Getting started?

[Dark Raven X]

Yo SFGHQ! I needed a summer project, thought it'd be fun to live the dream I had as a kid and make my own Sonic game.

I have absolutely zero experience here, but I'm trying to give myself a crash course in creating a Sonic game - reading a long examination of the original Genesis Sonic Game's architecture by TSR. Things are starting to make sense, but I still have no idea where to begin making a game.

I'm not really looking for handholding through every little aspect, more advice on what I need to know first - learn how to construct levels, learn how to make the interface, learn how to program sprites - and so on.

And for all the finished and in production fan games, finding advice, tutorials and guides on how to get into it is really hard. XD

I've got Game Maker 8, and the Dash engine off this very forum. So far, I have managed to... swap out Sonic's running animation for a Shadow glide. But only for 4 frames. Whooo.

So yeah, where do I start - point me in the right direction! Thanks guys.

[MalcomX]

When you say you have zero experience, do you just mean with creating a Sonic game, or have you ever made any type of game before?

[Dark Raven X]

Any type of game, at all. I'm more of a music guy. But hey, it means when it's time to do the music, I've got that in the bag.

So yeah, what's the first thing I need to get down?

[MalcomX]

Well in that case there's a number of things you could do to get you started in making games period. I'll elaborate:

For one, you may want to get familiar with Game Maker before jumping into it. It may seem like a lot at first but the program itself isn't difficult to work with at all. There are a number of tutorials on the web and also video tutorials on youtube that you could use to get you started.

After you think you're comfortable enough to tackle the program, start off smaller and simpler to get yourself use to programming a game. Game Maker has 2 different approaches here. There's the Drag & Drop Interface, and then there's the "Scripting", which uses a language similar to C++ called Game Maker Language (GML). Once again, there are sooooo many tutorials on getting started here.

NOW WE GET TO THE SONIC PART

Now after many tutorials and hands on projects later...With making a Sonic game, or any game for that matter, it's always best to first plan out what you want to do. What style approach are you aiming for? (Sprites, art, etc.) How many levels do you want? What types of enemies will be in the game? Etc. Then after pre-planning all of this, you'll have to decide whether you want to make an engine from scratch, or use a pre-existing one.

You said you were using the Sonic Dash engine. You may want to peek around and mess with the engine to see how everything works. This way you'll be able to customize it to your liking.

Take a look at some Level Maps. They'll give you an idea on how Sonic levels generally are built.

Also, you could reference some of the fan games here to see how the fans build their games.

All and all, from the info you've given, I'd say the main thing is getting yourself familiar with the program. I have actually been thinking about making a video tutorial on starting with game maker, though I know there are many of those already out there, but yeah. Hope some of this helped.

[BlazefireLP]

Another thing you'll need to get a grasp of is a Sonic Engine's functionality. How it works, how it can be manipulated and the fundamental basics of one. This can mostly be learned from experience and trial and error though.

All I can really suggest is to get a Game development program such as GameMaker, Multimedia Fusion 2, The Games Factory and others and just simply go to the main site of this forum and look at some tutorials. The hardest part of doing this stuff is just building a wall of logic that you learn and mold into what you use as a baseline for a SonicGame.

The last thing is just practice, lots and lots of practice. Getting familiar with the program so much that it's almost as easy as writing.

[OverbounD]

There's a few GML tutorials on this page. If you are serious about making a good fan game with GameMaker I suggest you start there.

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showforum=43&prune_day=100&sort_by=Z-A&sort_key=last_post&topicfilter=all&st=30

[Dark Raven X]

Wooow, I have a lot of reading to do. In the meantime, I'll just be coming up with concepts for it, I guess.

Dusk Hill is a pretty awesome first level name, right? :3

[Dark Raven X]

OK, so I think I know what I gotta do now.

Just one thing...

How do I start doing stuff in the SDASH engine!?

I can open up those ANIM files and play with the code in notepad, but the engine itself is a GM6 file, and in Game Maker, I can't figure out how to edit anything in it.

[OverbounD]

You have to edit the code and scripts and stuff? Sorry your question is really vague.

[BlazefireLP]

He must mean the scripts. I'd be surprised if you mean everything. In which case, look at the help files. It explains a few good things.

[Dark Raven X]

Wait, I know what I was missing; Advanced mode. I was in simple, where nothing is displayed.

Never mind, yeah, I can get started now.

So, first question! How do I define an 'end' of the level, and make it go to the next level? The stuff that is included in the engine is great for giving me an idea of how to build this one level, but I have no clue about the wider game engine - level progression, that sort of thing. ?.?

[Goshi68]

I'll help with the "go to next act".

Anywhoo, if you want to go to the next act, after passing the signpost, using the term "global.roomtogo" in the Creation Code of the room will make it loads easier. If you have a loading room, just have the signpost throw you back to said room with the "global.roomtogo" variable in hand and have it take you to the next level.

(Due to the fact that I'm not the best at GML, it may be better for someone else to simplfy this.)

If you put:

room_goto(rmLaunch)[/CODE]

In your level end code, than in the Creation Code of the Room you're in, you put this:

[CODE]global.roomtogo(rmTutorial)[/CODE]

See, when you pass the level, you'll be sent back to the Launch Room, and then you'll be sent to the room you specified.

I hope this helps somewhat.

[Dark Raven X]

Fantastic!

And I love your signature.

This might be a bad / unprofessional request but... are there any examples of a partially done SDASH GM game uploaded here, where I can see all the code?

I'm still not quite sure where the ANIM files fit, for example - I understand their purpose, but a lot of posts about SDASH on here disregard the ANIM files, and then I'm lost. :S

EDIT: By partially done, I mean having at least 2 levels, with Badniks, rings and hazards and deaths in place. Then I could go all "reverse engineer" on it to understand this whole thang. >

[Goshi68]

I don't know the answer to that request.

