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Scrolling Game Development Kit 1.4.0 Released

Posted by simoniker on from the shadow-of-the-beast-parallax dept.

BlueMonk writes "Hoping that 2D gaming is not dead yet, version 1.4.0 of the Scrolling Game Development Kit for Windows was released at the weekend. It helps beginners as well as more experienced developers create 2D scrolling games. Take a look at some of the games created with the kit while you're at it." It's great to see homebrew 2D game construction supported like this.

55 comments

  1. 3D vs 2D by while(true) · · Score: 1

    3D? We don't need no stinking 3D!!

  2. Hey look, sprites! by redtail1 · · Score: 0
    So Commodore 64 style graphics is progress, eh?

    Just kidding. This construction set is great. I miss playing side scrolling and overhead adventures like these.

  3. So Keen is covered, but anything else? by 2Flower · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It looks like it's ideal for simple platforming games, ala Commander Keen (although every demo screen showed very small playable sprites) or Gauntlet. NES era style, albeit with 32-bit color sprites.

    What about other 2-D scrolling style games, though? I've got a particularly keen (gag) interest in doing a Final Fight / Golden Axe style brawler, but there doesn't seem to be any 2.5D style graphical support here, just Flatland style mapping. Is there a similar project which is more applicable to brawlers?

    1. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd love to see that too...also Dreamcast development tools.

    2. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by BlueMonk · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Version 1.4.0 introduces support for larger graphics. So, while most of the existing games use small sprites, the new version supports sprites and tiles up to 128x128 pixels. Even though the maximum size prior to version 1.4.0 was 64x64, many of the games didn't make graphics that large. Hopefully 128x128 will invite the larger graphics and make more people happy with graphic sizes in general. The new version also introduces support for multiple resolutions. Previously, all games were 640x480, but now they can run in 320x240, 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768.

    3. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by BlueMonk · · Score: 3, Informative

      Oh, and in reply to the rest of your comment, the kit doesn't support a truly isometric view, but the included Wizard sample game does demonstrate a simulated kinda-isometric view. Rather than effectively offsetting the camera downwards and to one side, it only offsets it downwards. That means you can walk behind walls when your sprite is above (but partially overlapping) them on the screeen, but everything is still aligned to vertical and horizontal lines. You'll also have a problem if your sprite is tall enough to need to be in front of a particular graphic sometimes and behind it at others. (IE, walking in front of or behind the same piece of a tree trunk is not possible based purely on the position of the sprite).

      At least there are some ways to kind of kludge a semi-isometric view. But it's not quite as helpful as a true isometric engine would be. Hopefully the parallax scrolling multiple layer support makes up for part of that defficiency.

    4. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by brave1 · · Score: 1

      Streets of Rage was one of my favs. You could probably do a Karateka style game.

      --
      - http://www.braveterry.com/
    5. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by billcopc · · Score: 1

      Such 'brawlers' are actually quite simple to program, the hard part is really just creating the artwork.

      For this same reason, I somehow fail to understand the need for such a 2D construction kit. Once the graphics are done, 10% of the code is dedicated to moving sprites around and handling user input, the other 90% is game scripting.

      Maybe I'm just a mean old nerd, but my belief is that if you can't program, you have no business making games. If you have ideas and/or artwork then find a programmer and get cracking. There was ACK3D back in the mid-90's that allowed just about anyone to make a Doom-clone, and they did, and dozens of horrible games were released. Having a barrier to entry in this case is a good thing, because it filters the crap out.

      --
      -Billco, Fnarg.com
    6. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

      I see it as a stepping stone for young / beginner game programmers. Many game programmers want to make a platform game, but have trouble visualizing how all the pieces fit together behind the scenes. With this kit, not only can they see what makes up a side-scroller at a high level in the IDE, but since it's open source VB, they can even see and maybe understand the code behind it.

      It's also a tool for experienced developers who, maybe, just want to lay out a map and see how their tiles fit together or how parallax scrolling will look, but haven't had time to write their own engine yet. Or maybe the artist wants to see their graphics on a map before the developer is done with an editor or engine.

    7. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      It really has gotten harder to get in, hasn't it? And that nasty programming bug likes to first bite people with the desire to make games (I know that's why me and most of my other software engineer friends REALLY first got into it to do).

