I started out pretty late with programming. I got into it around 16-17. I wanted to know how to make games, and I had (and still do) a bunch of ideas I wanted to put out on this medium. All growing up I wanted to make games and create my own worlds.
Before I did happen to grasp programming, I had tried out a few other engines like RPG Toolkit, 3DRad, and Klik 'n Play (This became Multimedia Fusion, actually). I was around 12 or 13 then.
BYOND wasn't my first language. Actually, my first time trying to figure out how games worked was with Game Maker (version 6? 7?). Even this primitive drag and drop utility seemed to be confusing for me because I wanted to know exactly how things worked. My brain constantly asked the "why" question on itself. I was interested more in the reason why things worked over that they actually did or didn't work.
After a little bit of time with it, I was still pretty confused. There was a lot I didn't know. I was able to make a couple of silly things like a platformer with shoddy collision detection, and a decent shoot-em-up that worked its logic into the game screen itself because I didn't know how to work with variables and conditions. Either way, it satiated my hunger to make something for the time being.
Play Basic came next. This is where I started to understand that programs are made of statements and commands. The imperative nature of seeing commands listed in a logical order made sense to me, and thus I started to understand the way it actually worked. The language was a little primitive (at the time PB didn't have functions, only subroutines and goto) but it allowed me to work with things on the screen easily, and it was neat. I started enjoying game design.
Shortly after, when I started college, I got seriously into BYOND programming (around 2009). This was an entirely different ball field. I wasn't used to object-oriented design, and BYOND revolved entirely on that concept. It wasn't about commands in a straight line anymore. Who knew where the entry point even was? (answer: world/New() for the server and client/New() for the client, called in this order in singleplayer).
BYOND taught me how to work with encapsulation, better definitions of user defined classes and types, and enjoy the benefits of polymorphism, inheritance, and calling methods from inside of objects overall. Was pretty great.
Over time I started to notice that there was something a little bit limiting about OOP. I noticed that in some instances I found that I needed to create a type that looked a lot like it would be a child of a certain parent type, but it didn't need some of the variables the parent had. I decided that it was a lot easier to work with types and functions without the pillars of object-oriented design (save encapsulation). I had at least learned what it was about, though.
A little while back, I learned that not all languages had a strict policy on types. JavaScript allowed objects to be created and molded on the fly. DM sort of has that with associative lists, and soon I thought to make something using only associative lists (listobjects). While it was a great effort, it seemed to be more work than just using simple datums. Still an interesting prospect though.
By this time, I was interested in other software like BlitzMax and Game Maker Studio, but I still developed on BYOND in parallel, and still do. I tried a bit of C++, Java, and Python, but I didn't like them very much. They didn't have the satisfying feeling of doing something productive and more about tedious debugging of the source code because you forgot about something in the syntax. I stuck with DM and BlitzMax.
(BlitzMax, by the way, is a really cool BASIC variant that acts like a modern programming language. It's not free, but the money I spent on it was well worth it. Previous incantations of this software are Blitz3D and BlitzPlus, which are both open source and free).
The more I look back on my endeavors of programming and game design, the more I realize that the design concepts I started out with happened to be the simplest and most effective way to produce anything. It's ironic in a very strong sense. I cracked open Play Basic again today (this is a much more updated version since it was back then, and I might even tinker around with it again). I was reminded that programming can still be fun, efficient, and simple. That's probably why I love the Basic family so much. Its strength lies in imperative design (with procedural as well). From a professional viewpoint, using something like this would be terrible, but for a game design hobbyist like myself (also a one man army), this is my kind of sandwich. Mmm, sandwiches.
So uh, I guess that's my story for now. Kudos.
ID:1900060
 Jul 20 2015, 7:13 am
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You guys think too deeply in this stuff.
Me- I wanted to do something so I did it | |
Game Maker on the ps2, the one computer programming class sophomore year that never really taught me anything outside of making a calculator and stopwatch, zeta source. That's pretty much exactly what happened with me. Played around with a bunch of sources around the same time as the zeta source, which is probably what led to the realization of how bad all of the sources were.
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In terms of game development, one of the first tools I have ever used was Klik & Play (before, I actually played games with the included demo found on certain SimCity 2000 CDs). My first programming experience was with BASIC (using QBASIC) back around 1999 (when I was 11 years old), which I was introduced to by my father. At the time though, I didn't really delve into much development. Most of the time, I either played around or made very basic programs.