Also, I don't recall the .ANIM files doing anything, so delete them. (But copy the entire folder and see if it does run without said files beforehand!)

Also, be sure to Rep+ people who sucessfully help you out. I'm not entirely asking for you to rep me, but just throwing that out.

[OFFTOPIC] I appreciate the compliment about my signature. [/OFFTOPIC]

[DimensionWarped]

Dusk Hill is a pretty awesome first level name, right? :3

No, not really. It sort of implies that you lack imagination to depart from the established first level = <insert adjective> hill cliche. But that stuff isn't important. What's important is what you put into it.

[OverbounD]

You do not need to do anything with the animation files but do not delete them.

[Dark Raven X]

No, not really. It sort of implies that you lack imagination to depart from the established first level = <insert adjective> hill cliche. But that stuff isn't important. What's important is what you put into it.

Ah, but it sets people up to expect a hill zone... then? BAM, forest. >

I still don't know what it is that makes a good level. I'm drawing out ideas on paper before building them on the PC, but then, I guess I won't know what works or not until I'm playing it. :/

You do not need to do anything with the animation files but do not delete them.

What if I'm making a separate character? Namely Shadow. His skate animation uses way more frames than Sonic's run animations, so I can't just sprite swap them. So I need to make a whole new animation file, using Sonic's as a template. I think that'll work OK...

One thing I have been having trouble with is when exporting as an exe - when running that exe, it sometimes errors, saying it's missing the .ANIM of a character. Sticking the anim in the same folder as the exe sometimes fixes it, but not always. So, what am I missing there? @__@

[DimensionWarped]

Ah, but it sets people up to expect a hill zone... then? BAM, forest. >

I still don't know what it is that makes a good level. I'm drawing out ideas on paper before building them on the PC, but then, I guess I won't know what works or not until I'm playing it. :/

What if I'm making a separate character? Namely Shadow. His skate animation uses way more frames than Sonic's run animations, so I can't just sprite swap them. So I need to make a whole new animation file, using Sonic's as a template. I think that'll work OK...

One thing I have been having trouble with is when exporting as an exe - when running that exe, it sometimes errors, saying it's missing the .ANIM of a character. Sticking the anim in the same folder as the exe sometimes fixes it, but not always. So, what am I missing there? @__@

Heh, forest isn't the hugest departure from 'hill' ever, but it's a start.

A first level isn't a hard concept. I don't think there is any one proper way to do them aside from just not making them especially difficult. Comparing just GHZ and Emerald Hill you can see a world of difference in the relative pathing style and the hazards employed. Speaking of which, think of the hazards and the ways to traverse them. Simple to traverse hazards work best for a first level. Angel Island never really requires that you do more than gain a little bit of speed to traverse anything, though there are optional timing challenges which if succeeded will make things a little easier like with the rope swings.

[Dark Raven X]

Righto sir.

And I spend most of my time today doing this instead of actual work on the game:

...well... could be a main menu screen? XD

EDIT: and a slightly brighter version + menu style text:

[BlazefireLP]

Make the logo probably a bit bigger and more blend in less with the BG and you got yourself something there.

[Dark Raven X]

Was thinking of ditching the tribal thing altogether, actually. Only included it cause it's Shadow-y, but Sonic Wiki says it's the symbol of the Black Arms, so...

Also! Is 800X600 an OK ratio to be making this game in?

[Dark Raven X]

An alternate version:

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6452/shadowsfallalt.jpg

Hrrm. :/

Linked due to huge. I realised I wanna be working in 1280X1024, but the source image of the brushed steel was nowhere near that dimension, so I had to due a little flipping jiggery pokery to make it large enough. Think it worked out OK...

[Goshi68]

It isn't bad, but the "Shadows Fall" Text blends into the background quite harshly. I would either brighten up the text, or darken the background, or both.

If you're working on that big a screen, I would tone it down. Anywhere over 1000 isn't good for me. Hell, it'd be covering a lot more than my screen can handle. If you're going to make it big, start it out in Fullscreen mode, and make the windowed version like 400X320. But that's just me.

[DimensionWarped]

Was thinking of ditching the tribal thing altogether, actually. Only included it cause it's Shadow-y, but Sonic Wiki says it's the symbol of the Black Arms, so...

Also! Is 800X600 an OK ratio to be making this game in?

Like anything, it depends. If your source artwork is coming from a game played at 320x240 or less, friggen no, it's not an ok resolution to be making a game in. If you want to use MMF and are going to use precise collision detection, you need to be aware that doing per pixel collision gets much more expensive with larger objects. The good news is that you can use collision boxes instead if you understand MMF decently.

Worlds uses 320x240 since that's what the sprite work is (basically) done at.

[Dark Raven X]

Okie poke, I had given no thought to that. But hitting full screen is the same result as working at high res, so yeah. 320x420 it is. I hadn't been thinking about windowed mode at all.

Hey, with sprites, are all sprites in an animation meant to be the same height? I know the centre of Sonic's body is supposed to be a certain number of pixels off the ground, but I'm using the SDASH defaults as a guideline, and the different animations are all different heights.

EDIT: Also! This is more a style question, I dunno, but...

SDASH's Sonic has 4 run speeds;

Normal, where he walks, gradually getting faster.

Fast, circle leg animation.

Faster, same as above, head down.

Fastest, Figure 8 Sonic CD style.

How should that translate to Shadow?

Normal, walking.

Fast, Skate animation.

Faster, Skate animation with a couple frames removed to "look faster".

Fastest, Ahh... rocketing, feet off the ground Super Sonic style?