GameMaker site vs. BYOND site

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ID:136054
 
Aug 4 2003, 4:00 am
Not a question of design quality, just a question of content. Taking a brief look at http://www.gamemaker.nl/ from the comment in Announcements, I noticed a couple of things right off that the GameMaker site provides for users which the BYOND site does not.

http://www.gamemaker.nl/resource.html contains sets of graphics and other multimedia that can be used to get you started with your project. That's something you don't see on BYOND, since on BYOND people pretty much expect you to either make your own resources, or pay for someone else to make them for you. With GameMaker, you can use sets that other people have made without any charge. (With enough variety, there should be enough to avoid any "all games look alike" problems.)

http://www.gamemaker.nl/tutorial.html has tutorials, and BYOND has those too, sort of. But one thing I liked is that the tutorials are focused on "how to build a game of this type", including "your first game", scrolling shooters, platform games, maze games, etc... Something like that would be great for BYOND.

I also thought it was nice that one of the tutorials was on "what makes a good game", which is something BYONDers could probably use. But I haven't read it, so I can't recommend it yet. :P
Aug 4 2003, 4:39 am (Edited on Aug 6 2003, 5:33 am)
I agree with you on the tutorial for better game design thing, someone should take this up as a project.

Also for anyone who hasn't created any tutorials, you should take this as a chance to do it, and when your complete, focus on making it a great tutorial. Currently we have the 2 ZBTs which are on 2 different genres than RPG, 4 tutorials as example RPG projects to start people off, 1 more advanced tutorial using RPG as an example project, and 1 on programming RPGs (Not much in it on RPG design.).

Here is a list I can think of that would make great tutorials:

<l>
  • Tutorial on shooting games.
  • Tutorial on 3D topics (Like Malver's demonstration on BYONDscape. In fact that could be put in the tutorials section just for that purpose.).
  • Tutorial on side scrolling.
  • Tutorial on making good graphics.
  • Tutorial on making good music.
  • Tutorial on making your own sounds.
  • Tutorial on making a card game (I have a template released, not a tutorial.).
  • Tutorial on enhancing the "fun-ness" of RPGs.
    </l>

    Also, gughunter, I am going to grab RPGT2 off of DM.Demos and allow you to put it on BYONDscape for the tutorials section (I only put it in DM.demos because the tutorials section was still not updated to BYONDscape for a while.). Can I just simply put it up for review in the BYONDscape channel in order to do that (I need it to be a free of subscribtion content, since it is a tutorial.).

    I agree with the icon/music/sounds resources tab. If anyone would like to take it up, I suggest adding your graphics on the hub for free, or making new graphics/etc. for use in it (even if they aren't all that good.). My graphics channel and AbyssDragon's icons are great examples of what could be put there, since they have alot of original icons, and are free.
Aug 4 2003, 6:20 am
In response to Kunark
I, personally, think that the GameMaker site is much more newb friendly, and much more generous, BUT, I hate their actual program! No offence to them or anything, but I just really hate it! So as some said in some other post BYOND and GameMaker really do compliment each others weaknesses!

~GokuSS4Neo~
<font size=-3>BYOND FOR EVER!!!</font>
Aug 4 2003, 6:24 am
In response to Gokuss4neo
Well of course, if GameMaker were great you'd be over there and not over here. But that's why I was dicussing the website, not the programs. :P I like the fact that the GM site is much more newbie friendly and generous, as you said.
Aug 4 2003, 6:30 am
In response to Foomer
The Byond site is generous too, I think your missing some things. Byond has a wealth of resources, but it specialized in programming so most of it is libs or demos. I agree that we could always use more(especially how to design a game, I know I'm not great at it. :P), but that is up to the community. :)
Aug 4 2003, 6:56 am
In response to Jnco904
i agree with jnco on the resourse thing, we even have 2 extra sites for/with resources, lol
Aug 4 2003, 9:54 am
Either DerDragon or AbyssDragon gave a whole lot of icons into an icon resource. You just have to search around the BYOND site some :D
Aug 4 2003, 12:34 pm
In response to Sariat
Sariat wrote:
Either DerDragon or AbyssDragon gave a whole lot of icons into an icon resource. You just have to search around the BYOND site some :D

It was AbyssDragon who put up the icons :P

--Lee
Aug 4 2003, 1:03 pm
In response to Sariat
Hmm, well, back to my suggestion that there should be a public Resources channel!
Aug 4 2003, 3:29 pm
In response to Kunark
Kunark wrote:
Here is a list I can think of that would make great tutorials:

