To all SSC Station occupants
Thank you for the donations over the past year (2024), it is much appreciated. I am still trying to figure out how to migrate the forums to another community software (probably phpbb) but in the meantime I have updated the forum software to the latest version. SSC has been around a while so their is some very long time members here still using the site, thanks for making SSC home and sorry I haven't been as vocal as I should be in the forums I will try to improve my posting frequency.
Thank you again to all of the members that do take the time to donate a little, it helps keep this station functioning on the outer reaches of space.
-D1-
Right after searching for days and days with no luck I have decided to take a crack at making my Ideal game myself.
My first attempt is going to be basic 2D angled top down view.
This sort of angle
The goal is to have a multi user online Star Ship Bridge where users can interact with the control panels for various stations (ie Helm, tactical, science, ect.) and control the ship as a group to achieve a set goal.
I may be able to design the initial basic graphics but I will probably need help.
My main issue is....
I don't know where to start, once I am pointed in the right direction I think I can manage it. I have just downloaded Microsoft Visual C++ but have no knowledge of coding in this language so would really appreciate any help and advice.
I will also want to eventually have the ship fully explorable. but that would be for a later version.
My second goal is to turn it into a full 3D game (long way down the line) but certainly for V2.0
My third goal is to turn it into a multi ship game where there are multiple users on each ship
I know myself I am slowly trying to learn python and hope to eventually use something like the Orge or Panda3D engines to use 3d. But I think my first steps will be learning something more easy like Construct. I was hoping to make a remake of the class game Beserk for the Atari.
I am going to take a crack at learning C++ and see what I can do with that, if I need to learn some Python on the way I will take a go at that too.
I am going to spend the morning working on some concept art to give me a base of where I want the game to go.
I might even start up a personal blog to keep track of what I am doing, if that is the case I will consider posting a link up on here.
Before you start to code anything, you should have an idea how you want to co-ordinate communication between the different control panels. I would think you need a server that will have the complete overview of what is going on.
If you start coding without an overall concept you will spend a lot of time changing the code with every new idea or feature you want to add. And if you have done the n-th change to your code it is not changeable at all and you have to start from scratch.
Another thing I would suggest is to use a kind of modeling tool for the software. I used OpenAmeos for a long time and created my own code generator for it. Made it easier to change the design if needed.
Thanks for that Simbad, its very helpful advice.
Currently I am just reading up on the basics of C++
If you want to give OpenAmeos a try too, i will supply you with the code generator I use. Only the copyright notice must be changed. 🙂
It is able to create visual studio solution and project files, creates the header file inclusions automaticly and some more things. But it is nothing that will fit all your needs out of the box, because I did my developments on linux and thus the MS code generation part is a bit un-tested.
one thing about using C++:
you need to pay extra attention on any parts that explain pointers. this subject seems to be hard to grasp for allot of people and it is one of the main reasons people give up on C++. I know it made my brain hurt allot.
Go with the XNA development kit. It's free, it's easy to use, it's got a great set of tutorials, and so on.
I've been working on my game for over a year. It takes a lot of hard work. Google XNA, get started with it, and ask a ton of questions.
I have been thinking about trying to learn (when I get the time that is) Python and maybe Panda3D. Python first and hopefully work my way into the 3d gfx. I know there is PyGame out there as well that is a decent engine I just need to make the time to learn this. With so little time on my hands its difficult to retain and use the knowledge often enough so it sinks in.