My request to KR dev's for advice-

[hawkx27]

Hello,

I'm looking at trying my hand at indie game design and will be going to school for computer engineering soon so that i have the time and resources i need to develop the necessary skills. However during my time in school I want to try my hand at designing a game as I go along so that when I get out of school I have learned as much as I can and hopefully have a great game to use as a springboard either to continue making my own games or to use in any applications to pre-existing game studios.

I was hoping ot get some advice from the developers of Kingdom Rush(great game btw) to find out what kind of programming software might be best for me to use to make a game of comparable graphics that is instead a turn based strategy game(kind of like 2D, top down, final fantasy tactics). The project I have in mind to work on and finish while I'm in school essentially uses sprites that look about the same as the kingdom rush ones where combat takes place on a grid and goes turn by turn for each unit. The player can choose from tons of classes and extensively customize their units, sending in to battle six or seven guys on every map.

Any advice given is appreciated, I've got a very long road ahead of me(something you likely understand far better than I). My strengths are in crunching numbers and statistics as well as designing and optimizing game systems and mechanics. So I'm really looking for help in getting my bearings on what i need to learn about programming and what kind of software is optimal to make what kinds of games so that i can get off to a good start rounding out the rest of the skills i need. Thanks in advance to anyone who can share some good insight with me.

Very Respectuflly,

Eric

[Big Bad Bug]

You should ask Xstargaming about that if they don't respond. He is also a video game developer and a much faster responder.

What kind of stuff is going to be in your game?

[Julian]

Well, for two dimensional games you have various options. You could just purely use a programming language, like Java, but I recommend against that, as creating games without a built-in sprite editor, level editor etc. is quite tiresome and hard. Instead, there are engines with built-in features like the ones I just mentioned; most of them have a free version, but you'll probably have to buy an engine to get access to all its possibilities. An example would be Unity (unity3d.com). This engine was originally meant for 3D games, but now comes with all needed functionality for 2D games as well; it has received high praise and works with 3 different programming languages (Javascript, C# and Boo, a dialect of Python; you only need to pick one... Javascript is probably the easiest, but I've heard C# bears most possibilities). The Steam version of Kingdom Rush was created in Unity, but I lack personal experience with it. Another example is (Adobe) Flash, which was used for the standard pc version of both Kingdom Rush and Kingdom Rush Frontiers, but I recommend against this one as the game industry is moving away from it. Besides this, the Flash software (which is not necessarily needed, but handy nonetheless) has no free version. A third example, one I love, is GameMaker (https://www.yoyogames.com/studio). The newest version, 'GameMaker Studio' supports, for a price, automatic conversions to different platforms (likes smartphones and tablets), just like Unity does. Myself I'm using an older version, which is still great if your target is just computers with Windows. GameMaker has features to create games without using (too much) code, but if you really want to create a professional looking game, you'll have to use the (fairly simple) programming language 'GML' (GameMaker Language). Of course, a lot more engines exist... I suggest looking into them and comparing them. Some have better documentation and tutorials than others, which can be very handy if you don't have much programming experience. Besides this, you could order a book about a certain programming language, many exist and most of those are written with people new to programming in mind. But pick an engine and a language it understands first. Good luck!

[hawkx27]

thank you both for responding, esp you julian that was alot of good insight.

As for what specifically i want my game to do, i want to implement a system where the player creates a team of soldiers by picking each one's class, stat array, abilities and feats and then takes them through a fire-emblem-like campaign. combat should take place on a grid that appears when characters try to move or cast area of effect abilities and the sprites should look very similar to the kingdom rush sprites in flavor and quality.

I guess now I need to really pour over Unity and GM and see if they can really fit what i need. Though from an initial look it's hard to tell how much difficulty i can expect from different tasks. Like implementing turn based movement on a grid, programming different abilities and creating the system where players create characters. I don't really understand how much leg work is required from a programming perspective and looking at different systems based on what they advertise doesn't help me understand them much better.

Again though, i appreciate the feedback very much.

[Big Bad Bug]

You're welcome.

[Julian]

Both engines should do fine, they are certainly capable of creating a game like you described with; you could download their free versions, follow a tutorial or two and see what feels better to you. I think GameMaker will be a little easier... Unity's main advantages are (way) better 3D options. Programming a whole game, that has a professional feel to it and has no bugs, will be really hard without any prior programming knowledge though (assuming you have none). I suggest creating tiny games or just other random other applications first, just to strengthen your programming skills and start with a real game when it all starts to feel natural to you. Also, just a tip on the programming part: you'll most definitely need a two dimensional array to represent the grid in your game. In GameMaker code it would look like 'grid[3,2]', meaning the fourth cell horizontally/third cell vertically (counting from 0) in the array named 'grid' (you could give the array another name, like 'area' or something, if you like to... in Java it would look like 'grid[3][2]'; most programming language are quite similar to each other really). This way you can assign a value to each cell within the grid, representing its state and have other code react to that.

[hawkx27]

okay i see what you mean about the grid and that makes sense to me. You are probably right, maybe i'll just make a simple grid based combat game that you can play for like 10-15 minutes first and mess around with how to make dialogue, give players selections. I would imagine the foundation of the game will be a lot better if i understand these things first. Thanks alot Julian.

[SilasLock]

I'd recommend Gamemaker for 2D games; Julian knows what he's talking about.

Its a little tough to start out on, though, if you've never worked with its system before. I'd recommend finding someone who can teach you some basic Gamemaker things before launching into development, it works much better than trying to figure it all out on your own. At least, that's what I made the mistake of doing when I started out (''what the heck is a 'relative?' '').

[xstargaming]

Dear me, I haven't given any advice of my own!

Julian is quite right; using a multiplatform tool is key to most video games' successes. I highly recommend Unity or Flash Builder primarily due to their cross-platform abilities and simple debugging tools. Also, Flash Builder assists you in coding with ActionScript through syntax coloring, statement completion, code collapse, refactoring support, live highlighting of invalid references, and interactive step-through debugging. I don't know too much about Unity, though it's highly recommended by many who I know use it.

If you're just starting out, you may want to go with Gamemaker, though, again, I know little about it. The higher level tools are far more versatile, however. There is one tool that hasn't been mentioned that I believe should be: Clickteam Fusion 2.5 Developer. I do know a decent bit about this program, as many people I know use it. For beginners, it's a good program to start with. It also supports extensions that can be coded with XCode, C#, C++, Java, and a variety of other languages to increase its power. It is a multiplatform tool, and it has fully integrated physics. Also, I know they have a community where you can ask questions and browse examples of other people's work.

I'm out of time to continue talking about beginnings and what tools you can use, but I hope I've helped a little.

[hawkx27]

hey thanks alot to you both. I'll look into those programs you mentioned xstar, i should really do some research into them before i pick one to learn. i really appreciate the help. I did the fun part last night and spent about eight hours outlining a class system, creating all the abilities and weapons and figuring out the equations for things like damage, evasion, hp and all that business(though it's far from complete). now i just have to do the epic, long and tedious part and learn how to code it all. you guys have been a great help.

[xstargaming]

Best of luck to you!

[steakman]

dear ironhide
I am proggraming in python and looking at some other laungauges but it is really going slow. I would love to have some advice on how to make TD games. Before I had any knoledge in progrraming I thought of ideas for games. by the way I a ten now so don't give me a hard time :lol . I basicaly want to make a game like yours but different in some ways. I also love RPG games and doing some reserch on how to do those. please respond vs