The best platform engine?

Mehrdad · Fri 07/04/2006 08:35:33

I want make platform style game .i must choose what engine?why?do you know any better engine.?
Multimedia fusion-game maker-AGS-FLASH8

scotch · Fri 07/04/2006 08:42:31

It depends on your purposes and requirements. Game Maker is good if you want to make a standalone executable game for windows, it has a whole lot of features that may be daunting, but if you can script then that would be the number one choice. Making a platformer in Flash is more fiddly, but you can play the results in a browser. Flash is for vector graphics, and Game Maker is for bitmap graphics (broadly), so Game Maker would be more suited if you're after a pixelled look. As far as I can tell, MMF isn't as flexible and nice to use as GM.

As for other engines... none really come to mind. Platform games are so diverse that no one platform game engine has emerged that can fulfill most peoples needs.

Radiant · Fri 07/04/2006 11:20:21

I would actually recommend simply using Visual C++ for the job; if you get a decent graphical library (like Allegro) then writing a platform engine isn't that hard. In any of the programming languages you mention you'd have to write a platform engine anyway.

AGS is ill-suited for the job unless you also want to implement a tile algorithm (which frankly would be a bit of a hack within AGS). I'd strongly recommend against MMF because it tends to turn out subpar games because of its low flexibility. Game Maker would work fine, though. I've yet to see a good platformer in Flash (which is not to say that there aren't any, but it seems to be overcomplicated for the task unless a web platform is a must).

Bernie · Fri 07/04/2006 13:12:44

I'd recommend MMF. If you know how it works, making platformers is a breeze. It's flexible enough to make a 1:1 copy of Super Mario World. If you want to make games with very high resolutions however (over 640x480), I'd also recommend not to use MMF.

If you need to know more about MMF's features or want to know if it can do what you wanna do, feel free to ask me.

If you want to see an example of an MMF platform game, you could go to my site and download 'A Game with a Kitty'.

Game Maker also is an awesome piece of software and is way faster at higher resolutions than MMF.

Fuzzpilz · Fri 07/04/2006 14:45:16

I looked at MMF a while ago (for Urban Joe reasons), and I'm afraid I'll have to add another vote against it. This may have just been due to Chrille's way of working (though I doubt it), but all I remember of it scripting-wise is... rows and rows and rows of checkboxes. The whole thing seemed rather inelegant. Certainly people can make good games with it in spite of all that, but... well... a poor workman may blame his tools, but that doesn't mean it's a wise decision to ignore the tools' flaws, if better ones are available. I know even less about Game Maker, and so can't comment on it either way; personally, if I wanted to do a platformer, I'd also write my own engine.

KristjanMan · Fri 07/04/2006 14:55:38

Game Maker is veeeeeeeeeeery easy for making platform games and you don't NEED to script in gamemaker!

Helm · Fri 07/04/2006 15:00:17

if you don't script in game-maker the games come out completely flawed.

Haddas · Fri 07/04/2006 15:36:52

Just like you!

Helm · Fri 07/04/2006 15:45:44

um, what?

Mehrdad · Fri 07/04/2006 15:49:06

I want it must to style FLASHBACK & ANOTHER WORLD.plz lead me.

KristjanMan · Fri 07/04/2006 15:54:31

Quote from: Helm on Fri 07/04/2006 15:00:17
if you don't script in game-maker the games come out completely flawed.

My classmate uses Game Maker and he isn't scripting anything but his games have almost no bugs

Radiant · Fri 07/04/2006 15:57:59

Quote from: MEHRDAD on Fri 07/04/2006 15:49:06
I want it must to style FLASHBACK & ANOTHER WORLD.plz lead me.

That's two entirely different and wholly unrelated games (even though they were marketed as sequels). Another World uses vector graphics (very innovative for its time), simple controls and a puzzle-like structure. That would be most conveniently made in Flash. Flashback uses well-animated bitmaps (arguably based on motion-capture), barely visible terrain tiles, complex controls and lengthy action sequences. That would be most conveniently written in Visual C++ using Allegro.

Neither is a particularly easy project. If this is to be your first game, I would recommend you try for a Mario Brothers-type game first.

Bernie · Fri 07/04/2006 16:44:12

MEHRDAD: Both MMF and GameMaker can make games with similar gameplay to those games. I'd recommend to try out the demos of both and see which one suits you best.

Radiant: I think this isn't about technical details like rendering methods, but rather the gameplay. Those games do have something in common, and I'd also put 1213 and Prince 1&2 into the same platformer category.

Fuzzpilz: Sounds like you didn't really spend a long time working with MMF. I'm pretty sure you can't determine a tool's flexibility or usability very well with just a glance.

Fuzzpilz · Fri 07/04/2006 18:26:15

True. I had more than just a glance, but I have to admit that not much stuck in my memory: I couldn't now possibly offer an adequate defense of the impression I got then.

lo_res_man · Fri 07/04/2006 18:35:43

I have a similar question, does any one mind? (Mod's sorry bout this, if not

)
What is a good rpg maker? I want to make a sci-fi rpg, were you go from planet to planet and do great deeds. there, and fight in space as well. space trading is important, but so are things planetside. there are a half dozen different races and each race has a few different ships. as well there would be different classes, some restricted to some races. kNow a good rpg maker that would allow this?

fred · Fri 07/04/2006 19:37:41

lo_res_man - use AGS, it's possible. I have those features in "Space Darling", soon to be released :-)

skw · Sun 09/04/2006 10:15:36

Is there any official website of that MMF? Where I can download it?

edit: Whoops, I found it myself, www.clickteam.com. Sorry.

Which version did you use, Bernie, to make your Kitty game? I'm just curious.

Helm · Sun 09/04/2006 10:24:28

Flashback is a rigid step platformer. You can move from a tile to exactly the next, not in between. Blackthorne's the same way, but missing much of the specialized movement that make Flashback gameplay so good. OOTW is quite more free, you move per-pixel and most of the jumps you make aren't as precise. Prince of Persia 1 is in the middle almost, where you can move in steps and in pixels, but when you for example try to grab a ledge the game will nudge you back into place, or when you run, the game will position you on proper tile placing...