Graaahhhhh can't make up my mind

[Blorx]

Update now because, frankly, it's necessary:

I'm scrapping Love/Hate. Frankly, trying to balance out which colors went where to get optimal gameplay on the Atari 2600 was giving me headache.

Instead, I'm working on a basic, but hopefully fun, Wolfire-related game of undisclosed subject matter. If I succeed, I think you all will enjoy it.

I lied, I put info up on my Games page.

[Blorx]

So, after a day's hard work, I'd love to give you guys a screenshot of Whaleman running around a 4-bit environment, but I can't. I can't because my code is screwy and apparently, a lot of timing issues need fixed first.

I'll get a screenshot up asap. After seeing my progress today, I was hoping to have one today, but I loaded up Stella aaaaaaand...gray screen with random moving blue dots on the right side. I didn't even use gray as one of the colors. >.>

EDIT: You know what, I'm going to post my progress so far:



Ta da! What shouldn't have happened!

EDIT: I've just been informed that a lot of my code was out of order.

[Richie Rabbit]

Good luck fixing it.

[Assaultman67]

The Grey area signifies failure where as the blue stuff signifies epic

[Blorx]

Bah, after "fixing" it, it's doing the exact same thing except the background is now an aqua color.

I'm getting there.

Be forewarned, though. Whaleman may be a bit ugly. He's only 8x6 pixels.

[Freshbite]

Wait, this kind of Whaleman... ??
'Cause he will NOT be amused. =P

[Blorx]

Wait, this kind of Whaleman... ??
'Cause he will NOT be amused. =P

Yeah, that kind of whaleman. The Atari has some pretty heavy limitations that I'm not sure how to get past just yet. I can only make it 8 pixels wide unless I employ some nice tricks and I just made it 6 pixels tall because the animations for when he's in the water looked best at 6 pixels, but on land may be another story.

[Blorx]

So, eh...once I get Whaleman Smash! 2600 finished and Willow completed, as well, I was thinking about turning Willow into something larger. Maybe a book, or a lengthy adventure, or an RPG...idk. Just brainstorming. I wanted to make Willow into a series of things surrounding that tree.

[Blorx]

Back to basics:

Okay, so, on my own, Assembly programming isn't working out. To make things worse, the experts in the language have disappeared from visibility on AtariAge, and those still there to help are really bad at helping, as well as so entwined in their own ventures in Atari programming that they'll spend no more than 10 minutes trying to help you (I know because I frequently see several of them posting about new things they've discovered). I just am having a hard time finding all of the resources I need to learn on my own, and there are few to none in the area of help.

So, for now, I'll spend a bunch of time plotting and deciding where to go from here. I have a few options:

1. Flash/ActionScript. Frankly, I don't like way you develop in Flash. It doesn't make much sense to me.

2. C#. Cross-platform compatibility...and a lot of reliance on Microsoft. Not sure what to do about that. I messed up last time I tried learning C#, but I also didn't understand the way programming languages worked all that well (the C# tutorials I used weren't very in-depth. After going back and reading some C++ stuff, I learned about what I wasn't getting). I also don't like the XNA kit that much. It seems like it makes simple things way longer than they need to be (have you seen some of the Texture2D strings?!?! I'm almost scared to ever attempt 3D games in XNA Game Studio...then again, there's always XNA for that).

3. Game Maker. In my opinion, it's the slack way...and there's not a whole lot of flexibility in comparison to getting down and dirty with real code. There are some quality games done in GM, but overall, there's a whole other attitude taken towards games made in GM.

4. C++. As stated, I've started trying to get back into it, and chances are that I'll understand it much better now (found some awesome tuts), but I'd also have to learn SDL, and possibly OpenGL/OpenAL.

5. Python. I don't know much about Python, but I realize it's recognized as an easier way to program.

6. Objective-C. I could jump on the bandwagon and go all out on iPhone programming. I really don't think it's a very good option, though.

Yeah, no clue where I'm going from here. I just know it'll probably be a while until I say anything else.

[Blorx]

Screw it, I'm going back to writing for a while.

If anyone needs help with anything writing or game design related, just ask. I'll be happy to help.

I'm just going to take some time off from actually trying to make a full-fledged game and focus on actually learning C++.

[Freshbite]

I'm just going to take some time off from actually trying to make a full-fledged game and focus on actually learning C++. :lol:

You would think that it would have been an advantage to do that beforehand. =P
Anyways, I just hope you won't let this die. =]

"Don't you die on me!"

[Blorx]

You would think that it would have been an advantage to do that beforehand. =P
Anyways, I just hope you won't let this die. =]

No I mean, I've been jumping through several languages, but none of them are giving me the results I want so I'm going back to C++ and just working from there.

[Blorx]

Working on a funny interactive fiction inspired by "Pick Up the Phone and Aisle" and "Panic Room." Hoping to have it done tonight, as it's rather small, but I have to write out quite a few endings, so who knows!

[Aspen]

It seems you have much the same problem I have: over-ambition. I'll be working on a game and have a great idea for the sequel, it greatly hinders progress.

No, you may not see the abomination I call "game".

Anyway, best of luck to you. Excuse me, I must finish writing my review of your text game...

[Blorx]

It seems you have much the same problem I have: over-ambition. I'll be working on a game and have a great idea for the sequel, it greatly hinders progress.

Ah, but that's part of the learning process, and I'm not anywhere near insulted by the fact that I can't get anything completed. I'll just work at it slowly, and eventually reach that point. The Atari thing wouldn't be so bad, except...well, I've been told that learning 6502 language on the 2600 was a stupid idea and I should be learning on an Atari 800 or something of the likes.

Anyway, best of luck to you. Excuse me, I must finish writing my review of your text game...

Don't you mean "text game."

Yeah, I got bored one day. It was a mockup, a framework. Whatever you want to call it. See if people thought it was funny or a thoroughly stupid idea before I made a full blown Wolfire-related interactive fiction.