Darknessmanlol wrote:

I am sure I am in the right place for this... But I could be wrong.

It's never a matter. Moderators will move posts to their correct forums as soon as they're discovered. And that's normally pretty quickly.

I am looking to make a survival game, along the lines of Archipelago, Archipelago Remastered, Stranded, etc.

Good! More games are always a welcome sight to see around this area. And survival games can be quite popular when they're done right.

However, I do not hold the skills to start from scratch.

This is where I need the help of anyone willing to offer aid to this soon-to-be-programmer.

This is where you'll find BYOND is lacking a little. A lot of our developers are busy working on their own projects, self conscious about their knowledge and in fear of ridicule (which is a warranted fear) or simply like yourself and just too inexperienced.

So chances of being able to find someone willing to just help you one-on-one are unlikely. However! All is not lost. The best solution for this is simple: Every time you get stuck, come directly to the forums, and do a search for what you're trying to do. If you can't find what you're looking for, open a thread of discussion about your issue. (Please search first.)

And if you're really lucky, and approach a chat room with the right attitude and good spelling (like you have done here), you may even be lucky enough to catch a developer there in a good enough mood to help you.

What I wish to know is if there is an open source, or something, that follows the lines of these games?

This is a legitimate question. An open source BYOND Game isn't an unheard of concept. And this isn't one I can answer with 100% accuracy. But I'm leaning towards "no", 'cause I'm sure I'd have heard about a legitimate open source project successfully working on BYOND.

Archipelago Remastered Sources are no longer attainable via BYOND, so any of those who might have a copy of this source, or even Archipelago, it would be highly appreciated.

This is the wrong way of going about it. This is getting a source sent to you by someone else. Who knows what the sources quality is.

The fact of it is, very few game sources released have been of any decent quality. I have seen a lot of ripped sources in my time. They were all bad. Every single one of them. I'm not the best DM programmer out there, but I'm better than what those sources portrayed. So I assure you, never use them.

The work is hard, but it's far more rewarding if it's your own.

Any other aid offered would be appreciated just as much. Thank You.

I think my reply should suffice for the time being. =)

Thanks to a friend, I am now able to complete the things I Was having difficulty with. NOW I can get back to work.

Darknessmanlol wrote:

Well excuse me for saying this... But nearly every game, program, and the such are used with other peoples code. Not so much that a program is just a bundle of others codes, but they use that code to teach themselves.

Now you're confusing the use of libraries and demos with that of ripped code. Ripped code is a source being leaked without a users permission. Because of this, it's 100% of the time (thus far), written extremely poorly. Libraries are designed to be plug 'n' play. Think of them as a means of extending the DM language. Although a few not too crash hot ones get through every now and again, mostly these are supposed to be of a reasonable quality. I'm not sure how well the listed/rejected listings of the demo's libraries section is presently. I'll assume it's pretty good.

Demo's are designed to show you how you might go about doing something. And nine times out of ten, they're not really designed for anyone to use the code. The point of a demo is more to read and look at the logic behind a process, then recreate that logic within your own game, using your own parameters.

It's a common mistake people make mixing up the three. Ripped/leaked (hell, even most (if not all) willing source releases are pretty average) sources are of a horrible quality, and regardless of what people say, it's near impossible to "fix them" without completely reprogramming them. So you might as well start from scratch.

Also, if you look into actual programming, where BYOND isnt there to do part of the work, and you dont have such an open community, you find yourself looking at sources to learn code like that, then edit it to your own personal way.

I find myself checking for any libraries or demos which might deal with or explain something. So you're right, I will be looking at code, but I wont be looking at sources. I'll be looking at snippets. And as mentioned previously, you're not supposed to edit it, just understand the theory behind.

You learn from other peoples work, to advance into your own. I would never think of using a source without permission, and of course all credibility would be placed where it was needed. I know all about Copyright.

It's not a matter of permission. That's the thing most programmers around here care about least. Simply because it's not their source, thus, not their problem. What we're trying to tell you is: What you learn from released game sources on BYOND, is going to negatively effect your grasp of the language in the future. This is a non-arguable truth, we've been watching it go on for years. And to our best efforts, people still refuse to listen to this advice.

Yut Put wrote:

The problem is the fact that the program isn't user friendly at all and neither is the website when it comes to helping newbies learn to program. That's what it has always been

Programming isn't user friendly. Not everyone who tries to make games will have the patience or education needed to be successful. When you think about what BYOND is and how it attracts users, BYOND attracts a *lot* of people who just aren't cut out to be good programmers. BYOND can be more newbie friendly but there's not much that can be done. It'll always have users who want to make games but just can't figure it out.

Gravity Sandwich wrote:

This. So much this. I'm a case of someone who wants to make something, but can't quite figure it out. I've been hanging around BYOND since '05; using a multitude of keys.

Don't sweat it. I've been around since '03 and still have nothing particularly noteworthy to my name. ;)

I began coding sometime in '06, and I'm still terrible at it. Coding just doesn't seem to come natural to me, and I suspect this could be the case for others as well.

I wouldn't say it comes particularly natural to me either. I extremely dislike C++. Even though I desperately, desperately don't want to. It's the same with Java and the majority of other languages out there (minus PHP). I dislike the majority of them. I like DM 'cause it's easy. And I like PHP 'cause it's easier than DM (<- subject to argument).

But I still stick to it, 'cause hey, why not? Need something to do while passing the time, and video games these days are getting less and less interesting.

Hope you get the help needed, I've just started so maybe now isn't the best time for me to be helping you :P But either way, good luck.