Programming Dungeon Crawler

>>3848917
Kek..

Truth!

>>3848917

Thank you for the info but the rudeness is unnecessary.

>>3848895
First I'd recommend you learn math and some video game design philosophy.

>>3848895
Learn more about programming, mathematics, videogames and computers.

>>3848895
Learn how to program.

That's it.

>>3848895
There's articles going over how old dungeon crawlers like Eye of The Beholder were made.

>>3848895
you will not accomplish your goal in under 5 years.

>>3848895
i think there's some kind of check for your position on the map then depending on what those numbers are, it turns walls on and off

it's pretty weird

learn some programming its not hard.

>>3849123
these days i honestly think it'd be easier to just do it in 3d.

>>3849165
yeah it would be but he's talking about old 2D wireframe ones

it would also be less confusing to the player since you could have really smooth rotation in there

not retro

delete thread

agdg is that way

Just use this instead OP.
http://www.swordofmoonlight.com

File: maze.png (4KB, 640x400px) Image search: [Google]

4KB, 640x400px

>>3848895
I'm 90% sure you can display any "tunnel carving" maze (where it's nothing but branching tunnels one square wire) using only 3 pieces scaled to different sizes.

>>3849227
i personally always viewed them as really deep trapezoids with walls that pop up when needed

>>3849229
or in this case i should say holes, not walls

File: MAZE_30x20_Prim.ogv.jpg (15KB, 350x235px) Image search: [Google]

15KB, 350x235px

>>3849227
Example of the type of maze I'm talking about.

>>3849234
If the tunnels are wider then you might be able to see more than one square down the side tunnels, so it's more complicated to draw.

>>3849109

That's okay. I'm willing to put 5 years into it.

>>3849272
OP doesn't seem obviously retarded, so it won't take 5 years. 5 months at most for something like OP pic.

this would be really easy to do in unity desu

you'd be faking it but i'm guessing your goal isn't accuracy/efficiency, but just to recreate the look/feel

>>3849284
5 months????? you could probably learn how to do something like this in unity in a week or so, and if you already knew how to use unity you could make this in under an hour.

>>3849308
ok a couple hours

>>3849306

Can you please elaborate a bit on what you mean by "faking it", and how this is difference from "accuracy/efficiency"?

Thanks in advance.

OP here. So timeframes are anywhere from a couple hours to 5 years.

I am okay with it, whether it takes me one day or thousands of days.

The point is I want to make this game.

File: 1468518862463.jpg (151KB, 427x427px) Image search: [Google]

151KB, 427x427px

>>3848895
It's great you have a lot of time on your hands because you have a lot to cover.

First you brush up on your basic math:
Arithmetic, a little geometry, elementary algebra, and some basic trig.

Next get a standard calculus text and dive in. You should also get a linear algebra and discrete math books as well; make sure the discrete text is proof based (I recommend Mathematics: a Discrete Introduction by Scheinerman or A Transition to Advanced Mathematics by Smith, both of which can be accessed by simply googling the name, author and PDF; in fact you can get free pdf copies of textbooks for every subject this way).
Once you're a couple chapters in to your discrete book (you will want to have covered basic proposition and higher order logic, and basic proofs), you may begin learning programming and computer architecture. As a litmus test, if you don't know what this statement is

∀P((0∈P∧∀i(i∈P-->i+1∈P))-->∀n(n∈P))

you aren't ready to take the reins of a computer.

Now, forget what you do know about computer programming:

First, you learn boolean logic operations
then, you learn transistor logic
then, you learn how to build functional units from logic gates
then, you learn CPU design
then, and only then, you learn assembly language
then, after you have mastered assembly language (not dabbled, but mastered it), you learn C
then, after you have mastered C, you may learn the higher-level languages of your choice, but you will always use C and assembly as your primary languages because everything else is unnecessary bloat.

By this time you should be finished with your calculus (up to advanced integration techniques and vector basics), discrete, and linear algebra, and are ready for the next wave of math: abstract algebra, analysis, multivariate and vector calculus, and, after you have progressed a way in those, topology.

>>3849363
uring this time you will also need to become better familiar with physics. In particular, basic kinematics. You will have been more than acquainted with these topics from your calculus studies, but will need more thorough coverage and plenty of practice problems from a proper physics text.

Finally, you become familiar with topoi, and study the internal logic of categories
then familiarize yourself with (general) type theory, and its applications to programming. I also recommend studying how to reformulate mathematics in terms of globular categories for use in automatic theorem proving, because there is an inherent programming-like 'feel' to it.

