How do GLB people design their masterpieces before the coding starts? Does anyone know of any (preferably FOSS) storyboarding and design applications or similar. How do GLB people manage projects? I know it is best to have as much done as possible before even touching code but I often don't know how to organise and prepare even when I have great ideas.
Or do you all just scribble stuff down on the back of an envelope and fire up the IDE? :P
Any input on how others deal with the pre-production would be greatly received.
Thanks =D
Real pre stuff usually done on paper with these: (I have a couple)
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=7437.0
Then I get a set of TODO in a notepad on second monitor+the paper notebook with a timeline all fine and designed.
....then I fast guerrilha code stuff to the point things are so interlaced there is no use rewriting parts but to prey no bugs come around ;)
Good thing I end up learning a lot to implement on next project.
Hehe - I am glad I am not the only one who has this sort of approach - code first and damn them all! :-[
The bits of paper and old envelopes etc are getting out of hand. I do have a whiteboard on the wall now but it is already full of other stuff - the equivalent of bits of paper for a dozen projects and ideas. :puke:
The guerrilha code has some pros, like real fast feedback on an idea, but it sucks as game gets complex.
It is good to learn though. :good:
I just got back to my game and took a full day to re-understand the documented code+paper stuff.
After a while, I drop the paper and keep it all into second monitor into notepads docs.
Game is here, there is come info on how it is getting made:
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=9354.0
Hopefully as I finish it, I can get a nice pdf done with all info on development.
Yeah, to learn and develop coding skills the hit and run approach is ok but I have some bigger ideas I want to do "properly" :-)
Got an old school RPG engine idea I have been meaning to get done for ages and ages but it is too complex to just hack together.
You have an advantage over me Erico - I can't draw at all.
An artist, writer or a musician can´t do a computer game alone, a coder can. ;) I have no advantage here.
What do you mean by RPG? like a zelda stuff? Or more like dungeon master?
Yep, bigger projects need better planning.
Kind of like Dungeon Master or Xenomorph from the ST/Amiga. Mainly aimed at the GP2X - Pandora series of handhelds. Probably android as well since it is easy-ish with GLB. Not just a fixed game like those but an engine that hopefully others will design adventures for as well.
There is no profit to be made but lots of scope for good native games on GP2X/Wiz/Caanoo/Pandora.
Re: skills - I can do music, writing, sound fx and coding but I suck at graphics, really really suck.
p.s. I love it when the tree starts dancing on its roots in your game.
Nice.
Oh I forgot all about Xenomorph! I remember that game from screen shots on magazines and always promissed myself to get it, but when my amiga arrived I totally forgot it forever till now. :O
If you are looking into an engine then for sure a good planning or code design will be useful.
Matchy is also looking into something similar and possibly another forum user too.
Are you looking into an engine that will require GLBasic code or something like standalone with editors and so on?
Ideally I will create a standalone editor for it.
:offtopic: Xenomorph was one of my favourite ST games, well worth firing up an emulator or digging out your ST/Amiga to play. It is a very big game and making or DLing maps is a good idea.
I will look at what other people are doing too, thanks. :good:
Just checked a youtube video on it. ;)
I prefer the Hired Guns style with +3 friends... sentry guns placed, everybody in position, open that door... chaos and everyone shooting each other. :D
I have an RPG in mind too, it has a few concepts drawn and a bit of design too, nothing showy.
Here I thought to make use of Y dimension like hired guns, push the game style more towards blade runner.
Concerning a visual system, on a traditional take, you have a tile for the floor,walls and ceiling + tiles for the same further away into perspective.
I stepped working on it while wondering about the matrix or 3d grid the thing take place. I think Matchy is also thinking about this too on that INPUT thread.
It is tought to set a perspective and scale.
I´m adding a standard simple 3d grid here so you can see cubes as rooms
In my case, I wanted each room cube to be split into 4 tall blocks and then to work really low res tiles on them. I was also leaning towards a more teleobjective visual then the standards. Break all cubes into 4 cubes for some special objects like cars. But I never advanced that idea as of yet. I´m not sure I´m making much sense, but I hope I can get back to it this or next year. Working with a static 3d minecraft way would not be a bad idea either on the economy of sprite tiles.
EDIT: there is a chance I might make a game like that but based on pictures sometime this year though. I´m not sure I´m up to the task of breaking all sprites and blocks to create random city environments blade runner style. It might just be a too big of a jump for me.
The scale I am thinking of is much smaller than that, self-contained environments like space bases, dungeons etc for now. Outdoor environments start presenting their own challenges to create - having said that I had also thought about something akin to Lords of Midnight/Doomdark's revenge as I was working this idea over.
This has gone quite far off topic now, sorry - perhaps a kind admin could move it? :)
Maybe we can ask one to move things if you want, but it still a single page, it is fine.
We should make a RPG THOUGHTS thread to discuss such there as it is a topic that shows up into many others.
Edit: made a topic for us to discuss adventures/rpg stuff done in GLB here: http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=9819.0
Well I don't counsil my "technic" , I come from 3D but today I don't make any skecth, I put in front computer and I begin to draw , for GLbasci it's the same I never wrote in paper the code...
Sometimes in over a "Veleda" Desk I put some ideas , but basically for don't forget them...
I've never resorted to pen and paper either - either for my code or my graphics. I have a mental image of how I want the game to look and play; I then code and/or draw until my game is how I wanted it. Anything less and I'm not happy.
I'm also not used paper (I'm not artist), but might design mock graphics or uses ripped graphics in a paint app, how the game would been designed and did quite research for about tool.
I'm diddent uses my own level editor for both my games, but used a external one and created a simple loader for that.
For greedy mouse the artist used 3d placeholder graphics under testing before he did the real graphics and also did a lots of light test. The very first version was very much gameboy assests...
Conceptualization, such as sketches and lists, are mainly for communicating to other teams members but sometimes I would use it alone if the information exceeds remembering. For example, if I am just thinking about a game design like various pickups (say more than 10), I would have to write them down.
Also, if I need to create a quick sketch that mpaint can't handle, out come the pencil and paper because that process if fun even if it's not really needed.
Sometimes planning seems to be a chore that gets in the way of creativity but it can also help in some cases. I suppose it depends how your brain is wired and how disciplined you are. I am a victim of feature-creep when programming so having a plan to achieve to get to v1.0 gives me some degree of discipline. :whip:
When I did formal software engineer training (so many, many years ago! >:D ) there were actual classes just about design and planning with no computers anywhere near them. O_O
It would seem that the real answer is to do/use what works for you individually (as is often the case) but I was curious as to how others dealt with planning and if they used any tools.
Thank you all for your input :good:
Quote from: matchy on 2014-May-20
...but sometimes I would use it alone if the information exceeds...
That is why I do it, but also for variables and sprite #. Most of my needs for it would vanish should I code in more then one code list, but I´m yet to try this out.
Quote from: HamishTPB on 2014-May-20
...I am a victim of feature-creep when programming so having a plan to achieve to get to v1.0 gives me some degree of discipline. :whip:...
That is another reason for the planning, I suffer that too and sometimes just can´t hold myself.
Other then sketches on the visual design, I draw a flowchart for the code and a timeline for the game´s actions.
The amount and type of pre-production material I do is more or less dependent on the game type, but these 2 I do pretty much for all of them.