Game Editor Engines

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Sehiro
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Game Editor Engines

Post by Sehiro » Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:29 pm

Hi everybody,

I and a a friend of mine are interested in video-game making. We have very little experience, but we are willing to put effort to learn.

As for now, we are making a little game with the engine RPG Maker VX Ace Lite.

The lite version because we are broke and must use free engines.
The game is going well, we are pretty proud of it and plan on finishing it next year, while we started in May/June this year, I can't exactly recall. We are probably halfway there.
It'll obviously be free and we'll be more than happy if some people will dedicate around 30-40 mins to play through it and give a review.

This experience is teaching us something here and there, but it's not enough.
We are willing to do more, and to do so we must change engine because the RM VX Ace Lite has many limitations.



The Engine we are looking for:
- Free
- For 3D games also, but not only
- Relatively easy to learn and use
- Relatively versatile (able to do Arcade, RPG, action oriented games, etc)
- Built in physic system and 3D modeling engine would be nice, but not essential


Why I asked you: a lot of you are game designers, who else should I be asking to?
You are the experts on this topic, I trust your knowledge about this.
Thanks in advance :)

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Phoenixwarrior141
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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Phoenixwarrior141 » Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:36 pm

Gamemaker, free, unlimited sprites and can do whatever you want with it.

Hotline Miami, Gunpoint, Hyper Light Drifter and Gods Will Be Watching all used this engine, and it can be downloaded for free on the YoYo games website, or Steam if you want.

You can get 3D models, but to my knowledge it isn't the EASIEST thing to do.

It's also incredibly simple.

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Endoperez
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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Endoperez » Sun Nov 23, 2014 6:49 pm

Sehiro wrote:Hi everybody,

I and a a friend of mine are interested in video-game making. We have very little experience, but we are willing to put effort to learn.

As for now, we are making a little game with the engine RPG Maker VX Ace Lite.

The lite version because we are broke and must use free engines.
The game is going well, we are pretty proud of it and plan on finishing it next year, while we started in May/June this year, I can't exactly recall. We are probably halfway there.
It'll obviously be free and we'll be more than happy if some people will dedicate around 30-40 mins to play through it and give a review.

This experience is teaching us something here and there, but it's not enough.
We are willing to do more, and to do so we must change engine because the RM VX Ace Lite has many limitations.



The Engine we are looking for:
- Free
- For 3D games also, but not only
- Relatively easy to learn and use
- Relatively versatile (able to do Arcade, RPG, action oriented games, etc)
- Built in physic system and 3D modeling engine would be nice, but not essential


Why I asked you: a lot of you are game designers, who else should I be asking to?
You are the experts on this topic, I trust your knowledge about this.
Thanks in advance :)
Unity 3D is a very good free 3D engine that's used for complicated, commercial projects and also simpler games. It has 2D and 3D game support, physics, UI stuff, all that. More important that the choice of engine, however, is.... your goals.

What are your current goals? What are your long-time goals? Changing an engine is a lot of work, and by that I mean that you might have to redo all the code and some of the assets and learn to use a program that's totally different from what you used to use.

If you want to FINISH a game, do it in the original engine.

If you want to make the best possible game, you'll still be at it 10 years later.

If you want to learn about creating games, learning the new tools is worth in for the experience alone, but finished games are much easier to put on your portfolio if you're looking for a job at some point.



Also, I'd be interested in hearing about your game. Ideas are cheap, implementing them is the hard part, so you don't really lose anything by sharing. :)

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Korban3
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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Korban3 » Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:54 am

I'd also recommend Game Maker, especially if you haven't done a ton of coding yet. That's where I started and it was pretty fun.

After that, I just stared learning C++ and how a game loop functions. First game I ever made was a craptastic shooter on my graphic calculator in high school.

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Sehiro
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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Sehiro » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:51 am

Gamemaker: Looks easy and more versatile than RPGM, but still a bit limited. We would really want to try something 3D with physic and models, after we finish the current game, as we already have a couple of ideas, both "short" and long term.
Thanks for the recommendation though, I'll surely tell him there is also this engine next time we meet. We may decide to play with this before moving on, to see if there are skills it may teach us (e.g. balance curve between progress and difficulty in arcade games, or else).

Endoperez wrote:Unity 3D is a very good free 3D engine that's used for complicated, commercial projects and also simpler games. It has 2D and 3D game support, physics, UI stuff, all that.
Actually my friend proposed to use Unity as soon as we understood that we wanted to have fun with something new, but I was/am a bit scared that the learning curve will be particularly harsh, as we know no code (C++ or C#).
Endoperez wrote:What are your current goals? What are your long-time goals? Changing an engine is a lot of work, and by that I mean that you might have to redo all the code and some of the assets and learn to use a program that's totally different from what you used to use.

