Author Topic: SGDK roks!  (Read 22938 times)

mccool

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SGDK roks!
« on: 2006-07-08, 09:26:45 AM »
Ive gotta hand it to you SGDK maker guy. SGDK is by far the best game making program ive seen. ive got tons of other programs like game maker but SGDK is the best. U ROK!
Old Skool!

Rubix Cube

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #1 on: 2009-06-16, 04:56:35 AM »
Amen! I've tried other game-making programs before but this is the most intuitive thing I've ever used (outside of in-game creator modes, of course.) This thing's great!

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #2 on: 2009-06-16, 05:27:08 AM »
Since you posted in the version 1 forum, how applicable is this to version 2?

v6v

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #3 on: 2009-06-19, 07:25:06 PM »
How does it feel knowing that you have achieved greatness? I wish I knew how to make a program like this. Do you feel wonderful when you finish a new version of SGDK?
Proud? Amazed? I kinda had the same feeling when I made my first game,  although it was titled "Stickguy: the New Adventures"
SGDK rocks as hard as its brother, SGDK2! Thanks for getting me a future career start off!

bluemonkmn

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #4 on: 2009-06-20, 07:46:42 AM »
It was quite exciting when I learned that Guildhall was using SGDK in their game design curriculum.  They have since moved on to other tools, though.  I think I fall short on advertising SGDK2 or something.  I don't know if there's something inherently wrong with SGDK2 that makes it less interesting than version 1, or if other alternatives have surpassed SGDK in general, or if people just don't recognize it for what it is, but it seems like it could be so much more if more people were involved in taking full advantage of the features presented by SGDK2.  Of course SGDK isn't much by itself.  It's like a pen.  Great things can be written with it, but without a skilled author, it's not much good.

The trick to making SGDK great, I think, is to find a good balance between being completely open-ended (being flexible) and inspiring the author with a certain predefined structure or premise.  Creativity is a very tricky thing.  Complete open-endedness doesn't help an author much because it's hard to start with a completely blank page.  It almost seems like authors thrive in highly restricted environments, limiting their choices, which seems counter-intuitive, but I'm starting to get that impression.  At the same time if the environment is too restrictive, the author won't feel like the product represents their own vision.  Little Big Planet seems to have found a good balance.  SGDK2 may still be too far on the "open-ended" side to be of interest to many creative people.

So if a system is very powerful and flexible, is it great even if nothing is created with it?  Or if a system is old and limited, but authors continue to find creative and interesting ways to use it, does that make the system great?  Maybe another layer of framework needs to be built on top of SGDK2 to inspire people -- a layer of media libraries and templates that will drive authors to create something within a more inspiring framework.

It is quite exciting to create software like this, but I'm not sure how great it is by itself.  I think its greatness must arise out of a collaborative community.  The software isn't going to get much done on it's own.  A great programmer isn't much good without a great artist, and on top of that pair, a great storyteller could work miracles compared to what the two could do on their own.  Yes it's exciting to work on software that feels well-done, but I try to remember that even SGDK2 is only what it is because of the .NET framework that enabled me to create it so much more easily than version 1.  And it in turn is only a piece or stepping stone of what could be a truly great game.  The final masterpiece is not done yet.  In fact when I originally conceived of SGDK about 10 years ago, I was thinking of it primarily as a means for me to create many small games (and maybe a big game) more quickly and easily, not so much as a product of its own.  But I guess I'm having a hard time with the next step, so it's good that I can make this engine usable by other people in the hopes that someone else can get to the next step :).

I'll keep working on my new "Clean Game" project, and maybe that can become an inspiring framework for someone.  Take satisfaction in completing something, but there's always "what's next?"  I still feel good about releasing a new version of SGDK, but more and more that satisfaction relies on what other people can do with it.  So give it your best shot and show my how great it is!  8)

And, although I may not have a lot of artistic ideas, remind me to inspire people with technical ideas.  For example, has anyone considered creating a game that accesses the web (when available) to present dynamic content or interact with other instances of the game?  You could use the SaveGame function to save games.  In .NET it's relatively easy to access the net (as the name .NET may suggest) -- you could post the save file somewhere and it could affect others' games somehow when they play.  I have plenty of web hosting space available and may be willing to offer some to anybody needing some for such an idea.  Or how about just remembering existing features.  Remember that tile categories can contain specific portions of animated tiles' animation sequences.  You could make one tile with a long animation sequence that moves through all sorts of different categories.  You know the blocks in Mario that cycle though all sorts if items until you hit it and pop out an item based on where it was in the cycle?  That would be easy using this feature.  And the solidity of the tile can change as it moves through different categories -- as the sample project shows, that's an easy way to make disappearing blocks.  Also remember that tile images are not confined to their square in the map.  The isometric sample project shows how you can easily get an isometric view by allowing tiles to overlap.  And remember that a layer doesn't have to scroll automatically or take up an entire map.  You can make layers that only appear at one specific rectangle and manually control its position like a large complex sprite (though I haven't tried this myself except with implementing the ability to display messages as layers).

Jam0864

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #5 on: 2009-06-20, 06:27:31 PM »
I think the main problem with game development in general is that it requires multiple talents, you need to be able to make decent graphics, decent animation, and be able to program it all. Most people here are good at one thing, or maybe two... they lose motivation when it comes to the part(s) they're not good at.

Perhaps we could create a massive collaborative project among the whole community(well, whoever here is interested)? Everyone could do what they're best at in the project, allowing all elements to succeed.


