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.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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.