Before I ever developed real experience as a programmer, I remember playing with various game creation kits (though some required some form of programming experience). That includes 3D Rad (back in early 2000 I believe), Adventure Creation Kit by Chris Hopkins (Great for making Ultima-like games. It even includes a BASIC-like macro editor.), RPG Toolkit, and others. First attempted my own Commodore 64-like OS around 2001, but still wasn't quite experienced yet. Around that time period, I started delving a bit into C and actually got a C++ book to learn from. Still wasn't fully motivated yet and lost the introductory edition of Visual C++. Around August 2003 (15 years old at the time), I've realized the power of variables (after realizing they're related to the variables we learned in Math) and finally started seriously delving into programming. This eventually led to the development of the BASIC version of Text City Simulator in November 2003 (which was inspired by a Megazeux-made city simulator and of course SimCity). Not too long after that, I joined BYOND to play Dragonball Zeta on November 26th/27th, 2003. Few weeks later or perhaps almost over a month later, I started delving into DM for a bit. I eventually started work on a BYOND port of an Adventure Creation Kit game I was working on called "The Industry Wars", though not much ever went into that game. I also started work on a BYOND version of Text City Simulator at nearly the same time. It was supposed to be a brand new version all together. Due to lack of experience with DM at the time, I ported it almost directly from the BASIC version (with chat features included of course). That resulted in a release on July 2004. Before it got released, I also started delving into x86 assembly a bit due to a mouse tutorial for BASIC that actually involved mixing assembly and BASIC together. Didn't learn more assembly till a few years later, but it was a great start. That timeframe was around April 2004. Around August 2004, I started learning some Java when I took Computer Science I during my Junior year in high school. They originally taught C++ previously before I took it. I finally got into C++ thanks to having a discussion with someone (went by EvilEskimo666) at Dragonball Zeta about an IDE called Dev-C++ (which at the time, there were no express editions of Visual C++). This started my branch into C++ and of course, some Java. At this time, I didn't use very many of object-oriented features since there was no use yet. Did start to use classes to a certain amount though. I've learned a bit about pointers during the 2005 timeframe, but didn't really discover the great purpose till early 2007. Over the years I have been programming, I've learned a great deal. I managed to learn basic JavaScript on my time around August 2005 (when I thought I needed to learn it for Webmastering class during my Senior year at high school). This was before HTML5 ever entered use. It took me years, but I have learned quite a lot to the point of being very experienced. Admittedly, I do need to still work on building more optimal algorithms for certain things. That's usually for less practical applications though. In terms of OOP (Object-Oriented Programming), I now use almost every bit of it with a few exceptions. One of my favorite features of C++ is operator overloading. While it is not needed, it comes in handy for various tasks. I especially love the purpose of function objects (using the parentheses operator). I also enjoy using Polymorphism since you can specify a variable or argument that points to the parent class containing that function. Thus, making it very easy to call each child class/object's version of that method. I also learned from reverse engineering portions of the DMB format. Not only made me a better reverse engineer, but also a better programmer period. Heck, it made others better programmers as well due to the increased understanding of how they work. I could go on, but my story can become very tediously long. Probably more to my story I haven't mentioned. | |
For some people, programming is their career and livelihood. When something plays a huge part of your life, I imagine you probably have a lot to say about it.
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Having things to talk about makes you a more interesting person. Don't be afraid to spew about the shit you're passionate about!
It also makes you hotter but thats just my opinion. | |
yea i know im just trying to be an emotionless troll. Most of my passionate conversations are with my girlfriend though because well we are both nerdy. We both watch tons of anime, play games. Though I don't talk like its a history lesson of how i coded. If i talk about coding its more about the small acomplishments ive made in a project that will lead to the final product.
I'm the sexiness man alive so i have no problem about hotness. Actually i have proven that the sun is actually just my other half. Of course my proof melted within my hotness. I was born as two parts, one half sunny, and one half sexy beard. Always seperated, because as one we would be two hot for this world. As it would burn and everyone would die | |
there is short story by DanteVFenris enjoy my work, this one is free. Though its more like a biblography
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I didn't start learning programming til I was 17. By 19 my BYOND game had a good amount of players (Dragon Universe, but called Dragon Ball Finale originally)
"Real" programming languages where much harder to learn than BYOND, so I struggled to learn them and by age 23 I did. But by then I no longer had the intense motivation to make games, I now have the skills but no motivation to use them. I still want to own an awesome 3d game, but now that I know how long it takes to make it, the time investment doesn't seem worth the final result. And games are progressing at such a fast rate, people are expecting too much. | |
I don't think I've ever been a programmer.