>>3849363
He said no smart alec answers

>>3849363
>>3849367

Am I being bamboozled or is all this strictly necessary?

I really don't know.

It feels like there's some kind of conspiracy where when you're new to a thing, people try to make it seem both harder and easier than it actually is.

I don't know whom to believe!

>>3849381
You're being bamboozled, but brushing up on your math and the basics of programming languages so you learn what's going on internally helps a lot

>>3849391

Thank you. Do I need to learn more than one programming language, or can I just learn one, like C or Java?

I have never done any HTML5 but I know C, so how hard can it be. Attempting a half-assed HTML5 JavaScript version. Maybe it will take a few hours.

>>3849381
The only person who's trying to bamboozle you is this guy
>>3849391
Shame on you anon, we're trying to help op here.

>>3849404
anon why are you talking about 3 completely different languages

>>3849406
HTML5 just means Canvas and all that modern shit with JavaScript.

>>3849405

>The only person who's trying to bamboozle you is this guy

But I am that guy.

I am also >>3849395

Honestly it's so freaking hard to get started with this because when you get on Youtube there are all these lessons that are clearly designed for people who know what they're doing already.

By the way, just for clarity's sake, I'm not joking about much of anything here. This is way too niche a kind of thing to be trolling about.

>>3849418
don't watch videos if you're just starting

maybe you should read K&R first to get an understanding of C (even though the book is kinda out of date by now)

>>3849429
JavaScript is easiest choice for getting started. Graphics in C is complicated for a beginner.

File: latka-on-what-you-need-in-life-400x200.jpg (16KB, 400x200px) Image search: [Google]

16KB, 400x200px

>>3849429

Thank you very much.

>>3849434
>Graphics in C is complicated for a beginner.
i know that much, but it's good for basic stuff

maybe after that he can get into C++, which has SFML, which is super easy to use

>>3849434
>>3849440

I sincerely appreciate you guys helping me out here.

>>3849347
like, you could just have unity generate a random maze out of basic cubes (there are algorithms for this all over the internet), place a camera in the middle of the maze, and have the camera move forward a cube's length when you press up, backwards when you press down, rotate the camera 90 degrees left when you press left, right when you press right. drop in a solid black skybox to create the effect of a ceiling/floor, and just make the cubes look like wireframes using a texture of a green square filled in with black. now you have the basis for a dungeon crawler (sans rpg elements, etc). fyi, you can do all of this using the stuff you'd learn in a beginner's unity tutorial. you're that close to making this.

i guess why i would call this faking it is that while this will effectively look like the game in your pic, it won't be implemented in exactly the same way the developers would have done so back then. they just didn't have access to tools like unity back then.

if you were interested in learning how to make an accurate recreation of the game you posted, using the same tools those developers would have had access to, you would have to do a hell of a lot more work, and have to learn all the math and computer science shit people in this thread are posting. but if you dont care about that, and are more just interested in making games, just use unity. on the surface, nobody will know the difference.

>>3849448
I'm pretty sure the way it was originally done was with ] and looking line sections.

>>3849456
4chan stripped the unicode for the fancy looking bracket. Like ] but angled ends.

>>3849456

So, you mean to tell me that it was possible even back in the 80's to make these games without understanding all the complicated stuff >>3849363 was going on about?

>>3848895
you know that its actually just a perspective drawing so you don't need math right?

1) get a graph sheet
2) draw your dungeon map
3) place a dot where your character will be and note which way its facing
4) get another paper
5)draw the first person view using perspective method based on the overhead grid
6) replicate what you just did in a program
no math required.

I recommend freebasic or something similar because you can easily print lines and shapes and get results instantly.

>>3849461
Yes. It was just people playing with the built in BASIC interpreters of old computers. I doubt anybody bothered figuring out the mathematically correct way to do it, they just tweaked it until it looked right.

>>3849461
Truth is, its not that hard to get a computer to do what you want. The "hard" part that takes years to master is making it do it in an efficient way, maintainable way. Look at Undertale; its a nice end product, but underneath its the ugliest shit imaginable (he has if/else if blocks with hundreds of branches). However, this ugliness doesn't show because CPUs are just too fast to be bothered by it. Back in the 80's though, they weren't that fast (also less tools to help you), so you did need to understand "complicated stuff" better than you do today.

I guess what I'm saying is you could have a nice end product even with shit code, you just gotta get in there and do it. Experimentation is the best way to learn. I don't think it will take you even a month if you just sit down and try.

