Wombat2112
Banned
Is anyone here an advanced coder and Is this still a relevant engine for anyone seeking to design a simple fun game? Perhaps something on Arcade to PS2 levels? I like to play shooters. I believe sometimes referred to "Shmups".
Coding
- Thread starter Wombat2112
- Start date
Welcome to the community @DOWNWARDPLUNGE.
I'm not sure what you mean by "advanced coder", but there are several of us here who are measurably adroit. I happen to make a living at it, and there are people like @Bloodbane, @msmalik681, @Kratus, and others who are more than capable of writing code.
As for the engine's capabilities, that should be more than obvious or you wouldn't be here. Want proof? Take a look at some of our more popular games like Street of Rage X and see for yourself. SHUMPS? There isn't a shooter made you can't replicate and then some with OpenBOR if you are willing to give it a go.
DC
I'm not sure what you mean by "advanced coder", but there are several of us here who are measurably adroit. I happen to make a living at it, and there are people like @Bloodbane, @msmalik681, @Kratus, and others who are more than capable of writing code.
As for the engine's capabilities, that should be more than obvious or you wouldn't be here. Want proof? Take a look at some of our more popular games like Street of Rage X and see for yourself. SHUMPS? There isn't a shooter made you can't replicate and then some with OpenBOR if you are willing to give it a go.
DC
Wombat2112
Banned
Thank you. That's really awesome. You must have done what I wanted to do go to school to learn about programming. I once bought a book called learn C++ in 24 hours. It was all simple until I got to something called pointers and references and I became confused. I am not very good at mathematics. I don't know how much that would be to my advantage using this engine but I enjoyed learning what I did. I'd just like to make a simple space shooter. Maybe get some help along the way. Thanks for writing back
The other way around actually. I tinkered around a lot with old junk when I was a kid, and kind of lucked into working for the University of Kentucky as a Technology Officer. At the time, I was 100% self taught. Staff here get six credit hours per semester, so I started using that to work toward a PHD. Right now I'm about a year away from finishing the Masters program.
There's an old joke about pointers: You have a problem. You solve it with a pointer. Now you have two problems.
Seriously, pointers are quite confusing to conceptualize at first, and beginners always want to know why you'd ever want to use them. The upside is once you keep at it long enough, the lights will come on and you'll be addicted. It's an essential skill for low level coding, and obviously the engine source code itself depends on them. That said, making games with OpenBOR doesn't require any low level coding. There's a C syntax based script support you'll need to learn, but it's high level and weak typed, so if you messed with C and C++ you'll breeze through it in no time.
@Bloodbane has a lot of little experimental games, including some shooters. Check his work out, and you might find some examples to help you along.
DC
Bloodbane
Well-known member
Hi there!
I've made some shmups with OpenBoR engine, they are:
Rainbow
Blue Bullet Bintang
Eerie Erratic Expedition
Xelam
Wombat2112
Banned
Wow that is so cool!
lol
I think I am already addicted. Some good stuff in the manual too. Thanks for all the tips.
Wombat2112
Banned
Hello to you my friend! Great to know your acquaintance
I played Rainbow today. That is such a neat game. Simple but inventive and very addictively fun. I think I played almost 4 hours trying to beat it lol.
I popped open Rainbow to look at the files. I understand much just by browsing at your code and the way files and folders. This gives me a terrific way of having something already created to build upon. I have acquired some excellent Star Wars ship sprites and I rotated the pics to make the animation look like the X wing is tilting sideways.....maybe as a simple defensive move? If I can pull it off. This is exciting. I would love to show them to you sometime to get your opinion.
Thank you for responding and letting me know about your specific projects. I can see that you are a talented coder as well. Looking forward to any advice I might learn from you and the community.
Bloodbane
Well-known member
glad you enjoyed it
Though I should tell you that, Rainbow is puzzle shmup so its shots are varied as part of the puzzle. It's not simple to understand cause there's color change mechanic coded in shooting script.
Anyways, if you need to learn more, don't hesitate to ask
Wombat2112
Banned
Thanks I certainly have and enjoyed very much playing some of the amazing titles created utilizing this engine. Which I must say is quite an impressive flexible tool to have free and open access to. I can see the potential in DCurrent's statement regarding the engine's capabilities.glad you enjoyed it
That's interesting I pondered if I could use that same code structure concept to simulate effect changes in the sprite animation? For example, a simple or even more random blaster shot marks that would illustrate damage to the hull of an enemy ship? Simple Example 1. Initial damage like holes or tears in ship integrity. 2. Eventually the same but with a more heavily sustained damaged fiery look. 3. Eventually arriving with an "almost about to explode look"...until boom! LOL. Provided I create the altered sprite work which should be easy to create with a simple art program.
Thank you. I promise to do the best I can on my own. Having said that knowing experienced users like yourself and DCurrent are knowledgeable and willing to offer assistance is reassuring. I have been reading the manual a lot and just searching the forums has answered many questions. With all those resources I don't see how I would fail to learn some things and hopefully one day produce something worthwhile. Which is something to look forward to. The best part is that this is an ongoing project. I really think I can do this and am ready to get started.Anyways, if you need to learn more, don't hesitate to ask
Wombat2112
Banned
Hi again I hope I'm not being a pest lol. I was thinking about our first conversation...hope it was ok to follow up here. I have bern reviewing my book learn C++, then I have another book C++ Primer. iI was just wondering do you recommend any resources or alternate learning tools? I remembered you mentioned being self taught .When I look at scripts of OB games there are of things I recognize mathematical operators, Key words like void and I remember functions, Bool (true/False) and Classes I just need to review,. I thought I would try to focus on pointers again I ordered a 2nd edition of the book. Below are some books I conidered ordering. Though before I invested in a couple hundred in books and I realize all this is not needed for OB but I would like to become more experienced/proficient in C++.. i asked myself what you would say? When you mentioned learning much on your own, I assumed since the OB project had been turned over to you you probably have found ways to improve the engine? The most advanced program I have done to date was a simple text based Trivia game and I had some help with the display art. (Title screen, menus). I didn't know if these books were a good way to go some of the authors have online tech support. IAt 48 I don't know about going back to school, I own my own business but this is a slow time of year for us. So having tmie to work on my OB project and learning more about the language and other aspects is certainly there.
