Yeah, a genre-specific tool would probably have been a better idea. I
remember that for the computer and even Play Station there was an RPG Maker
tool which I did have quite a bit of fun with despite never actually
managing to create a game with. Admittedly all games created with, say, the
PlayStation version would have featured the same music and SFX since unlike
the PC versions you couldn't import new sounds and music. Unfortunately such
tools didn't do well in the mainstream market and were never actually
released in the US anyway. Probably for the best.
We are the Knights who saaaaay...Ni!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard @ AudioGames" <rich...@audiogames.net>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:39 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools
Hi Thomas (and all),
You're absolutely right about the problems with the AGM-project you
describe. I applaud your persuit for the development of a new
audio game creation tool. I'd really like to see more tools because I want
to have more audio games (I follow all threads about
tools on this list silently but with great interest :-)
I learned many things from the AGM project (such as dealing with time
restrictions, burned-down offices, ambitious interns, etc. :-)
but what is probably most useful to share is more about the design of
generic game design tools:
I've always thought that if I were to do the AGM-project again, that I
would *first* constrain myself to a game design tool for one
specific game genre. So for instance a tool for an audio race game, or a
tool for an audio platform game, etc. Initially we had
considered this option, but we abandoned it because we thought of the idea
too much as mere level editors (with which one could not
design a innovative/original game with) and because we thought there would
be so much overlap between the level editors (score
systems, enemies, etc.) that we could pull off a generic game design tool
with a little bit more effort.
In the end we found that the generic approach made it a whole lot harder
to even make a very simple racing game, or a simple shooter
game. With a lot more time (let's say 1,5 years) we could have probably
managed to make a decent working generic version, with a
better user interface (even though this one was supposed to be as simple
as possible, it is still quite complex when you start). But
I think that we probably would have added templates for certain game
genres anyway - just to make the design more simple.
I think that if you start with an audio game design tool for one specific
genre (let's say a shooter or a racer or a board game),
that that in itsself is already a big enough challenge. Most likely
something like an Audio Race Game Maker will feature an
incredible amount of variables and functionalities. This not only means
that an Audio Race Game Maker is a big thing to develop, but
when you achieve it, you have probably learned a great deal about how to
create a more generic game development tool as well.
I think that you might find that even with a single-genre tool many people
will create a whole range of fun racing games and will
very soon try to use it for stuff other than racing games. Then gradually
you can add a new feature (open terrain instead of a fixed
track, or damage variable, so that vehicles can get damaged), and another
one (pickups, or a weapon to shoot another car) and quite
soon people will exchange the car engine sound for footsteps and you have
the initials of a basic FPS. And you can have it grow from
there on.
On a side note: this is actually how our project Extant
(http://creativehero.es/Extant) is now slowly changing from a first-person
shooter environment into an environment (in Unity) which allows us to
create multiple types of games because we got all types of
building blocks that work together: moving around a 3D space (x,y,z),
different avatars (person, vehicle, etc.), enemies, shooting,
pickups, buildings, etc.
So my point is: start small, try not to create a generic tool for all game
genres, but start with a tool for a single genre and
build it out from there. Maybe first build three single genre tools and
then make a generic version out of the three of them.
Best regards,
Richard
http://audiogames.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:11 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Game Creation Tools
Hi everyone,
Over the last couple of weeks or so there has been ample discussion of
various audio game creation tools such as BGT, Ken recently mentioned
the GMA Engine and Audio Game Maker, and one issue that keeps coming
up is that there are a few people interested in creating games but
they don't want to learn how to program or script the games from
scratch. In other words what I think some people want is a tool
similar too Audio Game Maker where you essentually have an empty form
and you can drag and drop various objects such as enemies, walls,
doors, and special items onto the form and create games through some
automated method. While this is obviously somewhat limited compared to
BGT this type of game creation tool would be much easier to use for
some people.
All of this brings me back to AGM, and what it was intended to do. In
concept the Audio Game Maker is a decent idea. The problem with AGM
was is that it was poorly documented, it was never fully completed,
had various bugs, and the developers abandoned it as soon as it was
released. This of course didn't make AGM a very good tool for game
development, but it was a nice idea in concept. Which brings me to my
point.
I've been thinking for quite some time of creating such a game
development tool. Since I have written my own game engine, Genesis 3D,
I could build a user interface similar to AGM where you essentually
drag and drop various objects onto a form, select a menu key, and set
properties on that object. In a way it would be similar to development
tools like Microsoft's Visual Basic or Visual C# where you bring up a
toolbox, select an object from a menu, and drop the object on your
form. Then, you would access the object's properties menu, set
properties, and that's all you have to really do. No scripting or
programming involved.
Of course, in order to create such a time consuming project I'd like
to create it as a comercial product. By releasing it as a comercial
product it would have lots of end user documentation, technical
support, upgrades, and hopefully be what AGM was not. However, before
I really take something like this too seriously I'd like to know if
anyone is really interested in such a game creation tool or if it is
just talk. If so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks.
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