Build-em-up

[Valentine]

I realise this is a very 'noob' question, but how feasible would it be to make a build-em-up game, similar to Rollercoaster Tycoon, and Beach Life and so on?

One problem I'm thinking of is how to incorporate a grid base system, is this possible?

What about keeping track of all the 'peeps'?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Akatosh]

Well, technically it would be possible, I guess... you'll need MANY RawDraw commands and keeping track of every detail, resulting in huge arrays (especially because twodimensional arrays are impossible), but it would be possible.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Many RawDraw commands? Not really. For the grid, a two-dimensional while-loop and a RawDrawLine-call is fine. The rest can be done via objects, characters or raw sprites.

This is rather easy to do with AGS, but you will need at least a little experience in programming in general and a bit of it for scripting in AGS. If this is your first project, try something more simple.

EDIT: I get what you mean with grid now, do you mean tiles? Try searching for this word, you should find information.

[SupSuper]

What you're looking for is a "simulation" game, a "business-sim" if you will, and even though Chris Sawyer coded RollerCoaster Tycoon all on his own doesn't mean you should try the same, unless you know what you're doing. Otherwise you wouldn't have to ask.

If you still wanna go through, you'd need:
- lots of arrays to keep track of all the info on the map grid
- functions to draw all that info onto the screen every tick
- in-game date so the player is aware of time flow (probably linked to rep_ex), which also links with everything time-related
- lots of "devices" (rides) with individual behavior (what they do to peeps, income, expenses, etc.)
- "technology tree" linked with the in-game time, which controls when new devices pop around (date-triggered functions?)
- hundreds of little peeps with individual behaviors (where to go, what to do, how much to spend, preferences, etc.), pathfinding, etc.

And that's just off the top of my head. :p

[Dan_N]

Yes, it's very hard, i'd sugest starting with text-based build 'em ups like m0ds' upcoming Games Galore. Make a few of those, and keep getting more and more complicated with each one, then try and do somthing like the first Sim City game, with only a small game map, a handfull of buildings, and not too many people, or no people at all.

[R4L]

-Look up arrays in the manual, and search the forums for 2d arrays.
-For the functions you can use raw draw functions.
-Displaying in-game date is easy.
-Not sure about the rides though, or the tech tree.
-I think the char limit is what, 300? Thats way too low for a sim like this.

If you think you can do it, I say try it.

[Dan_N]

Well...

If you take out people, then yes, it's possible, albeit hard. But it's a lot easier than having people...

[monkey0506]

Mmmyyyesss....just RawDraw the people too....

The engine's really not designed for it, so it would likely be difficult to manage, but if you can pull it off, more power to you! Regarding the arrays it seems like a lot of them would need a large maximum size to accommodate the full potential they would need to fulfill....if only there were some type of module for dynamically sized arrays...

Spoiler

The VectorClass module might help keep the size of your game more manageable. - monkey

[close]

[Dan_N]

Hmm... Doesn't RawDraw eat up a lot of resources?

[R4L]

No the raw draw functions draw everything onto the background.

Speaking of arrays, if you plan to have it like Rollercoaster Tycoon, how would you adjust land?

[SupSuper]

You'd need a whole new array to store terrain height, I'm guessing, since I doubt AGS supports heightmaps or 3-d arrays.

[Akatosh]

And another game that'll have problems due to AGS' lack of two-dimensional arrays . But still, good luck with this.

[strazer]

Just fake 'em, where's the problem?

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=6918
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=13897