Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-10-14 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Kristen,

I'm not sure what you are making reference to, but I've personally
never been in favor of automated editors/development tools. So I'm not
quite sure where you got that idea from.

If you are talking about my Genesis 3D Engine it is not an automated
editor/development tool. It is a series of static libraries that get
compiled into a C++ game project to provide low-level support for
things like audio, speech, game input, as well as base classes for
creating  common object types such as people, places, and things in
the game world. It all requires a fair amount of coding and a fairly
extensive amount of C/C++ to use. What the engine does for me is cuts
down the amount of coding I have to rewrite again and again by
precompiling the core functions and wrapper classes into class
libraries that can just be plugged in and used immediately as is. That
is not automation, but just a moduler design where I can reuse some of
the same code over and over again without modification.

Now, what I may do in the future is something like BGT where I compile
it into a toolkit which allows you, the end user, to code things using
a scripting language. Again, though, that wouldn't be automated but
just make it easier to program by using a scripting language like
Python instead of full blown C++. Make sense?


HTH


On 10/10/11, Kristen Eisenberg kristen.eisenb...@yahoo.com wrote:
 Hi Thomas,
 I don't think the community needs an automated game tool editor. Such an
 idea is very appealing at first sight, but as Philip rightly pointed out,
 there is no way to perform extensive tasks on it.
 I think what is much more needed is actually further extensive tutorials on
 gaming, since it's one thing knowing how the functions in BGT and other
 scriptable engines work, like I do, but it's another converting and
 conceptualising an idea to code. Mapping, object creation, level building
 and artificial intelligence are four of my worst enemies when it comes to
 coding games, since I am having to work purely off experimentation, only to
 find it is having to get deleted for the simple reason that I have broken
 not only my experiments, but also what once valid and working code as well,
 since all of the objects and functions need to be able to interact with one
 another.
 I have lots of ideas for extremely complicated games, and other than the
 sky-high budget that would be required to buy actors, sounds and music, I
 wouldn't know where to start with such advanced concepts. Even though I have
 had various talks with others about it, I still can't get them to sink in
 and actually put it down as fully working code.
 Regards,


 Kristen Eisenberg
 Billige Flüge
 Marketing GmbH
 Emanuelstr. 3,
 10317 Berlin
 Deutschland
 Telefon: +49 (33)
 5310967
 Email:
 utebachmeier at
 gmail.com
 Site:
 http://flug.airego.de
 - Billige Flüge vergleichen
 ---
 Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
 If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
 gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
 You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
 http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
 All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
 http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
 If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
 please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Damien Pendleton

Hi Thomas,
I don't think the community needs an automated game tool editor. Such an 
idea is very appealing at first sight, but as Philip rightly pointed out, 
there is no way to perform extensive tasks on it.
I think what is much more needed is actually further extensive tutorials on 
gaming, since it's one thing knowing how the functions in BGT and other 
scriptable engines work, like I do, but it's another converting and 
conceptualising an idea to code. Mapping, object creation, level building 
and artificial intelligence are four of my worst enemies when it comes to 
coding games, since I am having to work purely off experimentation, only to 
find it is having to get deleted for the simple reason that I have broken 
not only my experiments, but also what once valid and working code as well, 
since all of the objects and functions need to be able to interact with one 
another.
I have lots of ideas for extremely complicated games, and other than the 
sky-high budget that would be required to buy actors, sounds and music, I 
wouldn't know where to start with such advanced concepts. Even though I have 
had various talks with others about it, I still can't get them to sink in 
and actually put it down as fully working code.

Regards,
Damien.

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 4:11 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.

Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Arianna Sepulveda
Oh, my God, Tom! Please, please, please consider doing this! I'd buy
it! Programming is something I don't know how people do. I am truely
astounded at how much work is involved, and I don't think I could
figure it out too well. However, programming must have some logic to
it--it's a system, after all, and I love systems. But this would get
me started. I've always wanted to create some audio games! Something
kinda like Super Mario World--well, not exactly--it's copywritten,
after all, but something similar. Hmmm, wonder if the sounds/music is
copywritten? Probably--who am I kidding? Anyhow, I've always wanted to
do something like this!


Thanks,
Ari

On 1/31/11, Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi Jacob,

 Hey, that's all I want to know. I'd much rather have an honest opinion
 saying you don't like the idea rather than spending months creating a
 piece of software that no one has any interest in buying. If and when
 I ever go commercial with the Genesis 3D engine I  need to know what
 people are looking for. My personal opinion right now is to add
 scripting so that it can be scripted like BGT. However, there are
 some, maybe not many, who are reluctant to learn a scripting language
 like Lua, Angelscript, etc and build games that way.


 Cheers!


 On 2/1/11, Jacob Kruger jac...@mailzone.co.za wrote:
 It's a very nice idea, but, to be honest, would really depend on pricing
 etc. since I, from my side, definitely wouldn't be using it
 professionally,
 and unless I could pay you the same amount, but in ZAR...it would most
 likely not be something I would be prepared to spend too much money on -
 sorry, but just being honest...smile

 Stay well

 Jacob Kruger
 Blind Biker
 Skype: BlindZA
 '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'

 ---
 Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
 If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
 gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
 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/gamers@audyssey.org.
 If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
 please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Arianna Sepulveda
I took a look at the BGT manual and went, yikes! I got about 4-5
paragraphs into it and got confused. I sat for a while, trying to
figure things out, and got even more confused. Maybe I'll give it
another shot, though.

I can see the point made earlier that this interface idea Tom is
toying around with wouldn't allow for too much configuration.

On 2/1/11, Arianna Sepulveda englishride...@gmail.com wrote:
 Oh, my God, Tom! Please, please, please consider doing this! I'd buy
 it! Programming is something I don't know how people do. I am truely
 astounded at how much work is involved, and I don't think I could
 figure it out too well. However, programming must have some logic to
 it--it's a system, after all, and I love systems. But this would get
 me started. I've always wanted to create some audio games! Something
 kinda like Super Mario World--well, not exactly--it's copywritten,
 after all, but something similar. Hmmm, wonder if the sounds/music is
 copywritten? Probably--who am I kidding? Anyhow, I've always wanted to
 do something like this!


 Thanks,
 Ari

 On 1/31/11, Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi Jacob,

 Hey, that's all I want to know. I'd much rather have an honest opinion
 saying you don't like the idea rather than spending months creating a
 piece of software that no one has any interest in buying. If and when
 I ever go commercial with the Genesis 3D engine I  need to know what
 people are looking for. My personal opinion right now is to add
 scripting so that it can be scripted like BGT. However, there are
 some, maybe not many, who are reluctant to learn a scripting language
 like Lua, Angelscript, etc and build games that way.


 Cheers!


 On 2/1/11, Jacob Kruger jac...@mailzone.co.za wrote:
 It's a very nice idea, but, to be honest, would really depend on pricing
 etc. since I, from my side, definitely wouldn't be using it
 professionally,
 and unless I could pay you the same amount, but in ZAR...it would most
 likely not be something I would be prepared to spend too much money on -
 sorry, but just being honest...smile

 Stay well

 Jacob Kruger
 Blind Biker
 Skype: BlindZA
 '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'

 ---
 Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
 If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
 gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
 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/gamers@audyssey.org.
 If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the
 list,
 please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Jacob Kruger

Cool.

