A set of rules that govern an in-game experience. Game design is an effort to come up with game mechanics that allow for players to have a fun and engaging experience.
4
votes
2answers
207 views
How to do simultaneous action without it being real time?
This is really a pacing question, but there's no tag for that:
The general concept is that the players are working in a team and need to be able to react to eachother's movement and observations as ...
3
votes
2answers
376 views
Does a basic game engine prototyping tool exist, for common game types?
There are a lot of classic game engines out there (Real Time Strategy, Turn Based, etc), of which you can find countless variations. All of them have a basic starting point which involves units, ...
1
vote
2answers
263 views
Simplified trajectory equation to identify Time Taken(t) by a protectile to travel Distance(d), under gravity?
I am building a game, where I have to plot a trajectory of a ball in 3D space, launched with an inital velocity Sx, Sy, Sz. [I am using OpenGL and Android-NDK]
Lets assume Sz is always 0. And Sx ...
-3
votes
1answer
243 views
Is there a market for a Text-based empire-building game? [closed]
I am working on building a text-based in-browser empire building game. The screen will be split into a console and an EXTREMELY rough vector map of your empire (just squares in a bigger square). ...
0
votes
1answer
229 views
How to get xy coordinates along a given path
Say i have two points (x,y), (0,0) and (10,10). Now i wan´t to get coordinates along the line by stepping through values of x and y. I thought i solved it with the following functions:
fy = startY ...
1
vote
2answers
213 views
How do I interpolate air drag with a variable time step?
So I have a little game which works with small steps, however those steps vary in time, so for example I sometimes have 10 Steps/second and then I have 20 Steps/second. This changes automatically ...
2
votes
4answers
443 views
What are some good examples of exuberant in-game instructions for telling the player to repeatedly smash a button?
What are some good examples of exuberant in-game instructions for telling the player to repeatedly and quickly press a button or perform an action? I'm especially interested in examples in retro games ...
1
vote
4answers
801 views
Cocos 2D - Hold down CCMenuItem
I am using the following code to move a CCSprite left and right.
-(id)init{
CCMenuItemImage * moveLeftButton = [CCMenuItemImage itemFromNormalImage:@"Move Left Button.png" selectedImage:@"Move ...
0
votes
1answer
255 views
Logic behind greedy Spider game?
What will be the best algorithm or logic that can be used for game like greedy spiders.
As far as I can think it is based on A* algorithm ? Where the shortest path has to be a search between the ...
2
votes
2answers
136 views
Different methods of ammo resupply
I'm writing a small game at the moment. Presently, I have one or two design elements that aren't locked down yet, and I wanted to ask for input on one of these.
For dramatic effect, the player's ...
3
votes
4answers
541 views
What are examples of games with “minimalist” models/art assets [closed]
When teaching game development, my student's obsess about building realistic or complex art/models/animation. And spending wayyy to much time trying to get accurate collision detection between two 3D ...
1
vote
1answer
238 views
Implementing powerups for my Breakout clone
I'm making a simple Breakout clone in Python that will have very many powerups/powerdowns (so far I came up with 26). Some will affect the paddle (paddle missile, two paddles, short paddle, etc.), ...
0
votes
1answer
395 views
Handling game states like Braid's timeshift or Shooter's Killcam
me as very unexperienced game developer, I wondered how I could achieve something like re-winding the time in my game or jump back to a special moment (killcam) and replay it for the user.
2
votes
3answers
120 views
Victory rewards in digital CCG
I am currently polishing a digital CCG where people can play against friend and random opponents in a classical Magic the Gathering-like duel CCG.
I plan to award the players with 20 ingame currency ...
0
votes
1answer
210 views
Effectively implementing a game view using java
I am writing a 2d game in java. The game mechanics are similar to the Pokémon game boy advance series e.g. fire red, ruby, diamond and so on.
I need a way to draw a huge map maybe 5000 by 5000 pixels ...
4
votes
3answers
409 views
Game programming course materials: What should it include?
I am tasked to create the course materials for a game programming class, and I’d like your opinion on what aspects and areas of game programming, such as game state management, game object storing or ...
