Game planning
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/Game planning
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| I program games for fun and with no commercial ambitions. Up until now I have designed the level first and then thought up ways to make it a game. This results in an ill fitting game of poor design.I now think it is better to have the gameplay sorted out and THEN design a suitable level. I would be glad to hear from any expert who can give advice on this subject. |
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| Think of it this way.. You cant build a pyramid from the top down. Well you can.. but its harder :P I find that planing is best started by thinking about your game and first listing what you want out of it then build a shell that works for that. Not nessasaraly a level yet but its archetecture. After that you can move on and create various functions that do simple things perfictly just in order for you to run a simple level. Thats when you design a level, fit it in, see how it works, then create functions from there for details. I know this might not seem to make much sense but its 3:07 in the morning. The point is that with something as variable as programing (where you literaly can do anything) there are no hard set rules, only simple rules of thumb. basics first details last. no pyramid without a base. have fun. |
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| if u have the first level operating ok, then look at ways at changing the level, ie loading a new level, hopefully what u have already written will slot into the code simply(we can all hope on that one:) ) Alternatively, or perhaps a combination, use what u are doing as a learning exercise, the parts of your code you like; develope them, perhaps make them stand-alone as functions you can transfer. Designing your level first, may help your thought processes? Once you have done done that, think how the level you have can be part of a game. Like sting says there are no hard rules, I'm a hobiest too, and I want to have fun, maybe even end up with a good product, but certainly have fun! |
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| As everyone says, make sure you have a clear picture of what features you want in your game before you start. Integrating additional features after the fact can sometimes lead to a complete rewrite of your code. I also find that before introducing new functions into the main code it is best to create a simple test program to ensure that it's 'bullet proof' i.e. every variable/condition you pass to it is handled correctly before moving it over to the main program. This saves you world of pain when debugging later!! |
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| Thanks all.One thing I find usefull is to leave part of my level open in case I get ideas as I proceed. |
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| one thing nobody mentioned is writing out stuff on paper beforehand is very useful. lots of developers do this. its the first step in making a game, often called the concept or design stage. its useful because then you can make most mistakes at the start, before any real work has begun. instead of spending a lot of time writing code that you later find needs a rewrite, you can write out the code in simplified form, and build up the overall picture before you dive into the "nitty-gritty" of it all. :) it also means you can keep track of everything easier and your code will be a lot less messy. similar for the art, except it generally doesn't need as much pre-planning, although there are still a lot of things here you could plan for. |
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| I find it tricky to design a game where the camera is the player and there is no visible hero, but i am not advanced enough to do a Lara Croft type figuer. The camera is like a pair of eyes with no body or hands attached. |
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| with the first person perspective I prefer it as it lets me be the explorer. If I like what I see, then its a start at least:) |
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| The Paper Bit is a great thing. I find that My best ideas come to me when im not near my computer so I have always kept an organized binder for each project. In it is extra paper and sections for: System, Design, Code, Functions, Includes, File type formats, and refrence to functions that already exist. Very usefull. |
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| For my game I have 300 pages of detail,Tons of concept art,Website is registered. mini stories and a main story so I am in going in the right direction. |
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| Yah thats real good!..By Detail what do you mean? Code? |
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| hey sting_gs13, wow you're actually organized! i'd like to say the same but my notes are a mess of papers which only i could follow, heh. still, i know what i'm doing for the most part. i prefer rough notes as i'm pretty lazy, mostly theyre there to remind me what not to forget. |
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| Very interesting... Pen and paper never worked for me. I like to kick the idea around in my head until I can imagine myself playing the game and have some technical things out of the way (Ex: "Ok, I want to have an iventory... I can do this with an array or types... Hmmm..."). Then I just start to code and design. If I try to write ideas down (And I did before) the development process stops. The only thing I use notes for is sketches but I don't just do one drawing, I do several just to see how the compostition works out. |
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