Another side of it, is I'd actually prefer to just use/plug-in the DLL as 
such, but that's my viewpoint since it would suit me better, but 
anyway...LOL!


Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 7:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Jacob,

Hey, that's all I want to know. I'd much rather have an honest opinion
saying you don't like the idea rather than spending months creating a
piece of software that no one has any interest in buying. If and when
I ever go commercial with the Genesis 3D engine I  need to know what
people are looking for. My personal opinion right now is to add
scripting so that it can be scripted like BGT. However, there are
some, maybe not many, who are reluctant to learn a scripting language
like Lua, Angelscript, etc and build games that way.


Cheers!


On 2/1/11, Jacob Kruger jac...@mailzone.co.za wrote:

It's a very nice idea, but, to be honest, would really depend on pricing
etc. since I, from my side, definitely wouldn't be using it 
professionally,

and unless I could pay you the same amount, but in ZAR...it would most
likely not be something I would be prepared to spend too much money on -
sorry, but just being honest...smile

Stay well

Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread shaun everiss
exactly though I have done programming before maybe you could have 
coman actions and modules you could drop in to the program true you 
could include those but it would be nifty.

Then any modules you saved you could just drop in.
At 06:33 p.m. 1/02/2011, you wrote:

Hi Philip,

Yeah, I know. That's why when I created the Genesis 3D engine I
compiled it as an dll library. My thinking was that someone would like
to use a programming language that they know be it C++, C# .net,
Visual Basic .net, and just include the g3d.dll file in a project,
initialize the classes, and away they go. It gives someone the ccore
functionality for input, audio, speech, networking, whatever without
having to reinvent the wheel so to speak.At the same time since it
isn't bound to any specific language or wysiwyg editor a developer is
free to create games in his/her own way.

Unfortunately, there is a few, not many, but a few people who want a
fully automated system, some sort of wysiwyg editor, that just does
everything for them. Instead of taking the time to learn how to
program or script that game they want a simple tool to do this for
them. However, as you pointed out there is really no way this can be
done without having x number of games that are virtually identical to
each other. Oh, the sounds might be different, levels might be
different, but game play and so on will be fairly identical from game
to game. This was one of the major short-comings of Audio Game Maker.
You had no way to modify the enemy A.I. or anyway to extend the
functionality of any specific game object. It is a classic case of
what you see is what you get.

For myself personally I think what you are doing is the right thing.
It is possible once I get MOTA and Raceway out the door I'll modify
the engine to use a scripting language like Lua, Angelscript, or
something like that so I can just script the games instead of using a
language like C++ to build games. However, that is down the road.

Smile.


On 1/31/11, Philip Bennefall phi...@blastbay.com wrote:
 Hi Thomas,

 This was actually what I invisioned for BGT in its very early stages of
 development. However I quickly realized how close to impossible such a task
 is to complete successfully. Sure you can make a few templates 
with objects,

 behaviors and other things that the player can customize, but how much
 further can you go? You can drag and drop controls on to a window form, but
 how these controls behave is entirely up to the programmer in the end
 whether it is vb.net, C# and so on. Similarly you may be able to select how
 many sound sources should be in an environment, how many levels should be
 available and a few other things, but how much more can you really do in
 game development with a wysiwyg editor? The risk is that most games will
 become very generic, easy to recognize as being yet another construction
 from the same template, and the end results would get down-right boring.
 Giving the user greatly simplified tools to accomplish the task is one
 thing, holding their hand all the way and attempting to let them 
run without

 moving is another.

 A lot of people have suggested the same as Ken, that one could make a
 wysiwyg front-end that could complement the scripting, but I don't really
 buy this idea either. If you use the wysiwyg, it would generate code for
 you. In order to be interesting this code would most likely have to be
 fairly involved in places, and we all know that it is very hard 
to go in and

 modify someone elses code. Writing your own is often much easier, and in
 order to be able to modify things in the first place you will need to learn
 the language and the API which brings us right back to square 1.

 Just my two cents.

 Kind regards,

 Philip Bennefall

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.




---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Ken the Crazy

Tom,
If G3d works as dll file, and could be used with VB.net, I think it could be 
very competitive as a game-making engine.  (I guess like I said on the list 
earlier, I'm a die-hard VB fan, but it's what I know.)  I'm not saying I 
won't try BGT, but C style languages really aren't my cup of C--I mean tea. 
Maybe it's just a have to get used to thing, maybe it's just that I've 
worked with quake C.  I won't say I wouldn't use BGT, but the G3d engine 
sounds awesome--the best of both worlds as it were.  You have the tool to 
help you, yet you get to program in your favorite language.

Resistant to learning a new language--does this mean I'm getting old?
NAH!
Ken Downey
President
DreamTechInteractive!
And,
Blind Comfort!
The pleasant way to experience massage!
It's the Caring
without the Staring!

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com
To: Philip Bennefall phi...@blastbay.com; Gamers Discussion list 
gamers@audyssey.org

Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 12:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Philip,

Yeah, I know. That's why when I created the Genesis 3D engine I
compiled it as an dll library. My thinking was that someone would like
to use a programming language that they know be it C++, C# .net,
Visual Basic .net, and just include the g3d.dll file in a project,
initialize the classes, and away they go. It gives someone the ccore
functionality for input, audio, speech, networking, whatever without
having to reinvent the wheel so to speak.At the same time since it
isn't bound to any specific language or wysiwyg editor a developer is
free to create games in his/her own way.

Unfortunately, there is a few, not many, but a few people who want a
fully automated system, some sort of wysiwyg editor, that just does
everything for them. Instead of taking the time to learn how to
program or script that game they want a simple tool to do this for
them. However, as you pointed out there is really no way this can be
done without having x number of games that are virtually identical to
each other. Oh, the sounds might be different, levels might be
different, but game play and so on will be fairly identical from game
to game. This was one of the major short-comings of Audio Game Maker.
You had no way to modify the enemy A.I. or anyway to extend the
functionality of any specific game object. It is a classic case of
what you see is what you get.

For myself personally I think what you are doing is the right thing.
It is possible once I get MOTA and Raceway out the door I'll modify
the engine to use a scripting language like Lua, Angelscript, or
something like that so I can just script the games instead of using a
language like C++ to build games. However, that is down the road.

Smile.


On 1/31/11, Philip Bennefall phi...@blastbay.com wrote:

Hi Thomas,

This was actually what I invisioned for BGT in its very early stages of
development. However I quickly realized how close to impossible such a 
task
is to complete successfully. Sure you can make a few templates with 
objects,

behaviors and other things that the player can customize, but how much
further can you go? You can drag and drop controls on to a window form, 
but

how these controls behave is entirely up to the programmer in the end
whether it is vb.net, C# and so on. Similarly you may be able to select 
how

many sound sources should be in an environment, how many levels should be
available and a few other things, but how much more can you really do in
game development with a wysiwyg editor? The risk is that most games will
become very generic, easy to recognize as being yet another construction
from the same template, and the end results would get down-right boring.
Giving the user greatly simplified tools to accomplish the task is one
thing, holding their hand all the way and attempting to let them run 
without

moving is another.