If you want to FINISH a game, do it in the original engine.
Sorry, I wasn't clear on this: we are going to finish the game we are currently making in its original engine. After having concluded and released the project, we are going to move on a different engine to make new stuff, first a simple game to learn how to use the new engine and then a "big" game.
Endoperez wrote: If you want to make the best possible game, you'll still be at it 10 years later.
True, but honeslty the "big" game we have in mind will remain just an idea for quite a long time (~2yrs) and who knows what can happen in the meantime. We may get bored before even trying, so I wouldn't worry too much about it right now.
The arcade game we have in mind to learn the new engine is much smaller, I don't expect it to take more than one year. Even if we both are quite perfectionists. We polish the shit out what we do. It must look good.
Endoperez wrote: If you want to learn about creating games, learning the new tools is worth in for the experience alone, but finished games are much easier to put on your portfolio if you're looking for a job at some point.

Also, I'd be interested in hearing about your game. Ideas are cheap, implementing them is the hard part, so you don't really lose anything by sharing. :)
True for the job, but we are doing this more for fun than for else. We are classmates in a completely unrelated faculty and will work in another field.
Thank you for the warning though :)



Well, about the game do you mean the one we are making or the ones we have just ideas for?

The one we are making is a silly adventure game with RPG gameplay, given the engine we first chose.
Despite the heavy limitations of the Lite version (20 maps at most, no scripting allowed, 10 events per map, etc), I'd say we are doing well in implementing what we wanted in the game, simply because everything is more or less there. My friend works more on the practical side (he found a way to create a mutating circle of light for navigation in a dark map, as well as changing the said circle dimension and colour if an item is used, he photoshops my drawings and sprites, he is working on a maze with changing tiles, he does spell checks (he is mother-tongue, I am not), etc) and I work more on the artistic side (I am drawing the title screen and drew a couple of pixelated sprites, made the music (wanted it custom), designed the maps and most of the "cutscenes").
We are having some hardships in making a map change its tiles' graphical appearance (the squares in which it is subdivided) to make a maze with only one map, but I think we'll be able to sort it out soon. He is working on it and if he can't do it, I'll try. Eventually we already have a couple of B plans.

About the games we have ideas for, I'll explain briefly only the short arcade one because of time reasons, but the big one has some similar mechanics. Basically I thought about the arcade in order to learn how to make the big one.
You are a character in a 3D environment, at the start of the game at a set distance from you an item you must take appears. In a different place at the same set distance an enemy which chases you spawns. The spawning places of both are randomly chosen on a sphere surface of which the radius is the set distance and you are the center. The spawning places must be in contact with the ground.
You start with a timer with x seconds on it. By pressing the action key time stops for everything but you and the timer starts going down. You can restart time with the same key. If the timer reaches zero time starts flowing again. The item you must take gives you extra x seconds on the timer.
Every time you take the item, a new item and a new enemy spawn at a greater set distance. The enemies stack. Enemies move slightly faster than you.
When an enemy hits you the game ends.
The goal is to survive the longest time possible.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Retarded Username » Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:48 pm

Sehiro wrote:
Endoperez wrote:Unity 3D is a very good free 3D engine that's used for complicated, commercial projects and also simpler games. It has 2D and 3D game support, physics, UI stuff, all that.
Actually my friend proposed to use Unity as soon as we understood that we wanted to have fun with something new, but I was/am a bit scared that the learning curve will be particularly harsh, as we know no code (C++ or C#).
Just wondering, are you really willing to put some effort?
Sehiro wrote:We have very little experience, but we are willing to put effort to learn.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Endoperez » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:06 pm

Sehiro wrote:About the games we have ideas for, I'll explain briefly only the short arcade one because of time reasons, but the big one has some similar mechanics. Basically I thought about the arcade in order to learn how to make the big one.
You are a character in a 3D environment, at the start of the game at a set distance from you an item you must take appears. In a different place at the same set distance an enemy which chases you spawns. The spawning places of both are randomly chosen on a sphere surface of which the radius is the set distance and you are the center. The spawning places must be in contact with the ground.
You start with a timer with x seconds on it. By pressing the action key time stops for everything but you and the timer starts going down. You can restart time with the same key. If the timer reaches zero time starts flowing again. The item you must take gives you extra x seconds on the timer.
Every time you take the item, a new item and a new enemy spawn at a greater set distance. The enemies stack. Enemies move slightly faster than you.
When an enemy hits you the game ends.
The goal is to survive the longest time possible.