File: 1469077982650.gif (8KB, 432x288px) Image search: [Google]

8KB, 432x288px

>>3849464
forgot to attach pic related but its very easy to do and theres no need to over think it. you are basically automating what you would do by hand and I think thats how Richard Garriot came up with when he made Ultima.

I think I'll have a proof of concept working within about an hour.

>>3849478
assuming congruent wall faces, scale the depth with perspective daniel san

>>3849497

I don't know exactly what that is, but thank you so much.

>>3849475
>I guess what I'm saying is you could have a nice end product even with shit code, you just gotta get in there and do it.
Yes but assuming hes going to want to do more than just this project in the future, shouldn't we be encouraging good programming habits and for him to take the initiative in learning more about computers and mathematics?

the biggest question i have about this is if it's possible in ncurses

there's no way you can draw good diagonals with ascii characters

File: Screenshot_2017-03-10_02-20-57.png (5KB, 672x386px) Image search: [Google]

5KB, 672x386px

Still some rendering bug drawing the walls wrong from some positions, but it's almost done.

>>3849596
what did you use to make this?

>>3849610
Javascript. I'm taking a short break before debugging it, and once it's fully working I'll post the source somewhere.

>>3849586
You could use the text as oversized pixels maybe.

>>3848925
go drown in a bucket of dicks you fucking faggot

>>3849636

That seems like it would look really sloppy, no?

>>3849649
Yeah, it comes with the territory when you use ASCII

Hacked together wireframe maze by complete HTML5 noob:
http://pastebin.com/raw/R7P41g6C

>>3849673

Dude, whoa.

>>3849673
good job

>>3849309
ok 5 minutes tops

>>3849673
Also this uses arrow keys for controls. If you want something else then program it yourself.

File: anon maze.png (15KB, 1121x573px) Image search: [Google]

15KB, 1121x573px

>>3849673
pretty gud anon
though it really doesn't like open spaces and convex wall corners

>>3849723
I already said it only does "tunnel carving" mazes >>3849234

>>3849673
What's most incredible about this is how readable and understandable the code is. OP, definitely come back to this example.

As for practical advice for OP:
1. Pick a language. Python, Java or Javascript are all fine starting languages. Don't worry too much about which language you pick; eventually they'll all be somewhat interchangable. Javascript is nice because it runs in a browser with no extra software to run or install.

2. Get a basic understanding of variables, expressions, loops, functions, and types. At this point, "Write a program that prints the first one hundred numbers in the Fibonacci sequence." would be a good starting problem.

3. Then learn some basic data structures: arrays, linked lists, maps, trees if you're feeling fancy. After this try out Project Euler and try to implement some of the simple problems. By now you will have the tools to tackle slightly more complicated problems, such as "Here is a set of islands connected by bridges. Find the shortest path between Island A and Island Z."

4. Learn the basics of object-oriented programming. Learn the purpose of objects and classes, the difference between public and private variables, the concept of state, etc. At this point you're definitely ready to tackle the OP problem, with a bit of math skills.

It is possible to struggle at different stages depending on how well it comes to you, but the entire internet is filled with programming resources and you just have to keep at it.

Also, if it isn't obvious >>3849363 is full of shit.

File: anon maze 2.png (14KB, 1121x577px) Image search: [Google]

14KB, 1121x577px

>>3849724
Convex wall corners are still an issue.

>>3849725
I'm sure it's full of stylistic problems obvious to somebody who knows what they're doing.

>>3849732
Go ahead and fix it. It's CC0'ed, do whatever the fuck you want with it.

>>3849738
yeah I am trying
I just needed to bring attention to it cause I'm a fag

>>3849395
Learn Javascript. It is the most widely used language in the world. Emulators were even written with it. Make a game in javascript/html5 and it'll run on any computer.

File: robotDungeonCrawler.jpg (40KB, 1280x718px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 1280x718px

If you actually use 2D layering over 3D, it's easy as cake. You essentially need a back, left, and right layer that you resize at the various different blocks away in the game view.

Everything else is just done from the perspective of a 2d topdown maze. Start with a 2d maze logically first. The rest is essentially window dressing. As far as movement is concerned.

>>3849946
>You essentially need a back, left, and right layer that you resize at the various different blocks away in the game view.

For these kinds of mazes, it's computationally simpler to draw pre-rendered blocks instead of resizing them before drawing them during runtime.

>>3849391
he doesn't even need to study math at all. just programming. he'll stumble across what math he needs as he's reading tutorials and shit. coding will teach him logic which is 100x more important than knowing math.