A lot of people have suggested the same as Ken, that one could make a
wysiwyg front-end that could complement the scripting, but I don't really
buy this idea either. If you use the wysiwyg, it would generate code for
you. In order to be interesting this code would most likely have to be
fairly involved in places, and we all know that it is very hard to go in 
and

modify someone elses code. Writing your own is often much easier, and in
order to be able to modify things in the first place you will need to 
learn

the language and the API which brings us right back to square 1.

Just my two cents.

Kind regards,

Philip Bennefall


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail

Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Phil Vlasak

Hi Thomas,
I like your idea but in one specific area.
It would allow game players to add new levels to existing USA games such as 
David did with Lone Wolf.

I would enjoy adding new levels to MOTA or new tracks to Raceway.

One thing that the LW level generator does not allow is user supplied 
sounds.
So if you like this idea, then there should be a way of adding new sounds 
and creatures.

Phil

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 11:11 PM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.

Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,

please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


-
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3414 - Release Date: 01/31/11




---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Phil,

Well, to be honest I have mixed feelings about that subject. I do
certainly understand the desire to have level editors, but at the same
time I want the games to be created the way I invisioned it rather
than have someone else add his or her ideas to it and completely
change the nature of the game.

For example, over the course of developing Mysteries of the Ancients
I've seen all kinds of rediculous ideas. Several of them asking to add
this or that creature from Harry Potter, and they aren't necessarily
Greek in origen. Understandably I'd be upset, to say the least, if
there were a bunch of Harry Potter mods floating around as that would
totally kill the game for me. Mysteries of the Ancients is to be a
spin off from Tomb Raider not Harry Potter or anything else. So people
would have to stick to that storyline, but if you give them a level
editor there is no saying that is what they will do.

On the other hand games that have level editors etc have become quite
popular with the public. One such game, Doom, was hugely successful
because of the wad creation tools for the game. Back in the early to
mid 90's there were several custom wads for Doom including a
Terminator wad pack, Star Wars wad pack, etc and it really allowed
gamers like you and I to create our own games using the Doom engine.
As a end user I thought it was cool.

However, now that I'm a game developer myself my feelings have changed
about allowing end users the right to create there own custom game
levels with an existing game. For one thing any game I personally
create is something of a work of art as Geremy pointed out in another
thread. So when people change the game I labored to write, create a
certain way, I'm a bit offended as they are in effect saying they
don't like the game I spent countless hours, days, weeks, etc working
on. They want something else, and are just using my game to build some
other game they want.

On 2/1/11, Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net wrote:

 Hi Thomas,
 I like your idea but in one specific area.
 It would allow game players to add new levels to existing USA games such as
 David did with Lone Wolf.
 I would enjoy adding new levels to MOTA or new tracks to Raceway.

 One thing that the LW level generator does not allow is user supplied
 sounds.
 So if you like this idea, then there should be a way of adding new sounds
 and creatures.
 Phil


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Richard @ AudioGames
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



- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com
To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:11 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools


Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I 

Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Ken,

That's precisely why I have created G3D as a managed library. I
realize that languages like C++ or even Angelscript isn't for
everybody. Two years ago when I started writing the Genesis Engine,
before BGT came along, there was some interest in VB .net. I myself
was using C# .net at the time. I realized thanks to .net I could write
an engine, compile it as a dll, and simply plug it into Visual C++,
Visual C#, Visual Basic, or Visual J and have access to a game engine
using whatever language I desired to use. The sky is the limit.

While I appreciate BGT, think it is a great game engine, you only have
Angelscript to use and for someone using Visual Basic that can be a
big transition. Genesis 3D, on the other hand, allows you to use any
existing programming skills and use them provided the language is
compatible with the library. So I wrote the current version as a
managed .net library in C++.

The other reason I rote G3D the way I did is I like C# .net. I have
Windows 7 so I already have .net 4.0 preinstalled with the OS.
However, I don't want to install a bunch of extra packages like SlimDX
just to access DirectX and so on. No problem G3D wraps DirectX, Sapi,
etc giving me immediate access to Windows C++ game libraries without
any middleware other than g3d.dll.  If I wanted to I could write a
managed .net wrapper for OpenAL and use that other than DirectSound or
XAudio2. It is as you say the best of both worlds.

On 2/1/11, Ken the Crazy kenwdow...@neo.rr.com wrote:

 Tom,
 If G3d works as dll file, and could be used with VB.net, I think it could be
 very competitive as a game-making engine.  (I guess like I said on the list
 earlier, I'm a die-hard VB fan, but it's what I know.)  I'm not saying I
 won't try BGT, but C style languages really aren't my cup of C--I mean tea.
 Maybe it's just a have to get used to thing, maybe it's just that I've
 worked with quake C.  I won't say I wouldn't use BGT, but the G3d engine
 sounds awesome--the best of both worlds as it were.  You have the tool to
 help you, yet you get to program in your favorite language.
 Resistant to learning a new language--does this mean I'm getting old?
 NAH!
 Ken Downey
 President
 DreamTechInteractive!
 And,
 Blind Comfort!
 The pleasant way to experience massage!
 It's the Caring
 without the Staring!

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Trouble
Now that would be interesting to see what you come up with. Would 
like one thing in it, a demo type. So you could play around a bit but 
not save. Just be able to see how it does what you tell it.


At 11:11 PM 1/31/2011, you wrote:

Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.

Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Tim
trouble

Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
--Sam Brown

Blindeudora list owner.
To subscribe or info: http://www.freelists.org/webpage/blindeudora   



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
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 rich...@audiogames.net 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 __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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

Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Philip Bennefall

Hi Thomas,

Initially I had thoughts about exposing BGT as a dll as well, but then came 
to the conclusion that it would require too much maintenance for me. Not 
only would I have to provide and update bindings for all sorts of obscure 
languages that I might not know the first thing about, on top of this I 
would also have to fill the documentation with examples in different 
languages for each and every function/method. Not something I'm keen on 
doing. It would only appeal to existing programmers with skills in a 
particular language, and not be at all self contained. From that point of 
view I like the idea of something you just install and get going with from 
the ground up. However if I as a new and aspiring game developer who already 
knew a language well and wanted an engine, I would probably want something 
like g3d as I could use what I was already familiar with. A hard nut to 
crack, in my opinion.


Kind regards,

Philip Bennefall
- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com
To: Ken the Crazy kenwdow...@neo.rr.com; Gamers Discussion list 
gamers@audyssey.org

Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools


Hi Ken,

Maybe. Basically, the Genesis 3D engine is a dll file, g3d.dll, which
can be added to a C++, Visual C#, or Visual Basic project and used to
write games. As I mentioned on an earlier post to the list the way it
works is that it has a .net style managed interface as in everything
is accessible through classes and objects. You want audio, simply use
the audio class. You want Sapi support simply use the speech class.
You want networking use the Network class. Basically, it is an all in
one API that allows a game developer to plug it into any project and
get imediate access to audio,speech, networking, input, 3d
calculations, etc through one very easy to use library.

So what I'm basically thinking here is that I can create a front end,
similar to Audio Game Maker, that allows you to map keys, configure
joysticks, add mouse support, and asign them to functions like
PlayerStepLeft(), PlayerStepRight(), PlayerStepBack(),
PlayerStepFoward(). Plus if I create maybe 15 generic enemy objects
you can select them from a list and drop them on a form, set their
attributes, and they are done. Same for doors, staircases, ropes, fire
pits, or anything else you might like to add to the game. The purpose
here would be to do as little programming as necessary, but wrap the
engine with a type of automated wizard tool that allows you to build
games on the fly.