You should be able to do this on Unity without too much trouble. Even with no prior scripting experience.

Some of the stuff will require math, and asking help on the best way to accomplish it - but Unity forums are very helpful. For example, spawning enemies on a circe around you is easy to do by first randomizing an angle, then drawing a line from character's position to that angle that is as long as the radius of the circle. Angles and directions are easy, calculating a circle would be hard.

You should be able to find code examples of time manipulation, timers, monster spawning, simple monster navigation etc. with no trouble at all. The only thing you need to be wary of is whether the code is written in C# or JavaScript. Unity supports both, they look similar at a glance, but you can't copy-paste them into the same file. It shouldn't be a problem in your case.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Sehiro » Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:03 pm

Retarded Username wrote:Just wondering, are you really willing to put some effort?
...is this supposed to scare me?
As I said: yes, I am willing to put effort into it. It's not like until now learning how to use rpgmaker, garageband , photoshop, documenting on pixel art and maps creation, reading about how to create a character, looking for tips on balancing game mechanics and applying all the acquired notions, didn't require effort, or time for what matters.

I am willing to put effort in learning as long as what I learn is fun, or at least not completely frustrating. (e.g. I gladly learn how to play Dnd, because it's fun, even if the learning curve is steep)

Endoperez wrote:You should be able to do this on Unity without too much trouble. Even with no prior scripting experience.

Some of the stuff will require math, and asking help on the best way to accomplish it - but Unity forums are very helpful. For example, spawning enemies on a circle around you is easy to do by first randomizing an angle, then drawing a line from character's position to that angle that is as long as the radius of the circle. Angles and directions are easy, calculating a circle would be hard.

You should be able to find code examples of time manipulation, timers, monster spawning, simple monster navigation etc. with no trouble at all. The only thing you need to be wary of is whether the code is written in C# or JavaScript. Unity supports both, they look similar at a glance, but you can't copy-paste them into the same file. It shouldn't be a problem in your case.
As always, thanks for the help. I'll tell my buddy what you said me and we'll keep an eye on the unity forums when the time'll come (paying attention to the kind of code).

For now we still need to finish the RM game. Talking about this, today we solved together the maze problem and advanced in other little things. The project is progressing towards a playable alpha.
Also he said that we might try something with Game Maker before moving to unity, he said he would be interested in making an arcade/beat'em up side scrolling game. We'll see what we like the most as soon we conclude the current project, but it's possible that Unity'll be the last step.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Retarded Username » Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:16 pm

Sehiro wrote:
Retarded Username wrote:Just wondering, are you really willing to put some effort?
...is this supposed to scare me?
As I said: yes, I am willing to put effort into it. It's not like until now learning how to use rpgmaker, garageband , photoshop, documenting on pixel art and maps creation, reading about how to create a character, looking for tips on balancing game mechanics and applying all the acquired notions, didn't require effort, or time for what matters.

I am willing to put effort in learning as long as what I learn is fun, or at least not completely frustrating. (e.g. I gladly learn how to play Dnd, because it's fun, even if the learning curve is steep)
Didn't want to discourage you. I just got a bit confused as to why were you mentioning you were scared of the coding, I mean it can be complicated, but if you really wanted to do it, it shouldn't be such a big obstacle.

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Sehiro
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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Sehiro » Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:36 pm

You are right. I am sorry to have reacted like that.
I have not been coherent.
About the learning yes, I am a bit scared but as you said it probably will not be such a big obstacle.
Sorry again to have been an internet idiot.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Korban3 » Thu Nov 27, 2014 12:38 am

Programming is a ton of fun, just be prepared for a lot of nights where you forget to eat and pee all night, only realizing your folly as the sun rises.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Phoenixwarrior141 » Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:22 am

Explain one of these events in great detail. Nao.

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Korban3 » Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:33 am

>be me, in 29 palms
>finally released on liberty at 1700
>its a 96
>go to barracks
>take off everything but skivvy shirt and boxers
>start programming
[+] img
Image
>look at watch
>oh fuck
>no sleep til brooklyn
>realize you haven't had anything to eat or drink for almost 10 hours
>drink
>piss
>find chinese food delivery on your phone's contact list
>order food

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Phoenixwarrior141 » Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:40 am

Image

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Re: Game Editor Engines

Post by Glabbit » Thu Nov 27, 2014 3:22 am

I highly doubt any of what follows is even remotely relevant.

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