2
votes
0answers
175 views
Game Resource Generation
I am currently building a game that has a "City" entity. These cities generate and consume resources such as food variably over a period of time. I need to be able query the server often to find ...
0
votes
1answer
511 views
How can I Implement KeyListeners/ActionListeners into the JFrame?
I'll get to the point: I have a player in my game that you control with the keyboard yet the key methods in the player class and ActionListener w/ KeyAdapter in the Board class don't seem to fire.
...
6
votes
1answer
440 views
How To Approach 360 Degree Snake
I've recently gotten into XNA and must say I love it. As sort of a hello world game I decided to create the classic game "Snake". The 90 degree version was very simple and easy to implement. But as I ...
0
votes
2answers
327 views
Calculating an experience formula
I'm having trouble working out a formula using this experience curve to get the total exp after each level. I bet its easy and im just over thinking it.
maxlvl = 10;
increment = 28;
baseexp = 100;
...
2
votes
4answers
453 views
Alternatives to a leveling system
I'm currently designing a rough prototype of a mecha fighting game.
These are the basics I came up with:
Multiplayer (matchmaking for up to 10 people, for now)
Browser based (HTML5)
2D ...
0
votes
4answers
444 views
Turn-based tile game dynamic item/skill/command script files
I want to create a mechanism that could read text script, for example some kind of custom script such as ".skill" or ".item", which maybe contain some sort of simple script like
.item
Item.Name = ...
25
votes
6answers
2k views
What's a way to implement a flexible buff/debuff system?
Overview:
Lots of games which RPG-like statistics allow for character "buffs", ranging from simple "Deal 25% extra damage" to more complicated things like "Deal 15 damage back to attackers when hit."
...
0
votes
1answer
369 views
Pathfinding using nodes/waypoints without connecting them?
I've been doing some research on pathfinding lately because I want to code a game modification for a game (won't say which exactly) and what I've done is defined a huge list of 3D vectors where a ...
8
votes
4answers
822 views
Time reverse mechanism in games
I am wondering about how time manipulation mechanisms in games are typically designed. I am particularly interested in time reversing (sort of like in the latest SSX or Prince of Persia).
The game ...
0
votes
1answer
356 views
Specific Physics Lessons and Reference for Game Development
What "Physics stuffs" should I learn in game developments? I'm reading about Verlet Integration, and I'm wondering what other lesson should I learn and if there are available resources can you please ...
0
votes
3answers
504 views
Feasible 4D first person gameplay
I put together a quick demo of a 4d first person environment last night in XNA. It uses 3d cross-sectioning instead of projection. (Use A and O to move in and out from 0 to 1 in the W axis.)
In my ...
5
votes
2answers
464 views
Designing AI in a 1 on 1 battle similar to Pokemon
I am designing a game where the battle system is similar to Pokemon. That is, a 1 on 1 battle with only a few (4-6) moves to choose from. As the game is taking shape, I'm starting to think about some ...
0
votes
0answers
92 views
Designing 1 on 1 battle: improving on Pokemon's model [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Designing AI in a 1 on 1 battle similar to Pokemon
I am developing an android game that uses a similar battle style to Pokemon. Essentially you are going 1 on 1 against ...
6
votes
2answers
733 views
How to implement the logic of a trading card game's “special effects cards”?
I am trying to write a kind of a trading card game here, in some way, it is similar to Magic The Gathering, or the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game.
For those of you who are not familiar with it, basically, in ...
10
votes
6answers
442 views
Constant resource drain for strategy game
So I have a factory that builds a unit over time. The unit costs mass. Mass is stored as a floating point variable, and is constantly generated over time. Example, I have a resource node that gives 5 ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
How to accurately score moving averages (indepenent of sampling window)
I'm developing a puzzle game, and coming up with a little trouble how to accurately create the 'score' for a particular player's solution.
In this game a player creates a machine which generates ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Word list for use in commercial game
I need a word list to use in a commercial game (even though the game will be free to download)
Something like this
http://www.puzzlers.org/pub/wordlists/ospd.txt
Would be perfect (needs to be ...
