor position and joystick analog stick positions. It's quite handy and it's all in the main SDL library so you only need to add any of the others for it.

Have a read of the following pages, these will give you more information on how to work with input devices. Some of the code may be in C, but the variable, constant and function names are the exact same so all you have to understand is the proper usage...

libsdl.org site's Quick tutorials: http://www.libsdl.org/cgi/docwiki.cgi/SDL_Guide (look into the Input section)

Freepascal meets SDL is a great site: http://freepascal-meets-sdl.net/ (and it's ALL in Pascal! :))

freepascal wiki's information about SDL: http://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_and_SDL (some extra stuff you can read to learn more about SDL, just don't get carried away until you learned the basics)

[est000dog]

Well that's a good start. I assume you are using SDL now?

SDL has an event handling system which will allow you to keep track on all your input devices (keyboard, mouse, joysticks, etc) button presses and releases along with Mouse cursor position and joystick analog stick positions. It's quite handy and it's all in the main SDL library so you only need to add any of the others for it.

Have a read of the following pages, these will give you more information on how to work with input devices. Some of the code may be in C, but the variable, constant and function names are the exact same so all you have to understand is the proper usage...

libsdl.org site's Quick tutorials: http://www.libsdl.org/cgi/docwiki.cgi/SDL_Guide (look into the Input section)

Freepascal meets SDL is a great site: http://freepascal-meets-sdl.net/ (and it's ALL in Pascal! :))

freepascal wiki's information about SDL: http://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_and_SDL (some extra stuff you can read to learn more about SDL, just don't get carried away until you learned the basics)

i have read some of it, but that unit is still too difficult for me(i have earnd pascal for less than a year :()