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SoCoder -> Blogs Home -> Blogs |
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Jayenkai
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Things!Things has begun. |
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For a long long while, I've had an idea rummaging around in my head. A Worms like game, where the player can add their own things. They can add player characters, and weapons, simply by drawing things, setting some things, and then playing with those things. I imaginatively came up with the amazingly imaginative title.. Things! It's been a LONG while since I came up with this idea, so some of you might've already read about it. My new year's resolution of actually coding a few games, instead of constantly fixing this site and neglecting my game coding has started with Things. I'm starting work on a DS version. First off drawing 4 different coloured "Green-stick" like things, and a little bomb thing, and then setting off working on the game's environment. Each thing will be a single frame. That's all we need. I'll let the DS handle all the rotations and scalings and other such graphical effects, thereby allowing you to just draw a single picture and have your things come to life onscreen, nice and easily. So the things are drawn, and now I'm thinking about the gameplay. If I make it entirely Worms, then... Well I might as well just make Worms, so Things has to be different in some way. But what to do... For the landscape, I'm wondering if a gridlike atmosphere would work well enough. For starters it'd let me cheat on the explosions and things  But I'm also considering that each block could have a certain amount of health, and be destroyed after so many hits. In many ways the landscape would act like a huge Breakout style area. It'd be quicker to draw your own landscapes, since you'd be drawing on a limited grid instead of a full 512x256 area. For movement I'm thinking a Dice approach might work well, giving you 1-6 actions per turn. You could maybe use them to move a limited amount per go, switch team members or even attack multiple times per turn. (Perhaps throwing a six might even give your player extra health, or another go.) The game has only just begun, and as is usual for my games, it'll no doubt evolve drastically as I go along. Thoughts, as always, are welcome. |
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Comments |
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| Monday, 01 January 2007, 12:21 | |
shroom_monk
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Good luck with your Things! And out of interest, how exactly do you write games for the DS? My sister got a DS Lite for xmas and it would be interesting to know how to write games for it. |
| Monday, 01 January 2007, 18:33 | |
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garand |
He said that he was working on that for me a while back but he hasnt gotten back to me. I want a DS to program with though. I have an SP and I am wondering if I can program for that? What do you think Jay?
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| Monday, 01 January 2007, 18:55 | |
Jayenkai
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I did say that, didn't I! I was supposed to do shove something in the Articles+Tutorials section. Geeze, I've got loads to do! The Datel Max Media Dock is a legally purchasable device, allowing the execution of homebrew games on a Nintendo DS. As far as I can tell, it's probably the only one! There's other flash carts out there, but I don't think any of them have ever been 100% legal. .. Then again, I'm only assuming the Datel one's 100% legal because it's available in some stores, so who knows, really, what's legal and what isn't. I don't think Datel ever released anything like that for the GBA, but there are hundreds of other dodgy flashcards out there. Take a trip to a Computer Fair (you know the ones, every other week, and there's usually a dodgy geezer flogging "cheap" "Real!" DVD's!) and you might be able to pick something up. But do be 100% sure of what you're getting. The Max Media Dock is pretty incompatible with the majority of DS File System Drivers, meaning that very few homebrew games/apps have access to loading and saving. I'm still trying to figure that stuff out! But if you think you can make-do with that, go for it. Visit www.codejunkies.com to grab a Datel device for your DS. Go hunt the murky depths of the net for a GBA one! In the meantime, I'll work on that tutorial, honest
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| Tuesday, 02 January 2007, 01:49 | |
andrewsoltan
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Is there a way to write it to a DS cartrige, because that way, we can actually make games and possibly sell them. Do you need a special writing machine thingy, and if you can do it, where do you buy the cartriges from? |
| Tuesday, 02 January 2007, 05:11 | |
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Jayenkai
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You'd need to purchase a full fledged DS Devkit, which set you back (I think) $1000. Plus you have to prove to nintendo that you're a real development company, and showcase a few of your previously released games.. So, no.
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