-4
votes
1answer
184 views
Game mechanic for a battle between 2 monsters
I'm building a flash game where you have a collection of creatures. It's basically a petting game at the moment, I'd like to know what kind of mechanics I could use to battle them efficiently. I'd ...
3
votes
3answers
733 views
Bubble shooter falling algorithm
To complete this question about the same color search algorithm, I would like to know if someone knows which is the best implementation for making other bubbles fall when they are no longer attached. ...
0
votes
1answer
116 views
How do I implement a racing clock that shows elapsed time?
I'm wanting to make a old school timer like the picture below. How would I go about doing this in VD? I have tried it doing it with code bellow. The problem with this is that it starts with just ...
5
votes
3answers
294 views
What's an appropriate difficulty scale for weapon efficacy vs difficulty to obtain?
I'm writing up a design document for a voxel based adventure game, similar to minecraft, but fixing a lot of fundamentally broken game mechanics, or at least updating those mechanics to be more suited ...
0
votes
2answers
206 views
Games with rubbing/scratching as interaction?
I'm brainstorming a game aimed for touchscreen. Its primary interaction involves a lot of rubbing and scratching with the finger to the on screen objects, sort of like Fruit Ninja, but a bit more work ...
-1
votes
1answer
325 views
Adding cards to a vector for computer card game
I am writing a Card game that has a deck size of 30 cards, where each card has to be a unique object, stored in a vector.
Right now, my plan is to add them to a vector one at a time, with four ...
-4
votes
2answers
351 views
Programming real time combat [closed]
I am programming a lot of turn based game, all text, but how do you program real time combat in games, like an rts, or a shooter, where everything is not input based
2
votes
2answers
917 views
How to make a scrolling background
I'm making a Shooter game like "1943" and "Jamestown". I am Using Visual Basic 2010. I was wondering how I would make the background scroll up to simulate moving forward. I would also like it to ...
8
votes
3answers
417 views
How to add a sound that an enemy AI can hear?
Given:
a 2D top down game
Tiles are stored just in a 2D array
Every tile has a property - dampen (so bricks might be -50db, air might be -1)
From this I want to add it so a sound is generated at ...
18
votes
15answers
1k views
How to discourage micromanagement in strategy games?
When designing a strategy game (or one in a similar genre), how do you avoid having your players focus almost entirely on micromanagement? What should be done and what avoided in gameplay mechanics?
9
votes
2answers
668 views
Bomberman clone, how to do bombs?
I'm playing around with a bomberman clone to learn game-developement.
So far I've done tiles, movement, collision detection, and item pickup. I also have pseudo bombplacing (just graphics and ...
1
vote
2answers
292 views
improve Collision detection memory usage (blocks with bullets)
i am making a action platform 2D game, something like Megaman.
I am using XNA to make it.
already made player phisics,collisions, bullets, enemies and AIs, map editor, scorolling X Y camera (about 75% ...
10
votes
1answer
715 views
Best Method to Simulate Height in a Tiled Top-Down Game
What is the best method to simulate height for a top-down tiled 2D game? One way I thought was to make tiles which are supposed to be higher brighter, but I was wondering if there was a standard or ...
3
votes
1answer
416 views
Open trading card game rulesets?
Got pitched a project where we need to make a trading card game to promote a clients project. I don't have any brilliant ideas for rules, but was pondering if any "open-source" rulesets existed, or if ...
2
votes
3answers
745 views
need to create formulas for stat, level progression etc. What tools will help the not-mathematically-literate?
I want to create some of the fundamental guideline formulas for a game I am working on. I am following on from sirlin's advice in that I am starting with some assumptions and working back from there.
...
0
votes
1answer
505 views
Lag compensation of projectile shooting game
I'm thinking about an algorithm for firing projectiles with lag compensation. Now I did find only one descent solution:
Player hits fire button.
Client sends input "fire".
Client waits for server ...
7
votes
3answers
381 views
Intellectual rights to game concepts
For a client I might be making a small puzzle game about getting a item out of a puzzle. The concept will strongly resemble this game :
...