HTH




On 1/31/11, Ken the Crazy kenwdow...@neo.rr.com wrote:

How about creating it as a front-end to G3D?  That is, if you want to
fine-tune your game through programming, you can, but it wouldn't be
necessary.

Ken Downey
President
DreamTechInteractive!
And,
Blind Comfort!
The pleasant way to experience massage!
It's the Caring
without the Staring!



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread lirin
This idea is really amazing for me. Even if the BGT for few programming 
maniacs, for me for example it's not that bad, cause it's not toolkit, 
but it's another programming language to learn. This kind of really 
vizard or something similar will be interesting, but firstly Thomas, 
finish your MOTA and another things. I don't want attacking your person 
with weird words, but for me  you shoult finish your projects before 
starting another. Ofcourse, it's your case, but in that way you'll never 
finish your games. MOTA is something like 2 or 3 years work, and now 
shoult be the massive audio game, but sadly it isn't. you are 
concetrating on changing programming languages, cross platform etc, and 
this is  taking you to anywhere for my opinion.


Back to main topic, for me it's great idea, wich can open many people to 
game creation without learning scripting and programming languages.



Cheers

Tom


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Philip,

Ah, its not that bad. One way I get around the issue of updating
and/or supporting obscure programming languages is simply not to
support them in the firstplace. The .net framework is fairly
standardized now, and the fact is most Windows developers will most
likely pick one of the big three C++ .net, C# .net, and Visual Basic
.net and all three can easily be handled through a standardized
managed library. Plus since the library is written in C++ I can
provide static and dinamic libraries for unmanaged C++ applications as
well. That pretty much covers the most common programming languages
for Windows. There is Python, Java, and Visual Basic 6, but I don't
really want to create the library as a com component and add those
language specific bindings at this time.

As far as providing compitent documentation and code samples for
multiple languages that's actually an area I'd personally be good at.
For one thing I took college level classes in Visual Basic, C++, Java,
SQL, and have picked up languages like Python, C# .net, Visual Basic
.net, etc after I left college so I could keep myself employable. As a
result I know how to program  in most of the programming languages out
there. Writing sample documentation and/or sample code wouldn't be as
hard for me as it would be for someone who only knows one or two
programming languages. Yet, you are right, it is a boat load of work
since I have to create multiple versions of the same documentation.

On 2/1/11, Philip Bennefall phi...@blastbay.com wrote:

 Hi Thomas,

 Initially I had thoughts about exposing BGT as a dll as well, but then came
 to the conclusion that it would require too much maintenance for me. Not
 only would I have to provide and update bindings for all sorts of obscure
 languages that I might not know the first thing about, on top of this I
 would also have to fill the documentation with examples in different
 languages for each and every function/method. Not something I'm keen on
 doing. It would only appeal to existing programmers with skills in a
 particular language, and not be at all self contained. From that point of
 view I like the idea of something you just install and get going with from
 the ground up. However if I as a new and aspiring game developer who already
 knew a language well and wanted an engine, I would probably want something
 like g3d as I could use what I was already familiar with. A hard nut to
 crack, in my opinion.

 Kind regards,

 Philip Bennefall

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Damien Pendleton

Hi Thomas,
You can do a more generic function for player movement. For example, I use 
the following function in my player class:

bool move(int relative_x, int relative_y, bool running, bool jumping)
So for my player to walk sidewards one step to the right I write:
you.move(1, 0, false, false)
For my player to jump backwards I write:
you.move(0,-1,false,true)
The move function takes care of all boundaries and timer actions and returns 
true if my player moved and false if not. It's a good way of doing it in my 
opinion instead of having different functions for sidescrollers and 3d, etc. 
As long as I define my x and y boundaries I don't have a problem. If I ever 
knew how to make a turn function and simulate it in audio I would only have 
one turn function for both directions probably.

So instead of fifteen movement functions, I would only have two.
Everyone has their own development preferences, but I do think that would 
boost performance a little.

If you have any comments about it I'm always interested.
Regards,
Damien.




- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



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 rich...@audiogames.net 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

Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Damien Pendleton

Hi Philip,
Why don't you have a separate DLL included with the BGT package? That way, 
they have the language, the main documentation, and if you have a small 
section in the documentation saying that the DLL is exactly the same 
reference for BGT itself I think that would work.

Regards,
Damien.


- Original Message - 
From: Philip Bennefall phi...@blastbay.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Thomas,

Initially I had thoughts about exposing BGT as a dll as well, but then 
came to the conclusion that it would require too much maintenance for me. 
Not only would I have to provide and update bindings for all sorts of 
obscure languages that I might not know the first thing about, on top of 
this I would also have to fill the documentation with examples in 
different languages for each and every function/method. Not something I'm 
keen on doing. It would only appeal to existing programmers with skills in 
a particular language, and not be at all self contained. From that point 
of view I like the idea of something you just install and get going with 
from the ground up. However if I as a new and aspiring game developer who 
already knew a language well and wanted an engine, I would probably want 
something like g3d as I could use what I was already familiar with. A hard 
nut to crack, in my opinion.


Kind regards,

Philip Bennefall
- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com
To: Ken the Crazy kenwdow...@neo.rr.com; Gamers Discussion list 
gamers@audyssey.org

Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools


Hi Ken,

Maybe. Basically, the Genesis 3D engine is a dll file, g3d.dll, which
can be added to a C++, Visual C#, or Visual Basic project and used to
write games. As I mentioned on an earlier post to the list the way it
works is that it has a .net style managed interface as in everything
is accessible through classes and objects. You want audio, simply use
the audio class. You want Sapi support simply use the speech class.
You want networking use the Network class. Basically, it is an all in
one API that allows a game developer to plug it into any project and
get imediate access to audio,speech, networking, input, 3d
calculations, etc through one very easy to use library.

So what I'm basically thinking here is that I can create a front end,
similar to Audio Game Maker, that allows you to map keys, configure
joysticks, add mouse support, and asign them to functions like
PlayerStepLeft(), PlayerStepRight(), PlayerStepBack(),
PlayerStepFoward(). Plus if I create maybe 15 generic enemy objects
you can select them from a list and drop them on a form, set their
attributes, and they are done. Same for doors, staircases, ropes, fire
pits, or anything else you might like to add to the game. The purpose
here would be to do as little programming as necessary, but wrap the
engine with a type of automated wizard tool that allows you to build
games on the fly.

HTH




On 1/31/11, Ken the Crazy kenwdow...@neo.rr.com wrote:

How about creating it as a front-end to G3D?  That is, if you want to
fine-tune your game through programming, you can, but it wouldn't be
necessary.

Ken Downey
President
DreamTechInteractive!
And,
Blind Comfort!
The pleasant way to experience massage!
It's the Caring
without the Staring!



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,

please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Tom,

I have no intentions of just abandoning MOTA or Raceway in favor of
creating something else at this time. Just because I might talk about
creating something like this down the road does not mean that I'll
start work on it today or tomorrow. I might not ever make it. I'm
merely gathering information about how much interest there is in such
a product. I certainly don't need reminders to finish MOTA, Raceway,
etc. I get enough badgering about those products as it is.

