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.
