A question about programming:

[Thaedael]

I have a small question for you. I used to do programming back when I was in high school but never really pursued it to any end. The other day I was talking to a buddy about how far along he has come as an artist (he draws some cool stuff) and he was commenting that my vector artwork has finally reached a level which can be considered exquisite (his words not mine). Long story short we came to a conclusion, why not make a game.

How difficult is it to program something along the lines of bowser's castle, high tail hall, or a pent house style game. For those that are not familiar I am asking about programming a game where you have several "rooms" which you can click to go to, and then have characters that you can click on to interact, and subsequently get animations of. From a programming point of view how hard is this and how long would it take to do (just the coding assuming all the art was done (in vector format))?

Just wanted to know out of courtesy before asking a potential programmer if he wants to join on so I don't come across as discourteous,

[KaTsuO_O]

Im a noob when it commes to actionscript but it would be preaty easy for even me so my answer is: very easy.

[Thaedael]

How much time would it take, for say, 5 rooms with one character each, with 3 animations each? I assume that it would be easy to do the coding for this simplistic of a game, the artwork and animation taking longer than the coding itself.

[KaTsuO_O]

The coding for that takes about 2 minutes if you put all the time together.

The only code you need is a code like this one:
on (release) {
gotoAndPlay();
}

and offcurse

stop();

[Octogon]

For simple games without a lot of content, there are various ways to do them. Flash is very quick for click button -> receive picture kinds of games (you'd spend much more time drawing and animating than coding.) If you want to do something where your characters move in more complex ways than walking left and right (like a platformer), Flash can be more complicated, as you have to make your own movement physics. If you want to do a quick platformer I'd recommend Construct or Game Maker over Flash. Construct is freeware and has platform movement built in, so you only have to set your jump height, draw and place the platforms, and do some very simple event scripting.

If it's your first game, definitely plan to make it as simple as possible. Even a small game can take a lot of work when you add up the design, art, programming, and testing. 5 rooms sounds more than manageable, but resist the temptation to add onto it too much until all the basics are done and playable.

[MarioMaker]

It's incredibly simple. Barely any logic unless you are checking an inventory for a key item. I'd say it would take all of about realistically 5 minutes of coding. Bowser's Castle is not complex for code at all. It's mostly content. If you aren't experienced in programming it is best to start small with minimal amounts of code necessary.

[KaTsuO_O]

If you only learn how to use True and false or use other methods its easy to make a system inventory.

If you (anyone) dont understand flash dont spend time on those gamemakers, learn flash.

[Thaedael]

Thanks, I just pitched it to my friend programmer, he will get it done on a weekend more or less. That just leaves doing the artwork!

[trunks2585]

Just make sure your friend has the full download so he can at least test his code with the v0.2 characters. If me and the others like what we see, I'll want to get in contact with him so we can start working on expanding the story.

[Eddie]

Its not that hard, but I'd say it will take like half a year to you understand what you're doing.

First, u need to learn CLASS stuff, I'd say .as files, instead frame script. Then, you will want to learn Flash Develop, cuz its better than Flash CS5 to code.

Second, you will want to learn optimization sutff, because a lot of colision detections costs CPU.
Soon, standart flash will be able to use GPU, then brownser games will get hotter. Til that, we need to optimize.

Then, u got to do your game engine. Basically, u got the WORD, the CHARACTERS, and the HERO. in the world, u got PLATAFORM, and they COLIDE with things, like the hero. you also will want some GRAVITY, but thats about the hero velocity or speed (or both).

Finnaly, you got the 'world transition', where you should get rid of everything from the old world, and bring the new stuff from the newest one.

Of course u got to learn keyboard controls, mouse clocks, EVENTLISTENERS, FUNCTIONS, EVENTS, MOUSE_EVENTS, ENTER_FRAME.. all that vocabulary.


Myself started to lear on www.gotoandlearn.com , you go to some old tutorials, that you will leran *alot* there, trust me.
But, go for AS3 man.. AS2 dont have any future.

[Thaedael]

Finally back after being away with school work for so long. Essentially this is a side project not related directly to legend of krystal. The progress is underway, its about 50% done in terms of artwork, 2% in animation, and coding is more or less awaiting the art but other than so far so good. Thanks for all the replies.