Cheers!

On 2/1/11, lirin seal11...@gmail.com wrote:
 This idea is really amazing for me. Even if the BGT for few programming
 maniacs, for me for example it's not that bad, cause it's not toolkit,
 but it's another programming language to learn. This kind of really
 vizard or something similar will be interesting, but firstly Thomas,
 finish your MOTA and another things. I don't want attacking your person
 with weird words, but for me  you shoult finish your projects before
 starting another. Ofcourse, it's your case, but in that way you'll never
 finish your games. MOTA is something like 2 or 3 years work, and now
 shoult be the massive audio game, but sadly it isn't. you are
 concetrating on changing programming languages, cross platform etc, and
 this is  taking you to anywhere for my opinion.

 Back to main topic, for me it's great idea, wich can open many people to
 game creation without learning scripting and programming languages.


 Cheers

 Tom


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Bryan Peterson
Yeah, a genre-specific tool would probably have been a better idea. I 
remember that for the computer and even Play Station there was an RPG Maker 
tool which I did have quite a bit of fun with despite never actually 
managing to create a game with. Admittedly all games created with, say, the 
PlayStation version would have featured the same music and SFX since unlike 
the PC versions you couldn't import new sounds and music. Unfortunately such 
tools didn't do well in the mainstream market and were never actually 
released in the US anyway. Probably for the best.

We are the Knights who say...Ni!
- Original Message - 
From: Richard @ AudioGames rich...@audiogames.net

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:39 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



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



- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:11 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools


Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have

Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Bryan Peterson
Ah yes, I remember those Doom things. My dad had a Simpsons one tat was 
pretty funny. Homer was the main character dude and then I think Moe was 
used for some of the monsters. I'm gonna shove a sausage down ya throat 
and...well I won't finish that line since it is rather rude. But it was 
pretty funny. Then anytime you picked up ammo or anything it would play a 
sound of Homer eating donuts and then saying More. I think there was even a 
Santa Clause scheme. But I'm with Thomas on this issue. When it comes to 
games I play I wouldn't complain about a level editor provided it was 
reasonably easy to use, but when it comes to any games I might develop 
(although I don't know if BGT yet offers or will ever offer that 
capability), I'm not entirely sure I'd want to add a level editor. When I 
make a game I want to make it how I want it to be. I'll add reasonable 
suggestions and features but only so long as I feel they fit well within the 
context of the game.

We are the Knights who say...Ni!
- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Phil,

Well, to be honest I have mixed feelings about that subject. I do
certainly understand the desire to have level editors, but at the same
time I want the games to be created the way I invisioned it rather
than have someone else add his or her ideas to it and completely
change the nature of the game.

For example, over the course of developing Mysteries of the Ancients
I've seen all kinds of rediculous ideas. Several of them asking to add
this or that creature from Harry Potter, and they aren't necessarily
Greek in origen. Understandably I'd be upset, to say the least, if
there were a bunch of Harry Potter mods floating around as that would
totally kill the game for me. Mysteries of the Ancients is to be a
spin off from Tomb Raider not Harry Potter or anything else. So people
would have to stick to that storyline, but if you give them a level
editor there is no saying that is what they will do.

On the other hand games that have level editors etc have become quite
popular with the public. One such game, Doom, was hugely successful
because of the wad creation tools for the game. Back in the early to
mid 90's there were several custom wads for Doom including a
Terminator wad pack, Star Wars wad pack, etc and it really allowed
gamers like you and I to create our own games using the Doom engine.
As a end user I thought it was cool.

However, now that I'm a game developer myself my feelings have changed
about allowing end users the right to create there own custom game
levels with an existing game. For one thing any game I personally
create is something of a work of art as Geremy pointed out in another
thread. So when people change the game I labored to write, create a
certain way, I'm a bit offended as they are in effect saying they
don't like the game I spent countless hours, days, weeks, etc working
on. They want something else, and are just using my game to build some
other game they want.

On 2/1/11, Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net wrote:


Hi Thomas,
I like your idea but in one specific area.
It would allow game players to add new levels to existing USA games such 
as

David did with Lone Wolf.
I would enjoy adding new levels to MOTA or new tracks to Raceway.

One thing that the LW level generator does not allow is user supplied
sounds.
So if you like this idea, then there should be a way of adding new sounds
and creatures.
Phil



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Damien,

Ummm..I'm not sure about that.  I don't know how your move function
actually works. I know my movement functions would require the
player's angle, AKA the direction the player is facing, his/her speed,
plus the x, y, and z position and calculate a vector along that
direction to find out where the player's next step will be. For that
reason I wrote separate functions to move correctly.

What I'm saying is that my movement functions don't simply add or
subtract 1 to the x/y/z axes. They use trig based calculations to
determine where the player's next step will be given the player's
current angle, velocity, and position in 3d space. So I'm not quite
sure how your movement function works and if it would really apply to
a 3d fps engine or not.

On 2/1/11, Damien Pendleton dam...@x-sight-interactive.net wrote:

 Hi Thomas,
 You can do a more generic function for player movement. For example, I use
 the following function in my player class:
 bool move(int relative_x, int relative_y, bool running, bool jumping)
 So for my player to walk sidewards one step to the right I write:
 you.move(1, 0, false, false)
 For my player to jump backwards I write:
 you.move(0,-1,false,true)
 The move function takes care of all boundaries and timer actions and returns
 true if my player moved and false if not. It's a good way of doing it in my
 opinion instead of having different functions for sidescrollers and 3d, etc.
 As long as I define my x and y boundaries I don't have a problem. If I ever
 knew how to make a turn function and simulate it in audio I would only have
 one turn function for both directions probably.
 So instead of fifteen movement functions, I would only have two.
 Everyone has their own development preferences, but I do think that would
 boost performance a little.
 If you have any comments about it I'm always interested.
 Regards,
 Damien.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Ari,

Well, Mario is definitely copyrighted by Nintendo. Sounds, graphics,
names, etc. However, to be honest the game idea is generic enough you
could create something very much like it if you are creative enough.

For example, on Linux there is a game called Super Tux. Super Tux
happens to be a Mario style game where you play the Linux Penguine,
Tux, breaking ice blocks, jumping over traps, and more or less doing
the same things as Mario. In a lot of ways it is fairly close to Mario
without stepping on any copyright laws etc.

However, as for creating such an automated tool we'll see. I'm not at
all sure it is a good idea myself given the fact that tools like AGM
can only go so far before you require some scripting or programming.
One of the problems with AGM was that it was limited in the sorts of
games you could create, and the types of objects were fairly generic.
Perhaps too generic  for certain types of games. So in order to create
such a tool myself I'd have to find a way to get around that problem
which wouldn't be easy.

Cheers!


On 2/1/11, Arianna Sepulveda englishride...@gmail.com wrote:
 Oh, my God, Tom! Please, please, please consider doing this! I'd buy
 it! Programming is something I don't know how people do. I am truely
 astounded at how much work is involved, and I don't think I could
 figure it out too well. However, programming must have some logic to
 it--it's a system, after all, and I love systems. But this would get
 me started. I've always wanted to create some audio games! Something
 kinda like Super Mario World--well, not exactly--it's copywritten,
 after all, but something similar. Hmmm, wonder if the sounds/music is
 copywritten? Probably--who am I kidding? Anyhow, I've always wanted to
 do something like this!


