Is Coding for Me?

ID:1672922
 
Sep 4 2014, 2:47 am
Hello, my name is Blake, also known by my key as WorldWideDuelist. Right now, I am currently in the process of making a Duel Monsters Game. But I need to get something off my chest. Has anyone here ever felt like, when your working with someone, that they do all the work and your not doing nothing because of limited knowledge. Now, I'm not saying I don't know BYOND, it's just I can't apply what I have in my mind onto the computer, if that makes any sense. I can't think in code basically. I was wondering if I can have some opinions. Should I study more? Read the Blue Book more, read certain tutorials, or even quit BYOND? I'd like for someone to post there thoughts. (My apologies if this isn't the right section to post this.)
Sep 4 2014, 3:07 am
Stop reading, start doing, but don't try to do things that you can't actually do.

Duel Monsters is a complex game with a ton of rules and specific effects. You know that you can't do it with your current experience, so don't waste your time trying to do it.

Come up with something simple and easy and just make it. Get really good at making it. Make things similar to it. Eventually, make things completely different from it. Maybe by then you'll learn that making a Duel Monsters game was never even a good idea to begin with, and you might just make something even better with much less wasted effort.
Sep 4 2014, 3:25 am
So basically you're telling me to quit something I came far in and do something original?
Sep 4 2014, 3:29 am
As someone who has made a card game, I'll say this. They are a major pain to make. If you're new to making games or using BYOND, it could be too much for you.

The three biggest problems I ran into were...

1. Keeping track of everything. The systems themselves were not complex to make or anything, but there was just a lot of functions calling other functions calling other functions. Trying to figure out how the code works now is like trying to unravel spaghetti.
You need to have a well laid out plan and keep the code well documented to prevent this from happening.

2. Planning ahead. You can make the game fine and it'll work, but when you want to add something totally new, it can be a serious problem if you haven't designed a robust and easy to use system. If you don't have a robust system in place, adding one small, new feature can require massive rewrites to the game. This combined with above can make it almost impossible to figure anything out.

3. Bugs. Trust me, you will find a billion of them, they'll appear everywhere and you will need intimate knowledge of your code and exactly how it works to track them down and fix them.

If you cannot do at least these 3 things, you honestly shouldn't even try to make a card game.

You can look at the source code to the card game I made here
http://www.byond.com/forum/?post=1661664
It's not great nor is it easy to understand (even for me and I wrote it), but this is what will happen if you cannot plan ahead and keep track of absolutely every minor little thing.
Sep 4 2014, 9:11 am (Edited on Sep 7 2014, 8:58 am)
Based on what you've said here, it seems to me that you've got a good sounding concept, but nothing more than that at this point.

Before you try to take on the task of making the whole game, how about instead you take a smaller section of it, and create a mini-game? This advice is invaluable, because it will teach you show much. You will run into glitches, gain some experience coding, and above all else you'll start learning stuff that you didn't even realize you needed to know. In the long run, you could make a series of small games and then map them together to paint a larger picture. Even major development studios do this with many of their games.

Put your goals on paper. This helps me a lot. Start asking yourself: what are the rules of my game? What is the ultimate goal? Flesh these things out on paper, then try to code some of the small, easy portions of your game.
Sep 4 2014, 10:44 am
If you want to get better YOU WILL get better. With that said I think you'll be fine you're just going through a phase we all went through.
Sep 4 2014, 11:23 am (Edited on Sep 4 2014, 11:38 am)
In response to Chilljin
Chilljin wrote:
... how about instead you take a smaller section of it, and create a mini-game? ...

This. If you are making a card game, think and write down what you need to do. For example:

- Draw a card
- Place a card face-down
- Turn it face up
- Have a standby phase which has:
---> Ability to flip card over
---> Change attack/defense mode
---> Cause a Flip() effect happen if it has one
---> Play spells/traps (may want to hold off until the battle phase is done)

- Battle phase
----> Account for traps if any (may want to hold off until later)
- (Standby phase 2)
- End turn (switch user)


And you make your system in a logical order. First thing should be a switch-over system. Ex: Start a battle, have a verb that ends the turn then start the process again with the next person.

And you build up on it. Ex: 
Battle
   var
       turn = 0
       list
           players[2]   //  A list of the players.
           All[2]       //  All = players + observers
       player_index = 1      //  The current player index
       mob
           current  = players[1]      //  The current player's turn. Ex: the first person
           opponent = players[2]      //  Second

       New(mob/Player1, mob/Player2)
           if(Flip_Coin(Player1) == Head) Ask Player1 if want to be first
           else Ask Player2 if they want to be first

           If First == Yes: player_index = 1
           else:            player_index = 2

           Update_Players()
           Next_Round()

      proc
          Update_Players()
                Current  = player[player_index]
                Opponent = player[(player_index%2) + 1]   //  (2%2)+1 = 0+1 = 1;  (1%2) + 1 = 1 + 1 = 2 

          Next_Round()
              round += 1
              player_index = player[(player_index%2) + 1]
              Update_Player()

              Battle.All

              Draw()
              Standby_Phase()
              Battle_Phase()
              Standby_Phase()
              End_Turn()
              .()  //  Or do StartRound() if you don't like this style

           End_Turn()
             //  As a test, the turn does not end until you say yes.
             while("Yes" != alert("End your turn?","End Turn [TEST]","Yes", "No"))
                sleep(-1)
Sep 4 2014, 2:07 pm
you have to apply and get permission from Tom if you want to write in DM then make a naruto game
Sep 4 2014, 5:24 pm
In response to Zagros5000
Zagros5000 wrote:
you have to apply and get permission from Tom if you want to write in DM then make a naruto game

Nope.
Sep 6 2014, 3:50 pm
In response to Zagros5000
Zagros5000 wrote:
you have to apply and get permission from Tom if you want to write in DM then make a naruto game

He's already written, and been approved by Tom for permission for programming in DM. Written, when he typed byond.com into his browser. Tom's permission was given, when he allowed him to download the software suite.

As for what game to make, he should take it step at a time, use references and help (F1) and take it one step at a time, ultimately what he makes is his decision, not ours.