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Apart from those of us who use our PCs for more than just downloading music and playing games, most people turn to consoles for their gaming jollies. This has been the case for many years, with the PC (and to some extent, the Mac) being the only source or outlet of creation open to the home gaming enthusiast.
Even with the PC, most of the options you have of creating your own games are pretty hard to fathom before you take a year long course in programming. What is missing is the middle ground, the area that lets those of us with less programming experience come up with something that doesn’t resemble a large piece of nonsense and doesn’t even work, let alone resembling a game.
In the early days of home computing, consoles shared their space with other gaming machines. These were the home computers of their day, they did a lot of the things that PCs do now in the home, but they also let you use a simple basic programming to create something useable, either a game or some sort of utility. The Spectrum, C64, BBC, MSX and Amstrad all had built-in basic language programmes which could be used to create simple games, word processors and even art programs. They were, as their name suggests, basic, but more importantly they were accessible to all. The computers even came with programming manuals, the BBC manual being a huge tome that guided you through everything you could hope to know.
Other simple programming languages grew up from these, including one from Ocean, who were more commonly known for producing games at the time. These allowed you a bit more control over sprites, sound and game rules than their built-in basic counterparts. You could quite easily create commercial games with these packages, and they often included compilers for turning the source code into a fully working game which could be saved to tape or disc. There was even a games creation package for making 3D polygon games, based on the Driller engine.
As gaming grew up a bit, the 16-bit machines came along with more fancy graphics, better sound and more intricate games. Though the SNES and Megadrive were popular at the time, the Atari ST and Amiga held on to the affordable and versatile home computer market. These machines carried on the idea that programming could be made easy, the most famous languages being the great STOS and AMOS, which allowed many more people the freedom to create their own games (even if they were only horse-racing and shooting games).
All things change, however and the rise of the PC as an affordable home computer package meant that a lot of the keyboard based gaming platforms were replaced by a PC and a console. The console was used to play games and the PC for work and art. While the PC did finally find it’s gaming niche, with Wolfenstein 3D, X-wing, Doom et al, the programming was all in C and C++, while even the next level down (Pascal and Cobol) being a lot more difficult to create a decent game from. Most people became happy to play the games that other people created on their new consoles and leave game creation to the experts.
Recently though, there has been a resurgence of programming tools for games. Dark Basic is still being sold as a middle ground for PC games development and Visual Basic can be used to create simple windows games, but they are still far more complicated than the older systems, partly due to the technology on offer. In the meantime, Consoles are still only seen as just a tool to play games on.
Why, then, can’t we have a language for consoles that lets us create our own games as easily as the early basics could? Sony gave us a programming language as part of their PSX package, but it was deliberately cut short of any really useful items due to their wish to provide the full version to basic developers. We should have a third party programming language for consoles which lets us create, save and play games on our consoles. It may not be able to create the next GTA game or even rival Quake, but it would make us feel like we could provide ourselves with a creative outlet on our consoles.
Even with the PC, most of the options you have of creating your own games are pretty hard to fathom before you take a year long course in programming. What is missing is the middle ground, the area that lets those of us with less programming experience come up with something that doesn’t resemble a large piece of nonsense and doesn’t even work, let alone resembling a game.
In the early days of home computing, consoles shared their space with other gaming machines. These were the home computers of their day, they did a lot of the things that PCs do now in the home, but they also let you use a simple basic programming to create something useable, either a game or some sort of utility. The Spectrum, C64, BBC, MSX and Amstrad all had built-in basic language programmes which could be used to create simple games, word processors and even art programs. They were, as their name suggests, basic, but more importantly they were accessible to all. The computers even came with programming manuals, the BBC manual being a huge tome that guided you through everything you could hope to know.
Other simple programming languages grew up from these, including one from Ocean, who were more commonly known for producing games at the time. These allowed you a bit more control over sprites, sound and game rules than their built-in basic counterparts. You could quite easily create commercial games with these packages, and they often included compilers for turning the source code into a fully working game which could be saved to tape or disc. There was even a games creation package for making 3D polygon games, based on the Driller engine.