      I remember programming simple games in BASIC (and a few in C once one of my friend's bearded dad plus one of my dad's coworkers agreed to teach me how to[respectively, I bugged the hell out of both with questions], but I never really got pointers until years later) back in the 80's and selling them at school for media costs (to those lucky enough to have computers). I've played some of them recently on an old IBM PC and an old 286, "Dragon Knights of The Square Table", a text adventure full of bad grammar, child stories, and some HP-based D&D style combat in a choose your own adventure style format! I was such a geeky, dorky little kid. Good for a laugh and a nostalgia trip though, especially reading source code (well, BASIC, but it counts! Ask the VB people!) I wrote when I was 9 and comparing it to the "art" I did in school at the same time.

      Then later, came the Bards Tale Construction Kit, and even later, Unlimited Adventures. I was older then, though, and they never did what I wanted them too completely. Plus my stupid little brother refused to learn how to read well enough to play them.

      My greatest achievement was a rogue-like engine! Man, was I proud of moving that little 'o' around the screen. It flickered, I never got combat or much of anything else working, but it moved! I can still bring up the feelings of pride and accomplishment I felt at that when I finished up and first run it.

      Anyway, now that I've sufficiently bored everyone, I'm sure, I don't think having a catch all library available will really service young programmers/developers. They'll be bound into someone else's manner of thinking, which could be good or bad, but most likely bad. It's good to understand things completely, and piece them together. I'm sure someone could bang out an FAQ or online book on how to write an engine like this that would service them better.

      It's not the same environment anymore, we keep pushing for better graphics, better physics... I bet it's a lot harder to feel a sense of accomplishment at doing simple things anymore. And it's that sense of accomplishment that drove me into this field, plus the feeling of godhood you can get when something you wrote causes a physical action as designed.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
    8. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

      Those who want to program are still going to learn to program. But I think this kind of program just opens up game development to a wider audience -- people who otherwise maybe wouldn't do any development at all. So the intention is not to herd beginning game developers into one way of thinking, but to invite other creative people / artists with ideas to try expressing themselves in this medium by making it generally more accessible.

    9. Re:So Keen is covered, but anything else? by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      We have ways of doing this already, what you just described is similar to making a map or scenario for any number of games. The problem is, most are too complicated and involved, or insufficient to do what you need them to. I don't run windows, so I can't check this program out and I'm assuming it follows the same trends as all previous programs of it's nature (and from what I can tell from the site as well). Someone care to confirm or deny that?

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  4. Linux port anyone? by eviltypeguy · · Score: 1

    It's GPL. The source is available, anyone up for a port?

    1. Re:Linux port anyone? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Interesting

      its also visual basic. I was under the assumption that for now at least its restricted to Windoze. somebody please tell me I'm wrong though - im looking for a way over to linux, and happen to like coding in VB.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:Linux port anyone? by BlueMonk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I (as the author) have long been excited about the idea of maybe just porting the runtime engine to another platform, since the runtime engine is a small percentage of the total project, and is the more important piece. Then you would at least be able to play the games accross platforms if not design them on any platform. I would probably have to drop VBScript support for the cross-platform version of the runtime, though, unless someone has implemented VBScript for other platforms.

      Unfortunately I have few of the skills and little time to take on such a project (I haven't done much Linux/Unix programming). I'd be happy to support whoever would be interested in taking it on, though.

    3. Re:Linux port anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      vbslacker is a half complete attempt to get VB working in Linux. Currently has no active maintainer (icculus is rather busy). Feel free to try and help out if you can.

  5. Nostalgia by Alexander+Hopkinson · · Score: 1

    Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit on the C64 anyone? God I wasted so many hours of my childhood making games on that. Very tempting to pick up a copy of this and continue work!

    1. Re:Nostalgia by papadiablo · · Score: 1

      My friends are knockin down my door, for my new Commodore 64!

      Best commercial ever.

  6. os x? by siliconwafer · · Score: 1

    Cool. Is there anything like this out there for OS X? Scrolling games were my favorite .. Crystal Caves was the shit!

    1. Re:os x? by Chris+Burkhardt · · Score: 1

      Yes:
      Green Machine
      Coldstone Game Engine

      Or, if you are a programmer, check out these libraries:
      Cocoa Sprite Kit (Cocoa, Obj-C, C++)
      Sprite World (Carbon and Classic, C, C++, Pascal)
      Sprite Animation Toolkit (Classic and Carbon, Pascal, C++)

      --
      "And there be unix which have made themselves unix for the kingdom of heaven's sake." - Matt. 19:12
    2. Re:os x? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      If you like programming in Java, check out GAGE: http://java.dnsalias.com

      It's more of a library than a toolkit per say, but its greatest advantage is that you can rip it apart and integrate it into any game you develop. Most "toolkits" fall down as soon as your game starts to break out of "the norm" (like most truly entertaining games).

