Re: [Audyssey] Developing a game
Fascinating description, Thomas. Cheers, Imbar Ms Imbar Golt im...@netvision.net.il - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: kimfr...@verizon.net; Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 5:54 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Developing a game Hi Kim, Well, you are right that developing a game requires several different talents/skills when creating a game from start to finish. First, and foremost the developer has to have an active imagination and have fairly decent creative writing skills. Second, there are a number of technical skills such as learning a programming language as well as learning a variety of APIs for handling input, sound, music, speech output, whatever. A developer may need to know various programming techniques such as artificial intelligence which can cover several books in and of itself. If a developer wishes to add something like 3d graphics then that would involve some fairly decent math and physics skills in order to render the graphics on screen correctly. So programming games certainly rrequires skills from both a programming and non-programming nature just to produce a game of any real quality. As to your questions I'll answer them in a question and answer format below. Question: I'm very curious to know how developers go about making a game, particularly those games for those folks who enjoy role playing? If one is blind and doing the developing, I'm wondering what is done to give the world verisimilitude? Answer: Well, by verisimilitude I assume you mean seem realistic/probable its like any other roll playing game. A game developer would build in stat checks, rolls, using a common rule set like d20 to figure out if an action succeeded or failed in game. However, in a computer program all stat checks would be handled internally foregoing any need to pull out your own dice and do your own rolls and calculations. Question: How is developing a RPG similar to and different from writing a novel or short story? Answer: Well, as far as the non-technical part goes they are very similar. Before a developer starts programming a game like an rpg he or she will need to write the back story for each major campaign or adventure and write up the descriptions of everyone and everything in the game. A lot of this initial writing will become the majority of the text you would include in your rpg game. For instance, consider the following text. You are standing in the small sea-side town of Southport. As you stand there gazing at the small village you can detect the salty sent of the sea not far away. There are a number of people passing in and out of the buildings along this street. What would you like to do? Visit the SouthPort In Visit the Local Taverin Visit the Docks Travel Somewhere Else You'd be surprised how much time you can save by having all these textual descriptions of people, places, and things written up in advance before doing the actual coding. So in that respect its kind of like writing a short story, but its all from a second person point of view. However, unlike doing creative writing there is the technical side to creating an rpg game. There is quite a bit of coding involved here, and of course you will need something like the Dungeons and Dragons handbooks to actually create a realistic enough system for handling stat checks and things like that. Since the DND guides are fairly standard I'd use those as an example for doing combat, skill checks, and other rpg elements that requires a dice throw. As it happens I'm working on a rpg game myself, one based on the DC Universe, and I'm using the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 handbooks to kind of help with the stat checks, building custom classes, and things like that I need to make the game somewhat realistic.For instance, since the Flash can move at the speed of light I obviously set his dexterity to 18 the maximum allowable in DND. That would give him an extra 4 points to any dice roll requiring speed/agility.I also created a custom class called Speadster which gives him an extra 2 points to a dice roll for speed as that's his unique special power. See how the DND rule handbooks can help with creating a custom rpg? HTH --- 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. --- 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
Re: [Audyssey] Developing a game
Hmmm I am not a dev, but I have a fair idea on what is involved. Take soundrts, this is a grid based environment with letters a-z at the the vertical axis and 1 through till hmmm probably infinate numbers on the horisontal. so 26 by whatever. You have objects and free spaces to build objects. You have types of object, building, troops, etc. There is a stats system for dammage and such. There is a currency usually gold, wood and metal for building and mines and other areas to harvest these materials which will become free space after all the resource is used. You will have enemies, monsters usually or other troops etc. Ofcause this is way basic. There are stats engines for just about everything from dammage, resourceses and such to scores and other things that are to numerous to mention here depending on the type of the game. Next randomised values for just about everything except for object and troop health unless thats needed and also fixed things and maybe a combonation of such. And thats it. If you have played dnd, or even more basic than that a board game like chess or drafts or something, you should get the idea of the grid system. Ofcause not all rpgs have dice roles. If you play gamebooks on www.ffproject.com you may get the idea of a simple rpg, ffproject does calculate most of the stuff randomly for you as if you role the dices. So this helps. This is about all I know from a gamers prospective I am sure there is more than this here. And there are more than I on here that still play physical games, my life as it is is quite dull as I have no one to really play with or the time at any case. At 11:43 a.m. 25/04/2011, you wrote: Hi, I'm very curious to know how developers go about making a game, particularly those games for those folks who enjoy role playing? If one is blind and doing the developing, I'm wondering what is done to give the world verisimilitude? How is it mapped or does the developer have other criteria? What criteria are they? How is developing a RPG similar to and different from writing a novel or short story? I'd suppose there must be a variety of talents at work here. Regards, Kim Friedman (who really wants to know.) --- 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. --- 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.
