game-editor.com

Hi, i just discovered that interesting game-editor and very nice forum.
I decided to say "Hello" to gamemakers and ask for something.
Sorry for my rather poor english, guys.

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I am thinking about making relatively simple(thus probably evolve) game inspired by Dwarf Fortress, adom and the unreal world.
No, wait - to be honest it may be VERY difficult, i am trying to evaluate GE possibilities, actually, before i start to do anything.

Here's screenshot of gfx version of DF i am actually using(deons genesis 3.18e + my gfx mods):


Now, few very first thought about idea:
- Game will work on 640x480 screen, but it's real space area should be 320x240 - i mean - 320x240 scaled by 2x, ZERO smoothing, zero interpolation, nothing. Why that's important, below. Is this possible?
- DF is top-view game and it's using Z-levels(<- it's VERY important). My plan is to use max 5 z-levels and 15x19 tile area per z-level at the beginning. Now - no tile(wall, tree) = empty space(air), if character walks onto it, it drops one z-level down at EXACT location related to its earlierposition, of course. Is this possible?
- Game has no animations for sprites, and generally - no animations at all(relief!), objects movement is per tile, not smooth. I now this is possible(relief), so it's ok.
- DF engine operates on square tiles, every tile is, generally speaking, actor(vide screenshot). Game world is like one big array. Every tile is interactive in one way or another with beings(collectibles, walls, stairs, workshops, etc). Now, DF is most demanding game made EVER, it takes every home computer to the knees, just in effect of gigantic data amount computed in gameflow result. I am planning to make very small game area to prevent slowdown.
- Game is about digging and building(..and magma, but let's skip this for a while). And this is my main reason of writing that post - evaluating GE possibilities.

Now: is GE able to let me make such scenario:
a. show a menu with char jobs per keypress(touchscreen area),
b. build a "workshop area", with building time related to char stats,
c. when char is "on" the workshop area, another menu can be opened(item making, related to OBTAINED materials).
d. created item may be placed on the ground, or taken into inventory.

Other one:
here's screenshot on unnafected piece of world, slopes, stone, trees, plants etc etc.

Now - digging stone tile is giving stone(object, collectable, and droppable, used for BUILDING walls, workshops, etc).
Is such operation possible in GE?

here's screenshot of ground level, 320x240 at this time(it's matter of used tileset here and overall details size need):

lets say, that dug stone from previous screenshot is used here giving wall tiles.
Are such ground "terraforming" functions possible to get in GE engine?

I can imagine, that only way for making that kind of game is operating on quite an amount of arrays, am i right?
i am reading whole forum now, and
here's good pic showing how i can see it:


damn, i must go now, writing this took me some time...

Please, guys, share your thoughts..it may be quite interesting brainstorm for some, i think.

Topic will be updated soon(more questions...i.e. materials, melting, z-levels interaction..).

upd.1:
Tell me, can i store all gfx i may need in one tileset gfx? remember - there will be no animations of objects here.

So far I dont see any showstoppers. GE scripting language is C. Thus very powerful.
What targets beyond windows do you plan?

So far I dont see any showstoppers.

That's good news.

akr wrote:What targets beyond windows do you plan?

Actually, i am trying to determine, if i am able to try making such, imho, ambitious, project with GE engine help.
As person obsessed with DF, i really need to try.
It doesn't matter, if it take half of year, or 3 years.

I was thinking about PDA/pocketpc version so far(winmobile 6.x-6.5.x, asus p750 in my case) as only target, actually, and that's why i have screen area size defined already(VGA screen);
i think, that it's too early to consider other targets, yet.
I am playing with windows version of editor now, checking every project i can find to look for any suitable solutions i may find useful for project, eventually.

I am trying to imagine horsepower needed to drive 19x15x5 independent tiles + scripts, timers, and few life-generators(trees, foliage) now....may be impossible with xscale;/
I wonder about world/game area generator too(materials mixer, so called..)..

btw, for those, who do not know dwarf fortress - closest to it is ...minecraft(similar idea, but in 3d).
indeed, since i still did not determined, if project should be oriented on playable character, or area managing only, it tends to minecraft's point of view, actually, more than to DF itself.

btw what performance drop it might be, if whole 320x240 game area is scaled to 640x480 without any filters used(i mean using GE method i saw somewhere on forum)?
It could make possible making just one universal version for different resolutions(qvga, vga, etc)?

Well you can make that game for windows , but for windows mobile you have to cut down the code. The only thing game editor cant do is 3D , everything else game editor can do. Now what windows mobile device do you have , I have a website of about 30-40 games made with game editor that I have done personally. Also Momo AlienStar Catcher and Raynium with my partner for iphone . My games are simpler than what you might be trying to do , but Game Editor is solid.

Here is my website

http://krenisis.freeforums.org/

again wrote:for windows mobile you have to cut down the code.

What do you mean by that? Game will be top-view 2d raster gfx driven based.
Whole gfx tileset I need is just 16x16 matrix of 16x16 px tiles per object. Zero anims; movement steps=16 px. It won't take much mem or horsepower, i assume..scripts will do, though;/.
Small game area will ease hunger for resources(and, if whole thing is working ok, it may be extended at need later).
By stripping down amount of "beings" "living" in that area I think it should be a burden for pxa270 xscale, that overclocks to 624 mhz.

You know, i am not programmer, so whole thing may be ridiculous a bit, but even thinking on game-frame details is entertaining.

Here is my website

http://krenisis.freeforums.org/

nice place, i've been there few times

I am pupakota from xdadevelopers(ex-xoen, ex-nothin there), btw.

Well as long as all the graphic files are png you shouldnt have any problem. As far as coding it will take a while to learn but you be very happy once you have learned.Goodluck in making your game and if you need help the support section will always give you help. Also stop in the chatroom and mingle with other developers too.

Thanks for warm welcome

Ok, back to digging, i found this post VERY useful:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3953

Gimme a year, or so...