Hi Richard, Oh, definitely. I have put a lot of thought into this and I came to the same general conclusions as you. AGM's problem was that it couldn't create a racing game, side-scroller, first-person game, etc because all of the functionality was too generic for that. However, if there was an editor for side-scrollers, one for first-person shooters, another for racing, etc it would go a long way to solving that basic problem.
I know from my own personal experience that writing a side-scroller is totally different from writing a first-person game. I have two completely different sets of functions in the game engine for side-scrollers and first-person. In the first-person catagory I have PlayerRunForward(), PlayerStepFoward(), PlayerStepBackward(), PlayerStepLeft(), PlayerStepRight(), PlayerTurnLeft(), PlayerTurnRight(), etc. For side-scrollers I have PlayerRunLeft(), PlayerRunRight(), PlayerWalkLeft(), and PlayerWalkRight().This difference in functionality pretty much demands some sort of custom tool for each type of game. On 2/1/11, Richard @ AudioGames <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Thomas (and all), > > You're absolutely right about the problems with the AGM-project you > describe. I applaud your persuit for the development of a new > audio game creation tool. I'd really like to see more tools because I want > to have more audio games (I follow all threads about > tools on this list silently but with great interest :-) > I learned many things from the AGM project (such as dealing with time > restrictions, burned-down offices, ambitious interns, etc. :-) > but what is probably most useful to share is more about the design of > generic game design tools: > > I've always thought that if I were to do the AGM-project again, that I would > *first* constrain myself to a game design tool for one > specific game genre. So for instance a tool for an audio race game, or a > tool for an audio platform game, etc. Initially we had > considered this option, but we abandoned it because we thought of the idea > too much as mere level editors (with which one could not > design a innovative/original game with) and because we thought there would > be so much overlap between the level editors (score > systems, enemies, etc.) that we could pull off a generic game design tool > with a little bit more effort. > In the end we found that the generic approach made it a whole lot harder to > even make a very simple racing game, or a simple shooter > game. With a lot more time (let's say 1,5 years) we could have probably > managed to make a decent working generic version, with a > better user interface (even though this one was supposed to be as simple as > possible, it is still quite complex when you start). But > I think that we probably would have added templates for certain game genres > anyway - just to make the design more simple. > > I think that if you start with an audio game design tool for one specific > genre (let's say a shooter or a racer or a board game), > that that in itsself is already a big enough challenge. Most likely > something like an Audio Race Game Maker will feature an > incredible amount of variables and functionalities. This not only means that > an Audio Race Game Maker is a big thing to develop, but > when you achieve it, you have probably learned a great deal about how to > create a more generic game development tool as well. > I think that you might find that even with a single-genre tool many people > will create a whole range of fun racing games and will > very soon try to use it for stuff other than racing games. Then gradually > you can add a new feature (open terrain instead of a fixed > track, or damage variable, so that vehicles can get damaged), and another > one (pickups, or a weapon to shoot another car) and quite > soon people will exchange the car engine sound for footsteps and you have > the initials of a basic FPS. And you can have it grow from > there on. > > On a side note: this is actually how our project Extant > (http://creativehero.es/Extant) is now slowly changing from a first-person > shooter environment into an environment (in Unity) which allows us to create > multiple types of games because we got all types of > building blocks that work together: moving around a 3D space (x,y,z), > different avatars (person, vehicle, etc.), enemies, shooting, > pickups, buildings, etc. > > So my point is: start small, try not to create a generic tool for all game > genres, but start with a tool for a single genre and > build it out from there. Maybe first build three single genre tools and then > make a generic version out of the three of them. > > Best regards, > > Richard > > http://audiogames.net --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