Re: [Audyssey] Developing a game
Hi Kim, Well, those are certainly some valid points. You are right many roll playing games are all too often about kill, hunt for treasure, and kill some more. I usually like games with some real exploration in them. I don't mind fighting, but would like to see games with a little more exploration to them. Something more like Indiana Jones where you have to over come traps, figure out puzzles, and things like that more than hacking and slicing your way through hords of enemies. One game I initially liked when it started out is called Sryth. Its an online roll playing game, set in a DND type universe, and it started out pretty decent. Unfortunately, over the last year or two the gm has been adding a lot of content that is simply little more than grinding for stats. I.E. adventures you can play over and over again, doing the same thing over and over again, to help build up skill points etc. That doesn't apeal to me at all. I'm into the game for the adventures, the quests, the exploration not the fighting. As for the DND source books you are right. Sometimes the classes do need to be better defined. I've had a heck of a time modifying existing classes for my DC Comics game as they didn't really fit the kind of characters I was dealing with. The closest was Zatana, a heroic sorceress, but the idea of having to memorize x number of spells etc just didn't fit. Zatana in the DC Comics is an extremely powerful character and has a variety of magical powers. Plus she has a number of magical items she uses to increase her abilities. I found all of the magic classes in the DND handbooks either not defined enough or lacking some power or ability I felt Zatana would need. Plus given that the DND handbooks is designed for armor classes etc a lot of that really didnt' fit either. In DC Comics you get a few characters such as Steel who wheirs armor, and Wonder Woman has her magic bracelets but armor isn't really an issue for most super heroes or super villains. Somebody like Superman is practically indestructable without armor so doesn't need it. Cheers! On 4/24/11, Kim Friedman kimfr...@verizon.net wrote: Hi, Thomas, this sounds very interesting to me. I can see how handbooks from DD might be helpful, but I confess I have a real quibble with them with regard to classes of character. (I suppose class might be like type. The problem for me is that a monk is usually thought of as a man who is cloistered as a religious person. Also, what is the difference between a wizard and a warlock. Where does a witch differ from a sorceress, and how does a sorceress differ from a mage? You see what I mean. The subject of class of character isn't deep enough nor detailed enough for my liking. A cavalier comes from the old French and meant a noble who was a dab hand at riding horses. Also, the goals for DD are too thin for me. To my mind they are: Get treasure, kill monsters, and keep yourself from getting killed. There doesn't seem to be much intrinsic values for the characters such as Gain insight and knowledge about (name what you like), gaining further levels of experience by cooperation or standing up against someone who is doing something detrimental, etc. Will close for now. Regards, Kim Friedman. --- 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.
[Audyssey] Developing a game
Hi, I'm very curious to know how developers go about making a game, particularly those games for those folks who enjoy role playing? If one is blind and doing the developing, I'm wondering what is done to give the world verisimilitude? How is it mapped or does the developer have other criteria? What criteria are they? How is developing a RPG similar to and different from writing a novel or short story? I'd suppose there must be a variety of talents at work here. Regards, Kim Friedman (who really wants to know.) --- 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.
Re: [Audyssey] Developing a game
Hi Kim, Well, you are right that developing a game requires several different talents/skills when creating a game from start to finish. First, and foremost the developer has to have an active imagination and have fairly decent creative writing skills. Second, there are a number of technical skills such as learning a programming language as well as learning a variety of APIs for handling input, sound, music, speech output, whatever. A developer may need to know various programming techniques such as artificial intelligence which can cover several books in and of itself. If a developer wishes to add something like 3d graphics then that would involve some fairly decent math and physics skills in order to render the graphics on screen correctly. So programming games certainly rrequires skills from both a programming and non-programming nature just to produce a game of any real quality. As to your questions I'll answer them in a question and answer format below. Question: I'm very curious to know how developers go about making a game, particularly those games for those folks who enjoy role playing? If one is blind and doing the developing, I'm wondering what is done to give the world verisimilitude? Answer: Well, by verisimilitude I assume you mean seem realistic/probable its like any other roll playing game. A game developer would build in stat checks, rolls, using a common rule set like d20 to figure out if an action succeeded or failed in game. However, in a computer program all stat checks would be handled internally foregoing any need to pull out your own dice and do your own rolls and calculations. Question: How is developing a RPG similar to and different from writing a novel or short story? Answer: Well, as far as the non-technical part goes they are very similar. Before a developer starts programming a game like an rpg he or she will need to write the back story for each major campaign or adventure and write up the descriptions of everyone and everything in the game. A lot of this initial writing will become the majority of the text you would include in your rpg game. For instance, consider the following text. You are standing in the small sea-side town of Southport. As you stand there gazing at the small village you can detect the salty sent of the sea not far away. There are a number of people passing in and out of the buildings along this street. What would you like to do? Visit the SouthPort In Visit the Local Taverin Visit the Docks Travel Somewhere Else You'd be surprised how much time you can save by having all these textual descriptions of people, places, and things written up in advance before doing the actual coding. So in that respect its kind of like writing a short story, but its all from a second person point of view. However, unlike doing creative writing there is the technical side to creating an rpg game. There is quite a bit of coding involved here, and of course you will need something like the Dungeons and Dragons handbooks to actually create a realistic enough system for handling stat checks and things like that. Since the DND guides are fairly standard I'd use those as an example for doing combat, skill checks, and other rpg elements that requires a dice throw. As it happens I'm working on a rpg game myself, one based on the DC Universe, and I'm using the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 handbooks to kind of help with the stat checks, building custom classes, and things like that I need to make the game somewhat realistic.For instance, since the Flash can move at the speed of light I obviously set his dexterity to 18 the maximum allowable in DND. That would give him an extra 4 points to any dice roll requiring speed/agility.I also created a custom class called Speadster which gives him an extra 2 points to a dice roll for speed as that's his unique special power. See how the DND rule handbooks can help with creating a custom rpg? HTH --- 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.
