Hi interest in making a new game

[sergeant]

Hi my name is sergeant.

I have been programming for a couple years now and have learnt a bit about php, html 5, css and C#

I would like very much to start a game and my budget is around $500.

I need advice on whether i should buy a pre coded game engine (mccodes?) or create my own.

If so i would like some pms.

ps. Im 16 so sorry if anything i say sounds immature :P

[Coly010]

Build your own. It'll take a good long while, but you'll be a lot more familiar with the code, and it'll help make your game more unique.

What you should do though, is plan your game out, fully. Then code the game based on your plans, that way you'll know what you need to do and what you don't need to do. If you haven't already, research databases and SQL. Then look into MySQL. It'll most likely be the database program you'll be using.

Another thing you need to consider is a great web design. Your game could be the best in world but if it doesn't look good, you won't get the players you could or should.

Also look into PHP security, that's a massive deal when creating games.

Also if you investing money into this, then your more than likely going to want to get money out. To that end you'll need to look at it with a business perspective. Work out your outgoings and plan your incomings. Do a small business plan. Where will the money come in from? How much will I need to set aside for marketing? Will the perceived user base have reason to donate/pay for features or bonuses? Will pay-per-click ads make up any short comings? Do I need to hire a graphic designer or programmer?

If your serious about making this game, you need to consider these. The most important thing is uniqueness. Some players like playing the same style of game, but almost all will look for variances and differences, a reason to continue to play your game and invest time and money into it.

Hope this helps :)

[Sim]

Since you said you been dabbling with php & c#, would really depend on the game you make. I would go with html5 for web or c#. Since you are younger and want ti make a game, php should be your last resort. Go hard, go c#'

[sergeant]

Great read and i agree with you mostly.

I have already made a module for a tutorial based off another persons coding. Basically it allows the user to read the tutorial info, then answer questions and a reward will be at the end based on the % of correct questions.

[Guest]

Since you said you been dabbling with php & c#, would really depend on the game you make. I would go with html5 for web or c#. Since you are younger and want ti make a game, php should be your last resort. Go hard, go c#'

PHP as a last resort? Why would you want a text based game to be written purely in "HTML5" or c#?

[Sim]

I believe he said game, not a text based game.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

I believe he said game, not a text based game.

Yeah but he refers to Mccodes

[Sim]

Yeah but he refers to Mccodes

 

Maybe he doesnt know anything else exist? Either way, Text Based PHP games are not going to be around much longer EXCEPT for the ones that already exist with HTML5. You may be able to get lucky and push one with a lot of jQuery and neat effects with JavaScript but since you starting out, I doubt it would be possible. I would go with HTML5 Canvas, JS if you really want to make Web, or Start learning more C#. Since you are young, I would just learn knowledge of what is popular right now and C# has been for awhile.

If you are really serious I would choose C#. You could prob throw together in some basic games, Tic Tac Toe, Connect 4 in a matter of days or weeks (max) depending on your current knowledge. What's you get the hang of things, you could move on to Unity 3d (also can do 2d). Unity 2d is like MC-Codes in a sense but for Graphics.

[Guest]

Maybe he doesnt know anything else exist? Either way, Text Based PHP games are not going to be around much longer EXCEPT for the ones that already exist with HTML5. You may be able to get lucky and push one with a lot of jQuery and neat effects with JavaScript but since you starting out, I doubt it would be possible. I would go with HTML5 Canvas, JS if you really want to make Web, or Start learning more C#. Since you are young, I would just learn knowledge of what is popular right now and C# has been for awhile.

If you are really serious I would choose C#. You could prob throw together in some basic games, Tic Tac Toe, Connect 4 in a matter of days or weeks (max) depending on your current knowledge. What's you get the hang of things, you could move on to Unity 3d (also can do 2d). Unity 2d is like MC-Codes in a sense but for Graphics.