      Oh, and it works on all platforms, especially OSX. :-)

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  7. Here we go again... by lightspawn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every time a kit like this is available, we get little gems from people who wouldn't otherwise have the time to learn the skills the kit lets you get away with not knowing - but with them we get hundreds of nearly-identical, pointless games to wade through to get to them.

    Remember pinball construction set?

    1. Re:Here we go again... by BlueMonk · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hopefully the small number of games and the 2 rating systems on the projects listing page alleviates that problem. Each project has an admin and a user rating.

    2. Re:Here we go again... by spongebob · · Score: 1

      I think that it's great. I teach people how to program similar applications and a kit like this might be enough to sway someone into learning the real code and technique required without getting immediately frustrated.

      It's good business.

  8. H.U.R.G. by sydb · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This reminds me, superficially, of H.U.R.G., an extremely restrictive games development environment for the ZX Spectrum.

    I was going to write the next Jet Set Willy, but I couldn't program (well, I knew BASIC), so I bought this thinking it would be just the ticket (I was only 10...). I can still remember the stomach-sinking disappointment when the reality displaced my golden hopes. I think it put me off the whole idea of games-authoring for life...

    I hope this is better!

    --
    Yours Sincerely, Michael.
    1. Re:H.U.R.G. by phragle · · Score: 1

      god, H.U.R.G. and the "jet set willy construction kit" sucked up so much of my time as a kid.

  9. Physics by bburns · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It may just be me, but in my opinion the physics model is one of the most important features of a game. Good physics means great control, which makes all the difference between a good game and a great game.

    Take, for example, the difference in physics between Super Mario 2 and 3. Each character in Super Mario 2 had their own funky physics, like Luigi's leg-spinning jump, which was sort of the charm of the game. However, Super Mario 3 had solid physics where you could easily predict where your character was going and send the character where you wanted it to go. I think that's a big reason why Super Mario 2 is a good game and Super Mario 3 is one of the best of all time.

    Anyway, to relate this back to the article, a good side-scrolling game development kit needs a good or customizable physics model. Do many open game development kits emphasize that?

    1. Re:Physics by BlueMonk · · Score: 2, Informative

      I am glad to hear that because I think the physics model is where the most effort was put in. Sprites don't just have a single hot spot; they check all 4 corners to determine whether they are running into a solid. Sprites that follow paths don't have a pre-set exact path (although that's an option), rather they try to follow the path by altering their current velocity (indirectly) just like the player has to do. And if the kit itself doesn't give you enough control, you can set the sprite type to "scripted" and write your own script to define exactly how you want it to move.

  10. Crap games by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully someone who can actually code will get around and see if this kit can make games that don't look like absolute crap.

    This looks like another one of those useless programs that makes it pseudo easy for someone to build a bunch of useless shitty games for people to play even though no one plays them because they are crap!

    There is enough garbage out there in the game world, we don't need more of it.

    Too bad the people who coded this kit didn't build an actual nice looking good quality game with it.

    1. Re:Crap games by BlueMonk · · Score: 3, Informative

      Did you take a look at the games with the highest staff ratings? Rolly the Purple Ball, Ethereal Peace and Chode?

      The power is there, just nobody's pushed the kit to its limits yet. It can support maps with millions of animated tiles at full speed (1 frame per monitor refresh or more).

  11. GameBoy Advance by robinw · · Score: 1

    While 2-D platform games do have that retro appeal, I can't help but think that this set of tools would be inifinitely more useful if it were geared towards GameBoy Advance development.

    Unlike the PC, the GBA is a popular platform for this kind of game. I'm not necessarily suggesting that they should drop all work and target the GBA exclusively, but it would be nice if it supported the native resolution and limitations of that platform, and, better yet, could export tile data as assembly files that could be compiled into your GBA projects.

    Now THAT would be useful. Otherwise, I feel this project is doomed to obscurity.

    -RW

    1. Re:GameBoy Advance by BlueMonk · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's open source. It can export to XML. It would be easy to create a program that exports selected pieces of data (or all of it) to practically any format you like. That could be done as a stand-alone program or even as a VBScript that runs in the IDE.

  12. Awesome!!!! by Mantrid · · Score: 1

    Wow I've been looking for something exactly like this...so I can play around with Cinema 4D generated graphics...hmmm maybe we should start a game team :)

  13. I love it! by k8to · · Score: 1

    Great link. Retrogaming is a huge source of fun for me. My only bent is I'm starting to expect that retrogaming be crossplatform (not sure if this is out of any logic, or just the fact that it isn't very hard). I'm sad I'm going to miss out on this linux-land.

