Plan for Ryan Ackley
by Ryan Ackley · 07/18/2005 (1:10 pm) · 5 comments
After a bit of rooting around and discussion in the forums, I've decided to put together a 2D side scrolling platformer demo in T2D. I've got a few game ideas sitting on the back burner (a platformer being one of them), and not knowing where to start in a new engine is always a hassle. So, I've spent a few hours here and there over the past week putting a bit of a demo together. Its far from complete, but I did want to throw the idea out there, see what kind of input I get on this.
Features Planned:
Player animated sprite
1-2 "enemies" to battle with
Death & restarting a level
simple physics (jumping, etc)
"Missions" - what I mean by this is a script that sets up a level to be played: Start point, end points, enemy positions, etc.
And, if I'm feeling real ambitious, sound effects & music. At least, simple, programmer art type placeholders.
Since there are many types of 2D games possible, I don't think GG will ever release a mission editor, in the way that tge had one. Since I am not a fan of UI programming, I can't see myself making more than a very simple one for 2d platformers. Cool (and easy to develop levels) as it might be, hey, this is a hobby of mine, and I personally do enough UI programming at work :) Anyone working on something similar?
Ill even throw in a screenshot, as un-exciting as it may be :)
I plan to do more demos as I go along, but I'll take time between them to make a game based on them :)
OK, does anyone have any input on how some of these might be accomplished? Any help would be great. I already have the player sprite, the physics, and some of the mission stuff working. Thanks!
Edit:
here is kind of what I am doing in my mission files. This is done on a per level basis, so you can control lots of things that are going on:
Edit: Removed the code, since it was poorly written and strangely commented. Ill post it all as a resource when i finish
Features Planned:
Player animated sprite
1-2 "enemies" to battle with
Death & restarting a level
simple physics (jumping, etc)
"Missions" - what I mean by this is a script that sets up a level to be played: Start point, end points, enemy positions, etc.
And, if I'm feeling real ambitious, sound effects & music. At least, simple, programmer art type placeholders.
Since there are many types of 2D games possible, I don't think GG will ever release a mission editor, in the way that tge had one. Since I am not a fan of UI programming, I can't see myself making more than a very simple one for 2d platformers. Cool (and easy to develop levels) as it might be, hey, this is a hobby of mine, and I personally do enough UI programming at work :) Anyone working on something similar?
Ill even throw in a screenshot, as un-exciting as it may be :)
I plan to do more demos as I go along, but I'll take time between them to make a game based on them :)
OK, does anyone have any input on how some of these might be accomplished? Any help would be great. I already have the player sprite, the physics, and some of the mission stuff working. Thanks!
Edit:
here is kind of what I am doing in my mission files. This is done on a per level basis, so you can control lots of things that are going on:
Edit: Removed the code, since it was poorly written and strangely commented. Ill post it all as a resource when i finish
About the author
Recent Blogs
• Plan for Ryan Ackley• Plan for Ryan Ackley
• Plan for Ryan Ackley
• Plan for Ryan Ackley
• Plan for Ryan Ackley
#2
The "stickguy" was from the unoffical faq, the rest i did in about 2 minutes. cant be spending all my time making silly art, now can I? :)
As far as the editors go, I envisioned something akin to the way that tge does things, but it would be seperate from the tile editor (though, i can see where the tile editor is highly useful). Start with this tilemap, add some objects here and there, create a start point, end point, etc. At least, thats how I was thinking about doing it, but then decided I'd rather spend time making games :)
07/18/2005 (2:42 pm)
Yeah, while there wasn't much code there, I thought better of it :)The "stickguy" was from the unoffical faq, the rest i did in about 2 minutes. cant be spending all my time making silly art, now can I? :)
As far as the editors go, I envisioned something akin to the way that tge does things, but it would be seperate from the tile editor (though, i can see where the tile editor is highly useful). Start with this tilemap, add some objects here and there, create a start point, end point, etc. At least, thats how I was thinking about doing it, but then decided I'd rather spend time making games :)
#3
Since a game is merely a collection of objects manipulated in various ways, it is not difficult to design an editor that is game type agnostic. All the editor needs to do is place all the supported object types. The game specific code controls their manipulation. The TGE editor, for instance, can be used in all sorts of game types despite it being written for an fps engine.
I would certainly be willing to give you the editor code. If you're interested, post here and I'll email it. I'll try to throw some useful comments in the code. Currently, it supports static images, enemy spawn points, and triggers that can be placed, moved, and scaled. Being that it was for a game in a day, it is not exactly feature complete, but it got the job done.
Actually, I'll send it to anyone who asks (assuming you can prove ownership of T2D - a post in the private forums does the trick nicely).
Edit: Didn't post what you are probably most interested in: it would definitely work for a platformer.
07/18/2005 (11:27 pm)
I actually created a level editor during this past GID (My entry). I guess I could clean it up and resource it.Since a game is merely a collection of objects manipulated in various ways, it is not difficult to design an editor that is game type agnostic. All the editor needs to do is place all the supported object types. The game specific code controls their manipulation. The TGE editor, for instance, can be used in all sorts of game types despite it being written for an fps engine.
I would certainly be willing to give you the editor code. If you're interested, post here and I'll email it. I'll try to throw some useful comments in the code. Currently, it supports static images, enemy spawn points, and triggers that can be placed, moved, and scaled. Being that it was for a game in a day, it is not exactly feature complete, but it got the job done.
Actually, I'll send it to anyone who asks (assuming you can prove ownership of T2D - a post in the private forums does the trick nicely).
Edit: Didn't post what you are probably most interested in: it would definitely work for a platformer.
#4
I've only recently got T2D, but I have made a post in the getting started forum.
07/19/2005 (3:20 am)
I would be interested in the level editor Adam :)I've only recently got T2D, but I have made a post in the getting started forum.
#5
07/19/2005 (5:34 am)
Adam: I would love to see what you've got so far!
Associate Ben Garney
I like the coder art. Incidentally, we are working on a bunch of cool editors for an upcoming T2D version... They'll definitely make your life easier. ;)