PDA

View Full Version : Making your own Roguelike?



Ter13
04-28-2008, 08:22 AM
I've found a neat little program called BYOND that allows people to make their own online and offline games. This program supports the creation of text based games, and 2D graphical tile-based games.

It was the first programming language I'd ever learned, and actually introduced me to a lot of professional game programming techniques, and also led me into other programming languages. At the moment, I know about 30 programming languages, scripting languages, third party scripts, markups, and database syntaxes. This language is very similar to C/C++ in a lot of ways, is flexible, capable, and allows for extension using DLL files.

It's available on Unix, and Windows, and is under constant development.

One of the places this system shines, is in roguelike creation. It has a text-graphics mode that is similar to that of roguelike games. The system now allows for full keyboard input, and fullscreen applications using OpenGL rendering.

I found this about eight years ago, whilst combing the internet for a way to create a roguelike game. I had just come from ZZT/Megazeux's pages, and been quite displeased. I found this in a related page, and haven't gone back since. I've been an active member of the community, and a huge proponent of roguelike games.

The best part? It's free. They take donations in the form of membership, which is $15 a year, and buys you a huge number of expanded website features. For instance, a personal blog, and a community IM service integrated with the site, as well as a game tracking service to see when your favourite games are online. There are a lot of reasons to check this out, as I know ADOM and Nethack were my main inspirations to start programming games, and I know there are a fair few here who would like to get into the game programming business with no idea how to start.

The really nice thing about BYOND, is the speed and ease of development. Learning the syntax is simple, and making games with BYOND once you have learned how to program, is surprisingly fast. I can pound out a game framework in a matter of hours. To make a good, well rounded game, would take me about a month and a half.

Seriously, check it out. I hope to see an influx of roguelike games on BYOND!

http://www.byond.com/rsc/byond_button1.gif (http://www.byond.com/?invite=Ter13)

scopatz
04-29-2008, 12:05 AM
Seems like an interesting idea. Though if I wanted to create a game I wouldn't use their engine.

Angelus
04-29-2008, 06:31 PM
I don't understand americans. "It's free, you just have to pay for it..."

Ter13
04-30-2008, 07:15 AM
I don't understand americans. "It's free, you just have to pay for it..."

...You clearly misunderstand the purpose of paying.

It's free, however, there are added bonuses to helping to support the community. They DO have to pay server fees, you know...

Angelus
04-30-2008, 07:40 PM
They DO have to pay server fees, you know...

I don't care. You americans are funny people, always asking money from anything you can think of. If someone is stupid enough to pay for that then he can lose his money.

Ter13
05-01-2008, 06:38 AM
I was just proven wrong and won't concede defeat because I'm uppity and my e-peen won't allow it, and did I mention my suave British accent? James Bond, bitches.

You know, here of all placed, that kind of attitude is pretty much inexcusable. "We Americans" have nothing to do with the matter, so don't even bring up nationality. A good portion of the BYOND community is British, Irish, German, and Canadian as well. While Americans may make up the majority, it's a multi-national effort to keep the servers online. As a matter of fact, the third largest benefactor is German, and the fifth is British.

All nationality aside, really, the issue that I find humorous, is that you don't view 2D online game creation suites to be worth your time (even when thy foster learning C syntaxes), when you are on a board for a ROGUELIKE made in the 90's that attempts to mimic games made popular in the 1980s.

So, you are willing to dump hundreds of hours into a game you play on terminal, but don't deem a game creation suite worthy of your paltry $15.00? Especially when use of the software is completely free, the extended community features are donation based?

It's kind of funny. Here's the math of it. If you played ADOM for a mere 50 hours a year, your time would be worth about $6 an hour, just below minimum wage in the U.S. That's $300 you could have earned had you been working...

If ADOM is worth 50 hours of your year, why is something completely ludicrous when it would only cost you 2 and a half hours a year?

Maybe my logic is a little funny, but you get the picture. Maybe you don't have to pay for ADOM, but I know I would. I am a programmer, and I spend a lot of time on my projects, so why shouldn't I see something back from it, when I could have spent all the time with my wife and daughter, instead of making something for other people to enjoy?

If you don't think programmers deserve to be paid for their work, or that programmers should pay the bill for the server fees every single month, after they have invested so much time in your enjoyment, then you are nothing more than a parasite, leeching off of their time, and their money.

Angelus
05-01-2008, 07:27 AM
If you don't think programmers deserve to be paid for their work, or that programmers should pay the bill for the server fees every single month, after they have invested so much time in your enjoyment, then you are nothing more than a parasite, leeching off of their time, and their money.

Woah. Suddenly I am the parasite here? Not the guy who is advertising some crap and 15$ membership? This is comedy, but then you americans are good at it.

Grey
05-01-2008, 08:02 AM
Ter13, it's best not to feed trolls, which this guy clearly is. They tend to die of starvation pretty quickly if you ignore them.

Ter13
05-01-2008, 09:35 AM
I didn't really realize he was a troll until that third post. Good catch. Best follow the example ADOM sets, kill him, then eat his corpse (gotta get my regen rate up, yo!). =P

XxDTxX
05-02-2008, 08:12 AM
A multiplayer ADOM would be cool for byond.... Of course you'd have to modify adom a bit for that.