New to Make Web Games

[TheTeen]

Hi...I am new to the Make Web Games forum, but I have previously done work with browser based games. I am posting in the PHP forum because this is the whole reason I joined the forums--to get help from more experienced users. So onto my question.

I know some procedural PHP. I have been able to code with it, a login script, register script, simple browser games, forums, game credit system, shops, mail, etc. I had, techincally, coded a fully functional game, but I am really quite an amateur coder. Many of my "techniques" of doing things are really me making up ways to complete a job with the knowledge I do have. I can get the job done, but it can be very messy in the end. So my question is if there is anywhere you all could direct me to further my knowledge for web based game coding. MVC, OOP, Javascript, Ajax, HTML 5 Canvas, ImageMagick, etc. are all things I have little to no clue in, but I would really like to learn. Better yet, are there any good solid browser game frameworks that are examples of good code and using some of the mentioned topics? The way I originally learned PHP was copy and pasting until I understood the function of each thing xD

Thanks!

[Dave]

Hi...I am new to the Make Web Games forum, but I have previously done work with browser based games. I am posting in the PHP forum because this is the whole reason I joined the forums--to get help from more experienced users. So onto my question.

I know some procedural PHP. I have been able to code with it, a login script, register script, simple browser games, forums, game credit system, shops, mail, etc. I had, techincally, coded a fully functional game, but I am really quite an amateur coder. Many of my "techniques" of doing things are really me making up ways to complete a job with the knowledge I do have. I can get the job done, but it can be very messy in the end. So my question is if there is anywhere you all could direct me to further my knowledge for web based game coding. MVC, OOP, Javascript, Ajax, HTML 5 Canvas, ImageMagick, etc. are all things I have little to no clue in, but I would really like to learn. Better yet, are there any good solid browser game frameworks that are examples of good code and using some of the mentioned topics? The way I originally learned PHP was copy and pasting until I understood the function of each thing xD

Thanks!

Hey there, welcome to the community! Sounds like you've gotten the ball rolling with web development already.

I find OOP to be very beneficial once you understand it at length. MVC can be a great way of conducting OOP. If you like learning for videos you should check out this: http://www.killerphp.com/tutorials/object-oriented-php/

Following this following tutorial would also be rather beneficial:

http://anantgarg.com/2009/03/13/write-your-own-php-mvc-framework-part-1/

I believe some of the more obscure engines on this board have used a number of the techniques you've listed. McCodes and NWE are procedural, but NWE was written by a somewhat genius so could be good to check over the source code anyway.

I think EzRPG was OO, but I'm not sure. Seems to of gone very cold! http://makewebgames.io/forumdisplay.php/328-ezRPG

If you wanted to go for something which isn't strictly a game engine/framework there are loads of great recent releases, check some of these out:

http://laravel.com

http://www.slimframework.com

http://symfony.com

CodeIgniter can be good for learning as I quite like the documentation but I'm not sold on it's structure, I found it "messy" to work with:

http://ellislab.com/codeigniter

[Script47]

Hello, welcome to MWG! :)

 

Hey there, welcome to the community! Sounds like you've gotten the ball rolling with web development already.

I find OOP to be very beneficial once you understand it at length. MVC can be a great way of conducting OOP. If you like learning for videos you should check out this: http://www.killerphp.com/tutorials/object-oriented-php/

Following this following tutorial would also be rather beneficial:

http://anantgarg.com/2009/03/13/write-your-own-php-mvc-framework-part-1/

I believe some of the more obscure engines on this board have used a number of the techniques you've listed. McCodes and NWE are procedural, but NWE was written by a somewhat genius so could be good to check over the source code anyway.

I think EzRPG was OO, but I'm not sure. Seems to of gone very cold! http://makewebgames.io/forumdisplay.php/328-ezRPG

If you wanted to go for something which isn't strictly a game engine/framework there are loads of great recent releases, check some of these out:

http://laravel.com

http://www.slimframework.com

http://symfony.com

CodeIgniter can be good for learning as I quite like the documentation but I'm not sold on it's structure, I found it "messy" to work with:

http://ellislab.com/codeigniter

I'm not sure if EzRPG has gone cold or not but this is what I found. Not sure if they are still coding it secretly but I've heard it is a good skeleton.

There is also other game engines out there:

NWE

Panther

GL

GL is still being made (V2, which is OO) and Panther is still in early release but I liked it. NWE is an fully coded game engine which has good coding behind it, however you may find it confusing so read this and this. Oh and also there is the NWE Wiki too.

Which engine is best for you? That's totally up to you, try them all and figure out which one you feel you like the most. Also don't get too bogged down on reading loads, try coding more than you read.

 

Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.

 

Copy and paste is a design error.

However if that is how you learn then sure go for it. :)

The best quote by far has to be this one for me:

 

Always program as if the person who will be maintaining your program is a violent psychopath that knows where you live.

Good luck in your future projects. :)

[TheTeen]

Thank so much [MENTION=52003]Dave Macaulay[/MENTION] and [MENTION=69670]Script47[/MENTION]! I will be looking into all things you have posted! Unfortunately in the past, the scripts I learned from were not considered "good code." But they did help me to understand the logic behind coding. That is what I meant by "copy and paste." I only did that up until the point I could do it myself with the understanding of what I was doing. My goal is not to "get the job done." But to get it done with excellence. So thank you very much! Expect more questions in the future...haha!

[Script47]

Thank so much [MENTION=52003]Dave Macaulay[/MENTION] and [MENTION=69670]Script47[/MENTION]! I will be looking into all things you have posted! Unfortunately in the past, the scripts I learned from were not considered "good code." But they did help me to understand the logic behind coding. That is what I meant by "copy and paste." I only did that up until the point I could do it myself with the understanding of what I was doing. My goal is not to "get the job done." But to get it done with excellence. So thank you very much! Expect more questions in the future...haha!

No problem! And good! Always ask questions, if you don't understand something ask! How else will you learn? :)

[Dave]

Thank so much @Dave Macaulay and @Script47! I will be looking into all things you have posted! Unfortunately in the past, the scripts I learned from were not considered "good code." But they did help me to understand the logic behind coding. That is what I meant by "copy and paste." I only did that up until the point I could do it myself with the understanding of what I was doing. My goal is not to "get the job done." But to get it done with excellence. So thank you very much! Expect more questions in the future...haha!

I love your attitude! I ale believe in getting things done with excellence over just getting them done.

Feel free to shout if you need any help with anything.