 Thanks,

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Phil Vlasak

Hi Thomas,
I understand where you are coming from as I wouldn't want people to add 
levels to my Sarah game.
But consider the idea for Raceway where users could add additional tracks 
and cars to it.

Phil

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Phil,

Well, to be honest I have mixed feelings about that subject. I do
certainly understand the desire to have level editors, but at the same
time I want the games to be created the way I invisioned it rather
than have someone else add his or her ideas to it and completely
change the nature of the game.

For example, over the course of developing Mysteries of the Ancients
I've seen all kinds of rediculous ideas. Several of them asking to add
this or that creature from Harry Potter, and they aren't necessarily
Greek in origen. Understandably I'd be upset, to say the least, if
there were a bunch of Harry Potter mods floating around as that would
totally kill the game for me. Mysteries of the Ancients is to be a
spin off from Tomb Raider not Harry Potter or anything else. So people
would have to stick to that storyline, but if you give them a level
editor there is no saying that is what they will do.

On the other hand games that have level editors etc have become quite
popular with the public. One such game, Doom, was hugely successful
because of the wad creation tools for the game. Back in the early to
mid 90's there were several custom wads for Doom including a
Terminator wad pack, Star Wars wad pack, etc and it really allowed
gamers like you and I to create our own games using the Doom engine.
As a end user I thought it was cool.

However, now that I'm a game developer myself my feelings have changed
about allowing end users the right to create there own custom game
levels with an existing game. For one thing any game I personally
create is something of a work of art as Geremy pointed out in another
thread. So when people change the game I labored to write, create a
certain way, I'm a bit offended as they are in effect saying they
don't like the game I spent countless hours, days, weeks, etc working
on. They want something else, and are just using my game to build some
other game they want.



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Bryan Peterson
That would definitely make sense. Even the old NES game Excitebike featured 
a track editor.

We are the Knights who say...Ni!
- Original Message - 
From: Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 8:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Thomas,
I understand where you are coming from as I wouldn't want people to add 
levels to my Sarah game.
But consider the idea for Raceway where users could add additional tracks 
and cars to it.

Phil

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Phil,

Well, to be honest I have mixed feelings about that subject. I do
certainly understand the desire to have level editors, but at the same
time I want the games to be created the way I invisioned it rather
than have someone else add his or her ideas to it and completely
change the nature of the game.

For example, over the course of developing Mysteries of the Ancients
I've seen all kinds of rediculous ideas. Several of them asking to add
this or that creature from Harry Potter, and they aren't necessarily
Greek in origen. Understandably I'd be upset, to say the least, if
there were a bunch of Harry Potter mods floating around as that would
totally kill the game for me. Mysteries of the Ancients is to be a
spin off from Tomb Raider not Harry Potter or anything else. So people
would have to stick to that storyline, but if you give them a level
editor there is no saying that is what they will do.

On the other hand games that have level editors etc have become quite
popular with the public. One such game, Doom, was hugely successful
because of the wad creation tools for the game. Back in the early to
mid 90's there were several custom wads for Doom including a
Terminator wad pack, Star Wars wad pack, etc and it really allowed
gamers like you and I to create our own games using the Doom engine.
As a end user I thought it was cool.

However, now that I'm a game developer myself my feelings have changed
about allowing end users the right to create there own custom game
levels with an existing game. For one thing any game I personally
create is something of a work of art as Geremy pointed out in another
thread. So when people change the game I labored to write, create a
certain way, I'm a bit offended as they are in effect saying they
don't like the game I spent countless hours, days, weeks, etc working
on. They want something else, and are just using my game to build some
other game they want.



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Lori Duncan
I agree, lodgic is something I fall down on all the time.  If I'm looking at 
a piece of equipment for example like a computer, I know how it works and 
understand the menus, but throw a whole load of coding language at me and I 
just go blank.
- Original Message - 
From: Arianna Sepulveda englishride...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Oh, my God, Tom! Please, please, please consider doing this! I'd buy
it! Programming is something I don't know how people do. I am truely
astounded at how much work is involved, and I don't think I could
figure it out too well. However, programming must have some logic to
it--it's a system, after all, and I love systems. But this would get
me started. I've always wanted to create some audio games! Something
kinda like Super Mario World--well, not exactly--it's copywritten,
after all, but something similar. Hmmm, wonder if the sounds/music is
copywritten? Probably--who am I kidding? Anyhow, I've always wanted to
do something like this!


Thanks,
Ari

On 1/31/11, Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Jacob,

Hey, that's all I want to know. I'd much rather have an honest opinion
saying you don't like the idea rather than spending months creating a
piece of software that no one has any interest in buying. If and when
I ever go commercial with the Genesis 3D engine I  need to know what
people are looking for. My personal opinion right now is to add
scripting so that it can be scripted like BGT. However, there are
some, maybe not many, who are reluctant to learn a scripting language
like Lua, Angelscript, etc and build games that way.


Cheers!


On 2/1/11, Jacob Kruger jac...@mailzone.co.za wrote:

It's a very nice idea, but, to be honest, would really depend on pricing
etc. since I, from my side, definitely wouldn't be using it
professionally,
and unless I could pay you the same amount, but in ZAR...it would most
likely not be something I would be prepared to spend too much money on -
sorry, but just being honest...smile

Stay well

Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,

please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,

please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.




---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Shiny protector
You could do it like the horse racing game. Instead of editing sounds, you 
could do the traps and enemies. You can also have options to restore to 
default settings. Basically, I'm not sure how the level grid works, but here 
is an example.
Your up and down arrow keys are to select which type of position you want. 
Lets say the level grid ends at 20. You can have. 1. The positions are 
actually rooms. firepit. or 1. Staircase. or random, or enemy. 3. The same. 
You can use your left and right arrow keys to change the positions objects. 
That's what I've thought of.
- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi Phil,

Well, to be honest I have mixed feelings about that subject. I do
certainly understand the desire to have level editors, but at the same
time I want the games to be created the way I invisioned it rather
than have someone else add his or her ideas to it and completely
change the nature of the game.

For example, over the course of developing Mysteries of the Ancients
I've seen all kinds of rediculous ideas. Several of them asking to add
this or that creature from Harry Potter, and they aren't necessarily
Greek in origen. Understandably I'd be upset, to say the least, if
there were a bunch of Harry Potter mods floating around as that would
totally kill the game for me. Mysteries of the Ancients is to be a
spin off from Tomb Raider not Harry Potter or anything else. So people
would have to stick to that storyline, but if you give them a level
editor there is no saying that is what they will do.

On the other hand games that have level editors etc have become quite
popular with the public. One such game, Doom, was hugely successful
because of the wad creation tools for the game. Back in the early to
mid 90's there were several custom wads for Doom including a
Terminator wad pack, Star Wars wad pack, etc and it really allowed
gamers like you and I to create our own games using the Doom engine.
As a end user I thought it was cool.

