Beginners' Coding Challenge, Week #1

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Beginners' Coding Challenge, Week #1

Nest(Posted 2011) [#1]
One of my biggest challenges to programming is motivation. Therefore I propose a weekly coding challenge for beginners (although anyone welcome). Let's see if there's enough interest to make this a regular thing!

Weekly Beginners' Coding Challenge

Week #1

Create a game that involves the player avoiding falling objects. It can be as simple or complex as you wish. Share your code in your post, and links to any image files required.

Closing date 8th October, good luck!


AltanilConard(Posted 2011) [#2]
Heya Nest, nice initiative. I like these kind of competetions, so I'll put something together this week (not really a beginner though).
Curious how much interest there is; practicing is the best way to learn :)


CS_TBL(Posted 2011) [#3]
I wouldn't make such a challenge 'exclusive' for beginners though - even though you state that anyone is welcome. Especially beginners may need a few good examples from experienced coders. Also, some experienced coders may be app/tool coders, for instance using MaxGUI, and have not much experience with games. It's very hard to decide who's experienced or not..

+ as for closing date, you may want to specify a time zone ^_^


TomShep(Posted 2011) [#4]
Im a beginner so IM defo in.


Nest(Posted 2011) [#5]
Anyone can have a go of course :) And there's no 'fixed' end date really - just if there is enough interest we'll move on to the next one in a week's time! I've made a start on mine - may go for the 'gameboy' style colours with low res graphics.


AltanilConard(Posted 2011) [#6]
I wanted to do a pseudo-3d like object dodger, but realize it's hard to implement 'falling' objects. I'll see where it goes...


craigmon(Posted 2011) [#7]
That sounds pretty interesting, and something I could do.


Matt Vinyl(Posted 2011) [#8]
I recall a similar thing back in the days of BlitzCoder (*sniff!*) and it was great fun. Was it run by Jayenkai (spelling?) Apologies if not!

It was indeed a great motivational 'thing'. Always interesting to see other peoples 'mini-games' and the employed code too - which is very handy for those starting out, as they can pick-about with it and see what effects are achieved by changing variables, etc. ;)


Kanati(Posted 2011) [#9]
I am most definitely not going to do it... but I just had a mental image of a game like tetris. Where you don't control the tetris pieces. But are a character running around at the bottom avoiding the falling pieces. You have to jump on the ones that have fallen and avoid the new ones appearing all the time. Just like in tetris, when a line is created, the rest fall down.

It would need an AI tetris player that would keep the game going, and the player would need only survive the levels.

Odd premise, but I'd love to see someone do it. :D


Matt Vinyl(Posted 2011) [#10]
This was a little-known 'unique' game back in the 80's that I recall playing:

(Youtube Link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp-eBYduG9U

Might be an idea for someone to adapt?


Twinprogrammer(Posted 2011) [#11]
Sounds neat.


TomToad(Posted 2011) [#12]
Oh No! The sky really is falling!
Help Chicken Little avoid all the falling objects. Use the mouse to control his movement.

The source and resources are included in the download. The .exe is compiled for Windows, but the source should compile on any platform.

Edit: Removed the link since the file is now out of date

Last edited 2011


TomToad(Posted 2011) [#13]
oops, just read that I should share the code directly in here. So for those who don't want to download the .rar file above, here is the code and images

Images


Code


Edit: BTW, the timing is linked to the refresh rate. If you don't have your graphics card refresh set to Application Controled, the game might run a bit fast.

Edit again: Fixed a small bug and a small tweek

Last edited 2011

Last edited 2011


matibee(Posted 2011) [#14]
Here's one for ya :) I've got a weekend off so I decided to knock this up today.

I'm not a beginner but it should be handy to learn from. It shows:

Player control and animation
Simple physics
Collision detection using circles
Application flow (menu, game, pause etc)
Decent code layout (IMO)

Assets here: http://www.matibee.co.uk/temp/popperz.zip

Questions and comments always welcome.



Last edited 2011

Last edited 2011


Czar Flavius(Posted 2011) [#15]
TomToad, why not make ChickenImage and the others globals, and load them once rather than each time, will be faster and use less memory.


Nest(Posted 2011) [#16]
Two really nice examples! Here's my newbie basic effort:




AltanilConard(Posted 2011) [#17]
Couldn't manage to implement falling objects, so guess I failed the challenge. Still a fun object dodger:

Could use lots more work, but getting the aspect right was harder then I thought. Nice examples above :) I especially like the snow man concept, very original


Nest(Posted 2011) [#18]
That's awesome, reminds me of the old Return of the Jedi arcade game! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX31VFMuNLM


Nest(Posted 2011) [#19]
Would anybody like to suggest an idea for Week #2 challenge? :)


TomToad(Posted 2011) [#20]
@Czar Flavious: If you look closely, I don't load the graphics each time. All my graphics are inside of one single image, and instead of loading it off the HD and breaking into it's individual components for each object, I just load it into a pixmap and load it from there. Not a big of a deal with such a small sample of graphics, but if you have several animated objects, it can save a lot of time over loading each one from the HD individually.


TomToad(Posted 2011) [#21]
How about "Chain reaction" for a week #2 challenge?


Hotshot2005(Posted 2011) [#22]
Or the Smallest Game or Demo code challenge for Week #3 Challenge :)


CS_TBL(Posted 2011) [#23]
That'd be like the 256-char challenges from a few years ago.


matibee(Posted 2011) [#24]
Or the Smallest Game or Demo code challenge for Week #3 Challenge :)

That'd be like the 256-char challenges from a few years ago.


Yup. And I don't think they're suitable here because a) they're not suitable for beginners, and b) the fugly nature of the code makes them pointless to learn from.


AltanilConard(Posted 2011) [#25]

Yup. And I don't think they're suitable here because a) they're not suitable for beginners, and b) the fugly nature of the code makes them pointless to learn from.

YEP

How about "Chain reaction" for a week #2 challenge?

I can see that one work, gets my vote


Nest(Posted 2011) [#26]
Right! New thread starting!