 

v6v

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #6 on: 2009-06-20, 10:19:21 PM »
Yeah dude, let's start it! That would make the most awesome sample project boosting EVERYONE around the web to the SGDK2.
BTW, I went to a site called MFGG
(mario fan games galaxy) and asked if anyone on the site had SGDK2 projects, but they all said they use gamemaker and some other engine, I think one was had Fusion in the name. I had already tried both and was unsatisfied.... so I told them about SGDK. Sadly, their minds were too hard-wired into Game Maker to change their game creation tastes.
(Kinda like my transition from SGDK1x to SGDK 2.)
Poor fools. Accept simple changes.
But about that project: I'm game for graphics and music and levels and bosses- possibly even sprites.
Everything except programming- although I can accomplish amazing things without writing any code.
(like double jumping, attacking, and rumbling screens in 1.x)

Tanja

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #7 on: 2009-06-21, 01:04:18 AM »
it must be awful to work years on such a versatile and mighty tool like an sdk, and get only a few people using it. i think what the sdk needs, is a better communication concept. and some thoughts about what most game making people want.

if you look at the big names in that scene, like adventure game studio or that game maker for rpgs, they got a huge community. why? in case of the game maker, they focus on a popular genre and give all the tools needed, including graphics. there are tons of sprite sheets available.

maybe the crux of the sdgk is, that it's too open. ok, there is a collection of sprites you can already use. but try to figure out how they are working! (non-programmer). you have indeed a lot to learn till you get your first little sprite walking and not falling through walls, read the manual, get the rules in right order, try and try, read more manuals.... (it was mentioned years ago that videos were a great way for learning. durnurd made some, and where are they now? they would have to be in a sticky thread or on a video tutorial site section right beside the downloads)
i think that is what scares away most people. sdgk is a mighty tool, but that makes it difficult to use for all with few programming talents, or understanding of how programming works, the lazy people, the ones with a shot attention span.... this would count up to most of young users, but these are exactly the ones who have most time and will to make a game.

maybe you could think over a little easier way to adjust sprites to someone's needs. like, another step between the acting sprite and putting rules together. like a window, where one just clicks together everything they want: a huge list of attributes.

i don't have really the time right now to think about more ways to easify the sdk. but if you look at the most asked questions in the forums you can get good hints about problems. maybe you should just go into the ags and gamemaker forums and ask all the people why they like these tools so much.

bluemonkmn

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #8 on: 2009-06-21, 07:05:13 AM »
I want to see how Vincent's project or my current project turns out and see if/how that gets people's attention for SGDK2 before spending too much time on changes.  I think if we have a few really good projects, they can be used as templates for creating other games.  Then I can ask if people are interested in creating games like this, and if/why they don't like using SGDK2 to do it.

I wish I could get your game (Tanja) running.  I can't figure out why I get serialization errors when I try to run it on my system.

v6v

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #9 on: 2009-06-21, 01:29:38 PM »
Not all young users are lazy. At twelve, when I used SGDK1, the programming hurt my head (i knew nothing), but the idea of producing a game to my whole class kept me going. So I thought and worked around that. You should probably make an ad saying
"make your own impressive games from imagination and a mouse or something showing a little kid smiling with his grandfather as they make a game together ( and maybe have a thought bubble with a dragon holding a princess and a cartoon version of the kid trying to rescue her) The same thing happened when I made a spongebob game with my little brother. Show family bonding and happiness, or simular but different versions of famous video game characters. (copyrights and whatnot) Use the boxart that was made a while ago- although no boxes. Oh yeah, if you put the SGDK2 on download.com like 1.X, include these pictures. Use happiness but not snob appeal.
Let it smack someone in the face!
But I'm not critizicing, just tossing in ideas. Motivation to have massive web users comes from people having
 the feeling of creating something that their friends and family can all enjoy...

Vincent

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #10 on: 2009-06-21, 02:14:27 PM »
Wooo!  Pressure to finish the game and make it a great one!  8)

I just got back on my game today. :) 6 weeks of OT is enough!  I' m working on my game this week. :)

I still a long when from a first beta version though...  Be patient bluemonkmn...
Legacy of Kain: Revival completed!
http://lokrevival.webs.com

See also my company website:
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Tanja

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #11 on: 2009-06-21, 02:45:27 PM »
no time now, but maybe i'll have a look at Mistraal in three weeks or so. i think i got errors, too, when i opened it last time. didn't feel like figuring it out then.

v6v

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #12 on: 2009-06-21, 05:51:15 PM »
Both of you seem to have awesome games! Depending on Vincent's game, mine might be awesome too!

SmartBoy16

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #13 on: 2009-06-21, 05:55:21 PM »
Wooo!  Pressure to finish the game and make it a great one!  8)

I just got back on my game today. :) 6 weeks of OT is enough!  I' m working on my game this week. :)

I still a long when from a first beta version though...  Be patient bluemonkmn...

I went through a 2 month "wait" for mine. i hope to finish mine by mid July. after that, im working on my next game, 2wenty Dungeons, then after that i've though about making a sequal to RANAT (depending if it gets any hits or not) for SGDK2 and maybe WiiWare or XBLA.
Looking to the skies.....

tprime

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Re: SGDK roks!
« Reply #14 on: 2009-06-21, 10:56:43 PM »
Yeah dude, let's start it! That would make the most awesome sample project boosting EVERYONE around the web to the SGDK2.
BTW, I went to a site called MFGG
(mario fan games galaxy) and asked if anyone on the site had SGDK2 projects, but they all said they use gamemaker and some other engine, I think one was had Fusion in the name. I had already tried both and was unsatisfied.... so I told them about SGDK. Sadly, their minds were too hard-wired into Game Maker to change their game creation tastes.
(Kinda like my transition from SGDK1x to SGDK 2.)
Poor fools. Accept simple changes.
But about that project: I'm game for graphics and music and levels and bosses- possibly even sprites.
Everything except programming- although I can accomplish amazing things without writing any code.
(like double jumping, attacking, and rumbling screens in 1.x)

Leave me out of the programming and I'm ready to help!