However, now that I'm a game developer myself my feelings have changed
about allowing end users the right to create there own custom game
levels with an existing game. For one thing any game I personally
create is something of a work of art as Geremy pointed out in another
thread. So when people change the game I labored to write, create a
certain way, I'm a bit offended as they are in effect saying they
don't like the game I spent countless hours, days, weeks, etc working
on. They want something else, and are just using my game to build some
other game they want.

On 2/1/11, Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net wrote:


Hi Thomas,
I like your idea but in one specific area.
It would allow game players to add new levels to existing USA games such 
as

David did with Lone Wolf.
I would enjoy adding new levels to MOTA or new tracks to Raceway.

One thing that the LW level generator does not allow is user supplied
sounds.
So if you like this idea, then there should be a way of adding new sounds
and creatures.
Phil



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,

please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.




---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Phil,

Well, my feeling is basically like this. I don't mind something like a
track editor for Raceway because that is a specific type of tool for a
specific kind of game. That doesn't really effect the game in any way
other to give the player more kinds of custom tracks. I don't have any
problems with that kind of level editor.

However, there are other types of games where a custom level editor
isn't a good idea. It can be down right detrimental to the project
and/or the author's initial design. It opens the door to all kinds of
modifications that might apeal to the end user, but be just absolutely
disagreeable to the developer.

For example, besides having an interest in computer science I have
always been a huge fan of history, mithology, and archeology. As a
result games like Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, Montezuma's Revenge, or
anything like that has always apealed to me as a gamer. In such a
setting as that, where some historical accuracy is essential, the last
thing a developer wants is to have some end user just coming up with
some levels that have nothing to do with the mythology and history of
the game setting.

Imagine this. Suppose I decide one day to create a historical game
based on the life of Joan of Ark. You, the player, get to live out
various aspects of Joan's life. You might start out as a simple
peasant girl living in suthern France until one day you have a vision
that tells you to visit King Charles, the future King of France, and
to give him a message sent from God. As Joan you travel to the palace
and give Charles the message. As happens in history Charles places
young Joan in command of his army. Now dressed in mens clothing,
waring battle armour, and carrying a sword 16-year old Joan marches
north to Orleans where The English and Burgundians have laid siege to
the city. According to historical accounts under Joan's leadership the
French managed to break the six month siege in just under three days
after Joan took command of the army. From there Joan lead the French
in several battles until she was captured at the battle of Paris in
1430. Unfortunately, for Joan the English put her on trial and had her
wrongly exicuted for witchcraft. Well, actually she was executed for
waring mens clothing because the charge of witchcraft didn't stick.
However, that's beside the point. The fact is the English wanted Joan
executed, because she had helped put King Charles on the thrown a year
before, and by discrediting Joan as a witch they might be able to
convince the Pope to declare Charles a heretic and have him
excommunicated. If they had succeeded they would have completely
changed the power base in France, and King Edward would have had an
easier time taking control.

Anyway, in a game like that, where historical accuracy makes or breaks
the game, the last thing I would want is someone to modify the game.
It goes beyond just being a work of art. It is a historical
reenactment of a real person's life, personal struggles in war, and
one young woman's transformation from simple peasant girl to warrior
maiden.  Someone who's death was extremely tragic, but became a
rallying point for French men-in-arms who served under her command.
That kind of game needs care and attention to any historical details
we have on Joan's life and would be absolutely ruined through a level
editor.

Games of the Tomb Raider style could easily be ruined through careless
inattention to detail the same way. Oh, monsters like the lamia,
minotaur, the centaurs, harpies, and so on are completely fictional.
However, I borrowed them out of Greek mythology, and have tried to
stay close to the myths as much as possible. Someone who likes another
type of game might stick something like a basilisk in the game which
isn't at all Greek in origen. Totally out of place in that type of
game. So a level editor wouldn't really work out too well.

Cheers!


On 2/1/11, Phil Vlasak p...@pcsgames.net wrote:
 Hi Thomas,
 I understand where you are coming from as I wouldn't want people to add
 levels to my Sarah game.
 But consider the idea for Raceway where users could add additional tracks
 and cars to it.
 Phil


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Frost
On Tue, Feb 01, 2011 at 05:25:59PM +, Lori Duncan wrote:
 I agree, lodgic is something I fall down on all the time.  If I'm
 looking at a piece of equipment for example like a computer, I know
 how it works and understand the menus, but throw a whole load of
 coding language at me and I just go blank.

[My Reply:]
Programming is like owning an Erector set.  You have a whole 
bunch of parts that do little things.  Take a motor, a wheel, a dipper 
and bolts.  Using bolts, connect the dipper and the wheel together, then 
bolt the wheel to the motor.  Put it in a river and have the dippers 
spill into a tank, and you have a water wheel.  Programming is the same 
thing, only with commands, telling the computer what to do.  Know what 
all the parts do, and you will begin to see what *CAN* be done.


And Arianna Sepulveda said:]

 Programming is something I don't know how people do. I am truely
 astounded at how much work is involved, and I don't think I could
 figure it out too well.

[My Reply:]
As long as you continue telling yourself that, the longer you 
cripple yourself

Michael

--
Linux User: 177869 *#* Powered By: Intel *#* http://rivensight.dyndns.org
Postings Copyrighted 2010-2011 by: Michael Ferranti

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-02-01 Thread Hayden Presley
Hi Michael,
I love the way you're approaching it. One problem I find all over the place
is  that people want to dive into creating Microsoft word, Shades of Doom or
thereabouts. Start simple.
If you're using C++, write some program like this:
#include iostream
Using namespace std;
Int main()
{
Cout Hello there! This is my first program!;
Return 0;
}
Bingo! You've got something functional and that gives you the basic C++
program. The same holds true to other languages; try printing text before
anything else, I often find that it is the best way to begin programming.

Best Regards,
Hayden


-Original Message-
From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On
Behalf Of Frost
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:09 PM
To: gamers@audyssey.org
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

On Tue, Feb 01, 2011 at 05:25:59PM +, Lori Duncan wrote:
 I agree, lodgic is something I fall down on all the time.  If I'm
 looking at a piece of equipment for example like a computer, I know
 how it works and understand the menus, but throw a whole load of
 coding language at me and I just go blank.

[My Reply:]
Programming is like owning an Erector set.  You have a whole 
bunch of parts that do little things.  Take a motor, a wheel, a dipper 
and bolts.  Using bolts, connect the dipper and the wheel together, then 
bolt the wheel to the motor.  Put it in a river and have the dippers 
spill into a tank, and you have a water wheel.  Programming is the same 
thing, only with commands, telling the computer what to do.  Know what 
all the parts do, and you will begin to see what *CAN* be done.


And Arianna Sepulveda said:]

 Programming is something I don't know how people do. I am truely
 astounded at how much work is involved, and I don't think I could
 figure it out too well.

[My Reply:]
As long as you continue telling yourself that, the longer you 
cripple yourself

Michael

--
Linux User: 177869 *#* Powered By: Intel *#*
http://rivensight.dyndns.org
Postings Copyrighted 2010-2011 by: Michael Ferranti

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-01-31 Thread Ken the Crazy
How about creating it as a front-end to G3D?  That is, if you want to 
fine-tune your game through programming, you can, but it wouldn't be 
necessary.


Ken Downey
President
DreamTechInteractive!
And,
Blind Comfort!
The pleasant way to experience massage!
It's the Caring
without the Staring!

