Creating a Computer Game with Nintendo-Like Graphics

[DarkAnt]

I want to make a computer game. I've made a few text games but I want this one to have graphics. I don't know anything about graphics. If I wanted to make a game with nintendo like graphics what would I use and how would I put it in the game?

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

I once made a simple game in OpenGL. this site helped a lot. I might want to take a look.

 

[enigma]

Thank you Guybrush!

I had found that site about a year and a half ago, then had a major computer crash and lost the link to the void.

I've been looking for it since!

 

[dduardo]

If you just want to do 2d or even 3d, you can use this really good multi-platform library :

http://www.libsdl.org/index.php

 

[DarkAnt]

Thanks everyone

wow, this is exactly what I am looking for

 

[DivisionByZero]

I would highly recommend dowloading the demo off http://www.blitzbasic.com

as it is my fav. language. You could set up and have a 3d world in under 25 lines. Albeit, not much interactability other than movement; but what are you expect from 25 lines? :) It is basically a compiler for BASIC syntax code along with a sophesticated command set intended for use with games. I believe the 2d version is around $50-$60 and the 3d version is $100.

 

[dduardo]

DivisionByZero, sorry, but Basic brings back too many horrible memories. uh...

Anyway, Blitzbasic looks like a good tool for creating small to medium sized projects that don't require sophisicated graphics or data manipulation, but the fact that you have to pay for it and it isn't portable, doesn't make it all that appealing to me. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of educational value in writing games in Blitzbasic, but in the long run, your just better off writing the stuff in c++, especially if your going to be hired by a game development firm. Your not going to see Doom3 written in Blitzbasic anytime soon.

Btw, Basic is an interpreted language, not compiled.

 

[DarkAnt]

thanks for the suggestion
DivisionByZero. I was kinda going for portability and trying not to spend any money making my game. Blitzbasic does look kinda neat but I don't think it's what I'm looking for. I think I'm going to do this in Open GL. Thanks again everyone

 

[DivisionByZero]

Btw, Basic is an interpreted language, not compiled.

True with traditional basic, however blitzbasic is not interpreted. It compiles directly to an exe, and runs pretty fast. see my post '4 physics demos'. They were written in blitz. that's fine though. I'll probably switch over to C/C++/whatevers good at the time, however, to set up something as simple as a rotating cube requires several hundred lines of code(I've tried). I have Dev-C++ (free) and Visual C++ 6.0 introductory edition (compiled exes message the user before it executes), however rarely use them. Actually, I'd appreciate it if some one could point me to free tuts/code/dlls that make it easier to do 3d stuff. I'm looking for somthing like:

void main(){
 c=createcube();
 while (1){
  turnmesh(c,1,1,1);
  Render(); 
 }
}

(Might a made some mistakes; I'm a bit rusty)

Okay, so I admit it that's almost blitz syntax, however you would still have access to low level stuff.

And BTW, BlitzMax is rumored to be out sometime, although it might be a year or somthing. There is afterall, only one guy working on blitz; Mark Sibly. He is very thuorogh as well, so there aren't very many bugs. In comparisent with DarkBasic which boasts a large feature set yet is very buggy with 'features' that don't work, wide incompatibility with older machines, and it doesn't compile to a single exe. instead an exe and a dll. Apparently, BlitzMax will have low-level support, with wider support of dlls, access to most of the modles that make up the engine, etc.

 

[dduardo]

Ok, so basically BlitzBasic parses your code and transforms it to c++, which then gets compiled, if that's how it works.

Although BlitzMax will support low-level stuff, what happens if you want to change how it handles the low-level stuff. You can't. Your a prisoner of the code, having no control over what is going on. Why don't you ask the developers about making the project open source. This is another reason why I like SDL alot. You can actually modify the libaries they provide, allowing you to make optimizations, fix bugs and even add features. Also, what happends if the BlitzBasic project stops. Your basically stuck and your code will quickly be made obsolete.

On a side note, the nice thing about Opengl compared to Directx is that the specs are widely available, allowing anyone to create their own implementation. Mesa3d is an example of an Open Source Implementation.

Stop living in the world of proprietary software. Open Source is the future.

 

[DivisionByZero]

I'm not sure if it ever converts it to C++. possibly.

As I said, Blitzmax will give you access to it's modules that make up the engine. These modules would be written in Basic. Also, I forgot to mention that blitzmax will actually be opengl based rather than directx, so that's cool; except that windows doesn't have built in support of openGL. Also, I like opensource software as well. What gave you the idea I do not? I do not see any 3d librarys running around for QB. do you?

 

[dduardo]

I didn't say you didn't like open source. I'm sorry if I offended you. That was just my inner linux evangelism speaking.

 

[DarkAnt]

Does anyone know any good books on programming games(expecially the A.I. aspect) and books on Open GL?