I've decided to start a side project in C++ that uses SDL. Right now, it is going to be a multi-player game where you have to race AND fight your opponent. Or something like that. I still haven't completely thought out the game yet. Hopefully I'll have a demo out soon.
Well you should think about what other games of that type are like. Mario Kart Doubledash is a good example and so is that Starwars Podracer thing. Mario Kart 64 is another good one. What graphics mode are you using? A mode 7 type thing or a full 3D engine like a voxel or a raytracer?
Take into account what all you'd have to do in the game, what the gameplay would be like and how much you can implement. That way you don't start something that you give up on later (I've done this a million times).
Try and also think about whether the theme of the game will match up with the gameplay, that's also key in creating a good game. (I've seen some that had good themes but crappy gameplay before.)
I'm not using anything like mode 7 or a full 3-D engine (although maybe after I finish this game, I may make a game that uses my own ray casting engine because I want to try to make one, or maybe mode 7). Thanks for the advice.
Here is a screen shot of the main menu.
I'm going to work on a single multi-player mode for now, and then after a few releases, make a single-player mode and different mini-games or something like that. Right now, I'm having the game be like this: there is a maze, and whoever reaches the end first wins. Players can use weapons and items along the way. There will probably be traps and stuff too in the maze.
That sounds pretty original, and you should keep that name. haha!
Are you still going to be racing through this maze? If so what do you have in mind for characters/players?
Btw creating your own raycasting engine will be a major undertaking, make sure you study up on trig and linear algebra and some advanced display techniques in C++.
"That sounds pretty original, and you should keep that name. haha!" -> Thanks
"Are you still going to be racing through this maze? If so what do you have in mind for characters/players?" -> It probably won't be like a racing game where you drive in a car or something (well, I probably could implement a car as an item), but instead where you walk by foot.
"Btw creating your own raycasting engine will be a major undertaking, make sure you study up on trig and linear algebra and some advanced display techniques in C++." -> Yeah, it's going to probably take some time to make one that's good and efficient. I probably won't finish it for a while...it might be a good project to start during Winter vacation during the school year.
Yea, during those cold winter months you'd probably have nothing better to do if it didn't snow. I wouldn't at least, that is unless I was out with friends or something. Give it a whirl and see what you're up against, if you can handle writing your own engine, that would be really cool. And if you did that maybe I'd port Doom89 to your engine.
This seems like a very ambitious undertaking, but I wish you luck and am looking forward to seeing the end result.
"This seems like a very ambitious undertaking, but I wish you luck and am looking forward to seeing the end result." Thank you. I think the 3-D engine would be an ambitious undertaking, but this project shouldn't be too hard to complete. The (simple) level editor is close to being finished (I can't finish it though because I still am not sure which items I will have, and I still will probably add more tiles), and the main game is ~10% finished.
I'll try to post a demo of the simple level editor and the actual game (probably after my family leaves, which will be in about three days).
EDIT: I think life in my house isn't going to be normal at all for the rest of this week, and then I'm going to Costa Rica, so after that, then I should *finally* be able to make some good progress on this.
I've added sound.
I've been trying to upload a demo, but it's been hard with my slow and faulty wireless internet connection and the huge .zip (the songs especially make it huge...I'll probably make a "lite" version that doesn't include background music).
Hmm, looks like it is going to be an interesting project.
Can't wait to see it when it's finished. Will it be cross-platform?