Omerta - Running > 10 years

Torn - Running > 10 years

Downtownmafia - Running a fair few years

Gangster Life - Running 7 years

Both of which don't rely on HTML5, torn is moving some things towards canvas but as far as I know they don't rely on it. You seem to be going off topic his question is I need advice on whether i should buy a pre coded game engine (mccodes?) or create my own.

where did Tic Tac Toe come from?

You run oRPG yet you just admitted text based games won't be around much longer? You just released a mod for MCC, curious as to why your so against text based gaming yet you contribute...

Unity is nothing like MCCodes, the only similarity is they both can use Javascript.

Why do you reference HTML5 so much, you really havn't actually given a decent reason as to why you keep saying HTML5, do you mean canvas? Which is a tiny part of HTML5, which in turn you write in Javascript.

Also why C#? Why not Java, Python (Great library support), C++

I doubt it would be possible... anything is possible given time and effort.

 

As a last note, I mentioned Java for Android apps, but what about Swift.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Guest

[Sim]

Omerta - Running > 10 years

Torn - Running > 10 years

Downtownmafia - Running a fair few years

Gangster Life - Running 7 years

 

They been running for Many years. These type of games was "new" at the time to many people. Now these type of games are flooded all over the internet. Good luck to anyone getting to where those sites you listed by starting TODAY. Game's like those have already established a user base, popularity and reputation for themselves before there was as much competition compared to today. Strickly PHP text games is dying. It was good for investing time into such a thing before every type of game you could think of (that people would play), already dominating the market and people could play on mobile. Now people on Mobile devices play HTML5 CANVAS (JS) games, or APPs.

 

I began developing game stuff before I learned PHP. Lately I been thinking about how disappointed I am in myself for not pursuing PC development and choosing PHP instead when Microsoft was switching to the .NET framework. Don't get it wrong, I still like php to some extend, but not for game development.

 

For some other stuff you said, i'll just throw some quick answers to your questions since it's a little off topic.

oRPG - I thought it was a good idea at the time, I havn't added any new features in prob a year. There was a glitch (not security) that caused games to go down for a 1-2months that I neglected even knowing what it was and took 10 minutes to fix once I got around to it.

The MC-Codes mod was an experiment to see how fast I could turn a non-dynamic site into a dynamic site. I didn't charge people for it, as it was my way to give back to MWG from NEVER creating/releasing a MOD and providing this place for coders.

Unity and MCCOdes are completely different, but each provide a good starting point for making a game.

HTML5 (canvas) yes, real time, graphical. Learn more coding techniques.

 

It doesn't need to be C#. I just prefer it, could be Java (I actually like this), Python or C++. Just not PHP for game development. Swift could also be a good choice, but not free to release on APP store I heard.

[lucky3809]

I do not agree with you SIM saying that text games aren't going to be around much longer.

There are many text based games you left out of your suppose list. Such one that has been around for awhile ruletheseas.com been around for 8 years and has a strong player base, roguevampires same even though the game is dying because of abandonment issues by the admin, it started off really strong, and even though the game is dying there is still 90 players online within the hour, still a strong player base, and still has a higher potential as Torn does, if the admin was as dedicated.

There is a lot more that can be done text based wise, and someone can create a game that is successful as TORN it's all up to the owner and coder of the game to want to achieve that. And more and more people are looking for text base games, I know when I started to play TORN I never in my life knew anything about text based games, and I only learned about TORN by word of mouth.

The reasons why a game stands is because of the dedication that the owner put in it, the games that fail are ones, where the owner completely gave up on it, and moved on from it.

Edited February 10, 2015 by lucky3809

[Coly010]

Yup I can't agree with Sim either because PHP can be used as a foundation and jQuery and JavaScript can be used to make the game more interactive if that's what your looking for, and why not incorporate node.js into it and do the same sort of thing? You can have it run the php in the background and update in real time, like apps etc.

I'm actually working on a game engine with this idea in mind