As gaming grew up a bit, the 16-bit machines came along with more fancy graphics, better sound and more intricate games. Though the SNES and Megadrive were popular at the time, the Atari ST and Amiga held on to the affordable and versatile home computer market. These machines carried on the idea that programming could be made easy, the most famous languages being the great STOS and AMOS, which allowed many more people the freedom to create their own games (even if they were only horse-racing and shooting games).
All things change, however and the rise of the PC as an affordable home computer package meant that a lot of the keyboard based gaming platforms were replaced by a PC and a console. The console was used to play games and the PC for work and art. While the PC did finally find it’s gaming niche, with Wolfenstein 3D, X-wing, Doom et al, the programming was all in C and C++, while even the next level down (Pascal and Cobol) being a lot more difficult to create a decent game from. Most people became happy to play the games that other people created on their new consoles and leave game creation to the experts.
Recently though, there has been a resurgence of programming tools for games. Dark Basic is still being sold as a middle ground for PC games development and Visual Basic can be used to create simple windows games, but they are still far more complicated than the older systems, partly due to the technology on offer. In the meantime, Consoles are still only seen as just a tool to play games on.
Why, then, can’t we have a language for consoles that lets us create our own games as easily as the early basics could? Sony gave us a programming language as part of their PSX package, but it was deliberately cut short of any really useful items due to their wish to provide the full version to basic developers. We should have a third party programming language for consoles which lets us create, save and play games on our consoles. It may not be able to create the next GTA game or even rival Quake, but it would make us feel like we could provide ourselves with a creative outlet on our consoles.
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I'm into playing stuff on MAME - man that emu rocks. Roms are hard to come by though - searching on www.blinkx.com came up with loads of results, but I need more! More I tell you!
write a post tellin me how to make games
Notorious Biggles wrote:
> Anyone remember Klik 'n' Play?
Hehe, yeh, ye olde klik 'n' play. Made some great games on that.
Such as:
Avenue Fighter
Oh my god: It's king kong
Super Pong
Great stuff.
> Anyone remember Klik 'n' Play?
Hehe, yeh, ye olde klik 'n' play. Made some great games on that.
Such as:
Avenue Fighter
Oh my god: It's king kong
Super Pong
Great stuff.
Trust me, you have time. Spend 2 hours on homework (if that), a few hours with mates and the rest making games. Sorted.
I would learn to make games if i had the time, i hate school.
Dark Basic is a good starting point I guess (and SR sell it too, bonus!).
The ST and Amiga stuff were written in STOS and AMOS, probably two of the most user friendly games programming languages I've worked with.
The ST and Amiga stuff were written in STOS and AMOS, probably two of the most user friendly games programming languages I've worked with.
What Language did you use to write these games in, and what languages can you write games in now. What programs did you have to use to code games for modern PC's?
Gay means happy right
pb wrote:
>a creature on a spring
Thing on a spring???
Actually, I managed to cobble myself together an Amos title, back in the day (1991/2?)...
It was called 'Egg-Blasters', and although I didnt get any money for it, It was listed as one of the titles avablie from a PD software distributer in an advert at the back of Amiga Format, and Amiga Shopper! (I was so chuffed :) )
The game itself, started life as an attempt at a Bomberman clone, but ended up being a two player, single screen shoot-em-up... its was exceedingly naff, crashed a lot, and for some reason the players moved faster than the bullets... but it was mine :)
>a creature on a spring
Thing on a spring???
Actually, I managed to cobble myself together an Amos title, back in the day (1991/2?)...
It was called 'Egg-Blasters', and although I didnt get any money for it, It was listed as one of the titles avablie from a PD software distributer in an advert at the back of Amiga Format, and Amiga Shopper! (I was so chuffed :) )
The game itself, started life as an attempt at a Bomberman clone, but ended up being a two player, single screen shoot-em-up... its was exceedingly naff, crashed a lot, and for some reason the players moved faster than the bullets... but it was mine :)
Blurb wrote:
> what was Klick and Play sounds kinda Gay
yer probly som gay sounds
> what was Klick and Play sounds kinda Gay
yer probly som gay sounds
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