[Jayextee]

Stealth, on 02 April 2012 - 02:03 AM, said:

There sure is a lot of talk about E02 in this thread. That makes me happy

The following "I give up"s make me sad. You guys do know I have both a support forum and an IRC channel for it, right?

If you don't mind some seriously stupid questions, then I can bother you at the forum if that's cool. As I stated, I'm a bit of an idiot; although I'm simplifying the matter here, that I'm not well-suited to an overload of new information like E02 presents. Go dyslexia. If you don't mind breaking everything down into step-by-step newbie instructions, I can learn. To be honest, I'd be very excited about the .XM support (I love the format) and PSP portability if I could get a handle on all this.

One question though; would you recommend starting from scratch with a simple platform game (I actually want to do something in the vein of Ghosts 'n' Goblins if I do) or wait on the new Sonic template and edit that to find the ropes?

[Candescence]

AerosolSP, on 01 April 2012 - 02:41 PM, said:

There's also Sonic Construct Worlds, but only Construct Classic is free. Construct 2 requires a purchase.

C2 is fairly cheap compared to MMF2, mind you. Though, I'm currently stuck on a rather major problem with the C2 version of SCW, which means it's unusable for the moment until I get it fixed. The CC version of SCW is fairly bare-bones compared to the MMF2 version of Worlds, though it's at a state where anyone competent at using CC can create a Sonic game from it.

Construct Classic is being updated by some guys on the Scirra forums, though as previously mentioned it can get somewhat unstable, which is a disadvantage compared to C2, which is much, much more stable, and currently not far behind, feature-wise (only containers, effects and a few built-in plugins are missing). And I am aware that C2 only have HTML5/WebGL as an export option at the moment is a rather sore point for some, but that really should not be an issue for fangame makers, as far as I'm concerned - as long as it runs well and more people than just Windows users can play the games made from it, I really couldn't care less if it's not an EXE.

[Azu]

I personally hate that they when HTML/WebGL. I don't care for web development in the least. Plus, I rather not have to use a web browser just to test something.

[Stealth]

Jayextee, on 02 April 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

If you don't mind some seriously stupid questions, then I can bother you at the forum if that's cool. As I stated, I'm a bit of an idiot; although I'm simplifying the matter here, that I'm not well-suited to an overload of new information like E02 presents. Go dyslexia. If you don't mind breaking everything down into step-by-step newbie instructions, I can learn.

I really don't mind that; I've been trying the same thing with the same people that have shown up on the forum so far, although I don't know where they are at the moment. If more people stuck with it they could help each other out and the whole thing would just get easier for everyone :P

Jayextee, on 02 April 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

One question though; would you recommend starting from scratch with a simple platform game (I actually want to do something in the vein of Ghosts 'n' Goblins if I do) or wait on the new Sonic template and edit that to find the ropes?

That depends on what aspect of development you really want to get into at the moment. There's also a "blank" template that you can start making a brand-new game from, but it's extremely generic and doesn't have a base gameplay of any type. If it's Sonic you want and you're doing your own levels, I'd say it might be best to let me help you work out how to create levels for the existing template, since the most important part of the process won't change. I'm enhancing the level editor a bit, but not in such a way that learning how it works now will cause any problems; it should just become easier to use later. Any level work you do can be dropped right into the new template

Candescence, on 02 April 2012 - 08:00 AM, said:

And I am aware that C2 only have HTML5/WebGL as an export option at the moment is a rather sore point for some, but that really should not be an issue for fangame makers, as far as I'm concerned - as long as it runs well and more people than just Windows users can play the games made from it, I really couldn't care less if it's not an EXE.

Azu, on 02 April 2012 - 04:22 PM, said:

I personally hate that they when HTML/WebGL. I don't care for web development in the least. Plus, I rather not have to use a web browser just to test something.

A big drawback with these systems moving to "HTML5" is that by doing that, they're stacking interpretation on top of interpretation. The java/flash VM is running their runtime handler, which in turn is running your scripted game. Even if you were to trust them to build their runtime well, you'd also have to trust the java/flash VM to be built well, and you're still running through two levels of overhead just because the developer didn't want to go through the trouble to make native multiplatform versions of their system. That can hurt performance quite a bit. Also, the notion of re-branding all of HTML, CSS, java, etc under the name "HTML5" "because it's easier" (as I've read) raises a big red flag for me

[Mercury]

I was really surprised to learn of this software: Game Develop.

It's like GM, but a) free; b) compiles to machine code; and c) lets you script in C++.

There's also ORX, but that's way more confusing. To me at least.

[Candescence]

Quote

A big drawback with these systems moving to "HTML5" is that by doing that, they're stacking interpretation on top of interpretation. The java/flash VM is running their runtime handler, which in turn is running your scripted game. Even if you were to trust them to build their runtime well, you'd also have to trust the java/flash VM to be built well, and you're still running through two levels of overhead just because the developer didn't want to go through the trouble to make native multiplatform versions of their system. That can hurt performance quite a bit. Also, the notion of re-branding all of HTML, CSS, java, etc under the name "HTML5" "because it's easier" (as I've read) raises a big red flag for me

Yeah, I think that re-branding is a stupid, stupid idea as well.

C2 doesn't actually use Java or Flash, though - it uses actual HTML5 coupled with WebGL. One of C2's main philosophies is to allow the end-user to play games without using a plugin.

[Jayextee]

Jayextee, on 01 April 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

Also, going to take a look at Construct Classic because there are other games I want to make that aren't Sonic. Thanks.

Just a slight bump here to say that I've played around a little with Construct Classic today, and liked what I saw. Didn't do anything much, made a small animated dude jump around some platforms. Seems about as easy as MMF's precursor The Games Factory, but way less buggy and fiddly. When I get more spare time, watch this space I guess.

[Azu]

Mercury, on 03 April 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

I was really surprised to learn of this software: Game Develop.

It's like GM, but a) free; b) compiles to machine code; and c) lets you script in C++.

There's also ORX, but that's way more confusing. To me at least.

From what I've seen of it, it's like Construct or MMF2, but I can see some potential behind this.

[Tiller]

So what is a baby's first game development program? I'm no artist or musician, but I can code. Even if those skills are weak, I can at least learn. Hell the most I managed to do with ROM hacking was remove the first few floor tiles in Labyrinth Zone so that Sonic would fall to his death on player spawn. That Game Develop link looks entirely promising to a newbie. It's not like I would be able to make anything decent, but screwing around is better than nothing. I need to start somewhere.

[Azu]

If you're looking for a free software, I'd try Construct Classic, Game Develop, or Game Maker's free version. There's also Stencyl. This a free flash game maker with out the need for coding, unless you want to. You can use java to write kits for it as well.