I actually started out trying to do pixel art. No one around could code in my stuff (there was a few who did OK though). So I ended up going through demos, sources, tutorials ect on DM. I figured out how do to the stuff I wanted to do and that was that. "Game Developer", "Hobbyist Game Developer" are probably more appropriate titles for me. The entire time I have always viewed code as a tool and nothing more - just something to help get the end result. Well that's about it. I could probably talk about it like it was some magical experience but programming has always just been a vehicle to something else for me - and as a result I figured out how to drive. Well that's my wall of text. Have a nice day everyone. | |
I still have yet to do any real 3D project, though I can tell y'all one part of the story that was not mentioned anywhere. I actually got to do a bit Quake modding a long time ago.
In fact, before I acquired enough experience, I once worked on a mod that was like a parody of or inspired by Dragonball Z. It went through different iterations, though was never completed. This mod actually had a beginning since about 2001/2002. Even came up with one of my own attack names and recorded my voice over it. That was done using my native (unchanged) voice. Of course, that original version has disappeared. Not much to show in terms of the original version, but would be great to show. Not very many new models at all though. :P | |
DanteVFenris wrote:
Always seperated, because as one we would be two hot for this world. Sexiness revoked. | |
/deathbygrammar
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I don't remember when I started exactly, but I remember when I was in highscool, I was what... 15?
I found BYOND from a buddy who was like "yo there's this DBZ online game that I've been playing" and I jumped right on it. After a lil while, I started to play a game called Naruto Ultimate Revolution (I think) or NUR. I ended up becoming an admin and even an iconner for the game, just wanted to help. Then I started noticing that there was no progression to the game. It kind of just stagnated. No updates, nothing, same shit for months at a time. I was like "fuck this" I left, started making my own game. Made a custom base that looked amazing, started working on a Naruto fan game of my own. It was great, people were all like "holy hell it's completely original art and code and isn't one of the other hundreds of Naruto rips and clones". Then my sloppy juvenile coding started to show. Servers were crashing every half hour. It was enough of a disappointment that I shut the game down and left BYOND for about a year. Came back and started making original games. Of course, none of them ever really came to fruition. Tanx was close, but BYOND updates ended up breaking it severely and I had no clue what to fix, so I gave up on that too (for a while). It all started with a random DBZ game though. That was... what? Eleven years ago? | |
When I was 14 in 2008, I just dove head first into C++ and trudged through the language. It was a nightmare for me and I felt completely helpless with my lack of knowledge about programming. It definitely wasn't fun back then. That was until a friend of mine introduced me to BYOND by playing the very, very old Death Note Unlimited.(Which I later became a developer in its rebirth stages. That was a really cool circle.) A quirky little game that didn't really have any gameplay at all to it, but the community was great and there I got inspired to learn how it all worked.
Fast forward to 2011 and by this time, my programming with BYOND had lead be back and forth with C++ in a much happier relationship today than when I first started. All of the nuances of Object Oriented Design were just a cake walk to me and I appreciate BYOND for being that teacher. C++ is my baby, even if he can be clunky and arduous sometimes without proper handling, I love him even more for the challenge. Lol.
I ended up taking a hiatus in 2013 from BYOND, losing a ton of interest in the community. I'd occasionally pop on, post something I'd been working on, try to reintegrate, but I just never could manage to get back into the dev community at the time.
I played RPU consistently through that time, though, maintaining a lot of friends in the roleplaying community, but it really wasn't until early 2015 that I started to come back as a developer. It all started with a project I'm still working off and on with now. BYOND, in my personal opinion, might not be the best platform to launch a hopefully bigger game with, but it is a platform that can prototype a concept very well, which is what I mostly use it for nowadays. Game mechanics don't care what programming language or platform they exist on, only whether or not they work as intended and balance gameplay properly.
If I ever get around to finishing the project anytime soon and it proves to be a success on BYOND, that's where I'll think about moving to a C++ engine or similar. I'm really huge on cross-platform playability, so being able to include Mac and Linux players without the need for a VM is just best from a design perspective. BYOND will obviously remain a home for me for as long as it exists, however. And even if I moved a project onto a custom engine, I'd end up keeping BYOND, maybe as a cool beta server. It's such an easy language to program for and is a cakewalk to prototype completely new systems without much hassle, so it'll always have my respect for that.
Anyway, great sharing of our would-be origin stories I guess. Lol. It's always interesting to see just how alike programmers are.