    --
    -josh
    1. Re:I love it! by Australtux · · Score: 1

      Anybody knows the existence of games like Titus the Fox or Blues Brothers, Ugh! or Prehistorik? All of them were great games.

  14. Not bad... by bluemeep · · Score: 1

    ...But I prefer using Game Maker, myself. You just have to ignore the mountain of Mario/GTA/Zelda clones the majority of the user base seems to produce...

  15. It's impossibly slow by Guspaz · · Score: 1

    I decided to take a look at it, thinking it looked neat, but imagine my surprise when I discovered that it couldn't run faster than about 3FPS on an AthlonXP 1900+.

    Seriously, this thing must be pretty badly written to not be able to get any better speed than 3FPS on a modern computer.

    1. Re:It's impossibly slow by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

      That's odd because it runs at over 100 FPS on my P2 450MHz system. I have found in the past, however, that having the right video drivers is very important -- make sure your video card drivers are up to date and support DirectX. BTW, if you want an exact FPS number, there is an option to turn that display of FPS on. Also, If you were playing ROBOTWARS, I don't recommend basing your judgement of the FPS on that game. Try Rolly the Purple Ball. It runs at a respectable speed.

    2. Re:It's impossibly slow by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      I have the latest Detonator drivers (43.45) for my GeForce 3. They most assuredly support DirectX.

      Actually, I was trying to run both the included tutorial, and the included Wizards game; both ran at unplayable speeds around 2-3FPS.

    3. Re:It's impossibly slow by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

      Sometimes the MIDI music can slow things down significantly (both the included games use MIDI music). Rolly the purple ball uses WAV music, which I've found runs at a much more steady pace on some systems. So that game might still be worth trying. As a matter of fact, the biggest complaint on Rolly the Purple Ball was that it ran *too* fast. There is, however, a frame rate limiter control if you think your game runs too fast. So that's not really a problem either.

    4. Re:It's impossibly slow by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

      Oh, and there is one other possibility besides MIDI interference. I have noticed occasionally that DirectX gets confused and starts running DirectX (or at least DirectDraw) very slowly. Then everything works better after a reboot. So you might want to try a reboot if you haven't. (BTW, I use the Detonator drivers too, IIRC.)

    5. Re:It's impossibly slow by MungoBBQ · · Score: 1

      Actually, I have the same problem and I've got the latest Detonator drivers and tried a reboot. Weird. Although I did also just try the GameMaker also mentioned in this article discussion, and its examples also ran impossibly slow. Must be something up with DirectX and these things, my commercial installed games still run just fine.

  16. Re:haha by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

    If you had tried it, I don't think you would call it slow. Yes, it was made with VB, but it uses a C++ graphics engine built on DirectX, which allows it to run at pretty high frame rates. I've seen frame rates in excess of 100 FPS for a full screen scrolling map in 640x480 16-bit color.

  17. Re:THE PURPLE IS TACOLICIOUS by after · · Score: 1

    Oh please. The purple is jus fine stop wineing you little geek ;) AT LEAST ITS NOT PINK! ARGH!

  18. Sphere by xRizen · · Score: 1

    A while back, I used to work on the linux port of a 2d game engine/ide called Sphere. It's GPL, and has a whole crapload of features. It was originally intended for an RPG, but the engine is quite open-ended. (Someone wrote a 3D demo in it, I've done some mockup sidescrolling engines in it, etc.) There are also others in a similar vein like VERGE and Ika. Ika recently got a linux port.

  19. SEUCK by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1

    I remember spending ages on the Shoot Em Up Construction Kit on the Commodore 64. You could even produce some pretty good little games with that. Naturally you always ran out of sprites or background tiles before you ran out of ideas but it was quite good fun.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  20. SEUCK kicked ass by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1

    My brother and I spent a good few hours doing games on that. I think our favourite was a helicopter based one. Unfortunatly with the limited space for sprite frames I think we didn't have many left after doing the animations for the helicopters. And good old flickering sprites when things got a bit busy....

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  21. Request for future multi-player support by Pvt_Waldo · · Score: 1

    It would be interesting to have a multiplayer (over the net) extension to this. Non-trivial I know, but none the lest interesting. Has anyone ever done a 2d scroller type multiplayer game?

    1. Re:Request for future multi-player support by BlueMonk · · Score: 1

      This has come up many times, and my response has always been that this should be possible through the use of VBScript (no modifications to the engine necessary). VBScript has access to COM, and COM components exist (or can be written) to access network APIs. I just haven't had the time to try this myself.