best way to work?
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/best way to work?
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| i am planning an adventure game using a level deigned with 3d world studio. It's the underround world type of game where the player has to find and rescue hostages. The question is should I design the whole map first and then try to fit the game incidents ti it or should I design 1 room and then add a bit of programming one room at a time. In short what is the best way to work? |
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| id design your 'dungeon' in either a whole world, or in sections, one room at a time seems too complicated to me.:D Its what I have done anyway, in fact it makes me /shudder just trying to figure out how to do it the other way. But thats me, just try experimenting. |
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| On the other hand, if you biuld it room by room it will force you to make a solid base on which it is easy to add more, wheras doing it the other way may make it harder to change something without completely changing the whole game. |
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| My opinion is that you should decide on what features your code should support, then write the code, and do so in a way that adding media like underground rooms & scripts can be done easily with either a purpose built editor or at the very least through text files. |
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| i have a long level that's not exactly designed in rooms, but i built a single screen shaped area, got stuff to work, *which required changes to the geometry of the level*, and then once i was sure it would all work, then spend the time to develop the rest of the level. i try to jam as much features into that single screen, or small level, as possible, so that you know when you build out the whole thing, everything is going to work. otherwise you could paint yourself into a corner by making a huge level and then when you code it figuring out that a certain shape or style doesn't work. that would suck. |
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| Why not build levels like Blitz Functions? As we know, a Function is a self-contained block of code. If a level is built one room at a time, let the things that happen in that room, like in a Function, be for that room only. In other words, the room can be modular. This could allow for adding more rooms, module by module, just we can use many Functions in a program. Another point to balance this one. When we write a program, we pretty much have a general idea of what we are trying to program (ie an arcade with aliens coming at you, or a RPG with tiles and maps and character levelling-up, etc). Functions are written to accomplish various tasks within the program to help achieve the program's goal. Functions are not written when the programmer has no idea what he/she wants to do, right? So, applying this to your level, get a good idea of what your level is to do overall. Decide that there are "x" number of rooms, and make a list of what the rooms are and what happens in each. Then you can design each room, module-style. The beauty of this, as I see it, is that you can add more room modules later, without affecting the others. Makes for expansion once you have the basics down, I should think. |
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