<l>
  • Tutorial on shooting games.
  • Tutorial on 3D topics (Like Malver's demonstration on BYONDscape. In fact that could be put in the tutorials section just for that purpose.).
  • Tutorial on side scrolling.
  • Tutorial on making good graphics.
  • Tutorial on making good music.
  • Tutorial on making your own sounds.
  • Tutorial on making a card game (I have a template released, not a tutorial.).
  • Tutorial on enhancing the "fun-ness" of RPGs.
    </l>

    • Just an add on to that list:
    <l>
  • Tutorial on making a storyline for your game.
  • Tutorial on managing a amature virutal team.
  • Tutorial on designing a project.
  • Tutorial on how to run a professional* game.
  • Tutorial on how to use the BYOND resources (Forum, Reference, Chatters, ect) correctly and to your best advantage.
  • Tutorials on specific subjects, like formatting the Text window, using screen objects, ect.
    </l>

    We really need more game non-language specific tutorials. Most people get all the technical knowlage they need to make a decent BYOND game, but dont have a clue how to use it.
    I only wish I was better at writing tutorials so I could knock some of these off the list.
    Also it would be good if someone converted a lot of the BYONDscape articles into tutorial form. They have some really useful articles but the people who read them already know everything in them, or can easily learn it themselves.

    Anyway... Thats just my two cents.

    *By this I mean how to act as a GM, how to interact with the community, just general advice for running a game that doesnt feel like its being ran by a little kid.
Aug 4 2003, 5:11 pm
In response to DarkView
Try to make some, or one, then funnel in suggestions and fixes from people who looked it over. You may not be able to make a good one at first, alone, but with help, it makes it alot easier :)

We need more of them!
Aug 4 2003, 6:23 pm
In response to Kunark
The hardest part is finding people who know enough about them to write tutorials and such on those topics.
Aug 4 2003, 6:42 pm
In response to Foomer
You would be able to write a little tutorial on icon making techniques wouldnt you?

Kunark: You should set up a tutorial development team. You seem to know what tutorials are needed, and have a big enough following to get the attention of people who can write them.
Aug 4 2003, 7:08 pm
In response to DarkView
Can't. I am going to have a very busy month this month. I suggest making a new topic on it though.
Aug 28 2003, 5:25 pm
In response to Mellifluous
Actually, I put up a large library of icons a long time ago as well, in fact, I believe I once saw them on AbyssDragon's site.


Wait a second... I don't exist... what am I doing here?
Aug 28 2003, 8:10 pm
In response to DerDragon
DerDragon wrote:
what am I doing here?

Yeah, you're supposed to be working on Maeva.
Aug 29 2003, 12:45 am
In response to Foomer
Yes, I agree fully with Foomer - BYONDSCAPE, Demos, Libraries, and Resources. It hopefully wouldn't be -that- hard to add that extra channel, or? It would attract new developers (especially those who are not good artists or sound designers).

splatty
Aug 29 2003, 7:36 am
In response to DerDragon
DerDragon wrote:
Actually, I put up a large library of icons a long time ago as well, in fact, I believe I once saw them on AbyssDragon's site.

I had just linked to them on the BYOND server, but they appear to have been removed. They were here:
http://www.byond.com/docs/resource/icon1/icon1.html

If anyone's got a copy of them, I'd be more than happy to put them up on molotov.nu has a hosted graphics archive.

-AbyssDragon
Aug 29 2003, 8:35 am
In response to AbyssDragon
AbyssDragon wrote:
I had just linked to them on the BYOND server, but they appear to have been removed. They were here:
http://www.byond.com/docs/resource/icon1/icon1.html

Try it now. ;-)

This was part of the old, old hub from before there was a hub. It was just a small directory structure of a few libraries and resources that people had donated. It really ought to be added to the current hub as a library (hint, hint, DerDragon).

I also like Foomer's suggestion of separating out Resources from Libraries. Right now there's no real distinction between a code library and a resource library, and it's probably not that intuitive to look in Libraries if you want icons or sounds. We'll look at this as soon as the upcoming hub/website upgrade is out the door.
Sep 2 2003, 2:33 pm
In response to Air Mapster
Hey, that's pretty nifty. :P I've been playing around with those for the past few days and came up with this:

http://games.byond.com/hub/Hedgemistress/Arpeji
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