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 11:11 PM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.

Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,

please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.




---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-01-31 Thread Philip Bennefall

Hi Thomas,

This was actually what I invisioned for BGT in its very early stages of 
development. However I quickly realized how close to impossible such a task 
is to complete successfully. Sure you can make a few templates with objects, 
behaviors and other things that the player can customize, but how much 
further can you go? You can drag and drop controls on to a window form, but 
how these controls behave is entirely up to the programmer in the end 
whether it is vb.net, C# and so on. Similarly you may be able to select how 
many sound sources should be in an environment, how many levels should be 
available and a few other things, but how much more can you really do in 
game development with a wysiwyg editor? The risk is that most games will 
become very generic, easy to recognize as being yet another construction 
from the same template, and the end results would get down-right boring. 
Giving the user greatly simplified tools to accomplish the task is one 
thing, holding their hand all the way and attempting to let them run without 
moving is another.


A lot of people have suggested the same as Ken, that one could make a 
wysiwyg front-end that could complement the scripting, but I don't really 
buy this idea either. If you use the wysiwyg, it would generate code for 
you. In order to be interesting this code would most likely have to be 
fairly involved in places, and we all know that it is very hard to go in and 
modify someone elses code. Writing your own is often much easier, and in 
order to be able to modify things in the first place you will need to learn 
the language and the API which brings us right back to square 1.


Just my two cents.

Kind regards,

Philip Bennefall
- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:11 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools


Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.

Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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 

Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-01-31 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Ken,

Maybe. Basically, the Genesis 3D engine is a dll file, g3d.dll, which
can be added to a C++, Visual C#, or Visual Basic project and used to
write games. As I mentioned on an earlier post to the list the way it
works is that it has a .net style managed interface as in everything
is accessible through classes and objects. You want audio, simply use
the audio class. You want Sapi support simply use the speech class.
You want networking use the Network class. Basically, it is an all in
one API that allows a game developer to plug it into any project and
get imediate access to audio,speech, networking, input, 3d
calculations, etc through one very easy to use library.

So what I'm basically thinking here is that I can create a front end,
similar to Audio Game Maker, that allows you to map keys, configure
joysticks, add mouse support, and asign them to functions like
PlayerStepLeft(), PlayerStepRight(), PlayerStepBack(),
PlayerStepFoward(). Plus if I create maybe 15 generic enemy objects
you can select them from a list and drop them on a form, set their
attributes, and they are done. Same for doors, staircases, ropes, fire
pits, or anything else you might like to add to the game. The purpose
here would be to do as little programming as necessary, but wrap the
engine with a type of automated wizard tool that allows you to build
games on the fly.

HTH




On 1/31/11, Ken the Crazy kenwdow...@neo.rr.com wrote:
 How about creating it as a front-end to G3D?  That is, if you want to
 fine-tune your game through programming, you can, but it wouldn't be
 necessary.

 Ken Downey
 President
 DreamTechInteractive!
 And,
 Blind Comfort!
 The pleasant way to experience massage!
 It's the Caring
 without the Staring!


---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-01-31 Thread Jacob Kruger
It's a very nice idea, but, to be honest, would really depend on pricing 
etc. since I, from my side, definitely wouldn't be using it professionally, 
and unless I could pay you the same amount, but in ZAR...it would most 
likely not be something I would be prepared to spend too much money on - 
sorry, but just being honest...smile


Stay well

Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'

- Original Message - 
From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com

To: gamers@audyssey.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:11 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools



Hi everyone,

Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.

All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.

I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.

Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to 
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.

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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the 
list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. 



---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-01-31 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Philip,

Yeah, I know. That's why when I created the Genesis 3D engine I
compiled it as an dll library. My thinking was that someone would like
to use a programming language that they know be it C++, C# .net,
Visual Basic .net, and just include the g3d.dll file in a project,
initialize the classes, and away they go. It gives someone the ccore
functionality for input, audio, speech, networking, whatever without
having to reinvent the wheel so to speak.At the same time since it
isn't bound to any specific language or wysiwyg editor a developer is
free to create games in his/her own way.

Unfortunately, there is a few, not many, but a few people who want a
fully automated system, some sort of wysiwyg editor, that just does
everything for them. Instead of taking the time to learn how to
program or script that game they want a simple tool to do this for
them. However, as you pointed out there is really no way this can be
done without having x number of games that are virtually identical to
each other. Oh, the sounds might be different, levels might be
different, but game play and so on will be fairly identical from game
to game. This was one of the major short-comings of Audio Game Maker.
You had no way to modify the enemy A.I. or anyway to extend the
functionality of any specific game object. It is a classic case of
what you see is what you get.

For myself personally I think what you are doing is the right thing.
It is possible once I get MOTA and Raceway out the door I'll modify
the engine to use a scripting language like Lua, Angelscript, or
something like that so I can just script the games instead of using a
language like C++ to build games. However, that is down the road.

Smile.


On 1/31/11, Philip Bennefall phi...@blastbay.com wrote:
 Hi Thomas,

 This was actually what I invisioned for BGT in its very early stages of
 development. However I quickly realized how close to impossible such a task
 is to complete successfully. Sure you can make a few templates with objects,
 behaviors and other things that the player can customize, but how much
 further can you go? You can drag and drop controls on to a window form, but
 how these controls behave is entirely up to the programmer in the end
 whether it is vb.net, C# and so on. Similarly you may be able to select how
 many sound sources should be in an environment, how many levels should be
 available and a few other things, but how much more can you really do in
 game development with a wysiwyg editor? The risk is that most games will
 become very generic, easy to recognize as being yet another construction
 from the same template, and the end results would get down-right boring.
 Giving the user greatly simplified tools to accomplish the task is one
 thing, holding their hand all the way and attempting to let them run without
 moving is another.

 A lot of people have suggested the same as Ken, that one could make a
 wysiwyg front-end that could complement the scripting, but I don't really
 buy this idea either. If you use the wysiwyg, it would generate code for
 you. In order to be interesting this code would most likely have to be
 fairly involved in places, and we all know that it is very hard to go in and
 modify someone elses code. Writing your own is often much easier, and in
 order to be able to modify things in the first place you will need to learn
 the language and the API which brings us right back to square 1.

 Just my two cents.

 Kind regards,

 Philip Bennefall

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.


Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools

2011-01-31 Thread Thomas Ward
Hi Jacob,

Hey, that's all I want to know. I'd much rather have an honest opinion
saying you don't like the idea rather than spending months creating a
piece of software that no one has any interest in buying. If and when
I ever go commercial with the Genesis 3D engine I  need to know what
people are looking for. My personal opinion right now is to add
scripting so that it can be scripted like BGT. However, there are
some, maybe not many, who are reluctant to learn a scripting language
like Lua, Angelscript, etc and build games that way.


Cheers!


On 2/1/11, Jacob Kruger jac...@mailzone.co.za wrote:
 It's a very nice idea, but, to be honest, would really depend on pricing
 etc. since I, from my side, definitely wouldn't be using it professionally,
 and unless I could pay you the same amount, but in ZAR...it would most
 likely not be something I would be prepared to spend too much money on -
 sorry, but just being honest...smile

 Stay well

 Jacob Kruger
 Blind Biker
 Skype: BlindZA
 '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'

---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
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/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.