File: Head First C#, third edition.png (372KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

372KB, 1920x1080px

>>3848895
Find a free .pdf version or buy the book "Head First C#, third edition." You'll learn how to make some basic games as practice and you'll also learn C# which will mean that you'll be able to write proper programs (and C# is one of the languages that the Unity game engione supports, so it'll be useful for that, too, if you're interested).

Th e type of game that you're describing would likely require actual programming, even in a program like Game Maker Studio, so why not go all the way and learn to program properly.

Microsoft Visual C# (a programming environment for C#) is a free download, so if you can find the Head First ebook online for free it'll all cost nothing.

File: thinkin.jpg (95KB, 458x720px) Image search: [Google]

95KB, 458x720px

All in all, seems like an easy game to program though like any game it might take some time to fully polish.
- learn game maker/your favourite programming language
- make a 2d array for the map
- draw
- make a transition from map to battle
- make leveling formula

>>3850686
Yeah but with more math you'll be able to do more interesting things - for programming in general but this goes double for making gayums.

>>3849363
>∀P((0∈P∧∀i(i∈P-->i+1∈P))-->∀n(n∈P))
>literally just If P contains all integers (and zero) then all integers are in P
Nice meme

>>3850749
That's not at all what it's saying. Read it again more carefully. Think of being in P as having some property.

>>3849363
It is a fact that basically almost no person who attains this level of skill actually has the creative ability to design an interesting game at the same time, because that requires a similar investment of years of research in books, history, playing games, writing, and designing game models to be effective at.

if you want to make a simple sidescroller like cave story, then maybe one guy can do it, but if you want to make something more complex and ambitious, you need to make friends, you need specialization and division of labor, you need to plan out the ladder that lets you get up there to the position of being able to start something like that and having a skill that's valuable to other people

I do not recommend trying to auteur a videogame, you are not going to be Eric Chahi or Daisuke Amaya

>>3851142
It's very obvious you're discouraging other people from making games just because you yourself can't do it.

>>3848895
I dont think you need to know any of these things to make a game. They have software you can make a game without programming, but it really helps to know. The engine should handle most of the math.

Learn c++ or c# for most game development or JS.

>>3853121
Actually I'm just diagnosing the industry itself and the place where talent is absent recently. Formal training in game design has basically stagnated creativity because there are fewer people with unusual backgrounds and a variety of experience who actually make it into any development groups. The strangest ideas tend to come from artists who suck at programming and make sloppy games, while decent programmers have either one idea they become completely obsessed with or get eaten by the machines with million dollar budgets that need to churn out predictable products and never take risks with that cashflow.

So a programmer has to learn something about art or literature or an artist has to learn programming, or somehow they have to learn to support and respect each other, and good luck with that because this industry also suffers from lack of enthusiastic and effective leadership.

you know what would make a game like that awesome? if it looked wireframe buit was really a very clever use of graphics but ran seemlessly with full range of motion

>>3853158
What?

>>3853179
you know runs and plays like a modern game but has graphics like those old school games

>>3853185
So in other words, wireframe?

You can even run modern games in wireframe, but it's a mess due to how many polygons are used.

>>3849471
If you need complicated math to implement those types of mazes, you're doing it wrong.

>>3849461
>>3849363 was just trolling. But basic math was required for nearly any type of graphical coding. When I say basic I mean basic in the 80's sense. Where the average kid was taught the skills necessary to plot a visually accurate circle on a non square grid. These skills are no longer taught today as scientists determined it was easier to switch the entire world to square pixels than it would be to teach millennials how to do math. You can see evidence of this here every day with discussions about a consoles "internal resolution".
So yes, you will need to learn some 80's jr high level math if you want to code basic perspective drawing. Or you could, you know, just draw it and replicate it in a program like the kid who never wrote a line of code in his life suggested. lol.

>>3853779
I'm pretty sure anyone can go to a library and pick up a god damn geometry book anon

>>3849148
Not OP but some of us really do suck at math.

Also at logical thinking.

>>3854305

Math can be learned. When you get to a certain point it just takes time and effort, unless you are really smart.

>>3850749
That's the principle of mathematical induction expressed in second order logic. Shoe some respect bro.

OP, consider getting a book.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=programming+for+dummies&*

Those yellow books are generally okay I think. Just to get you started.

You need to know basic programming, and how to draw on a screen and accept input in your chosen programming framework (almost any framework should be fine, for this project), and (if you want smooth 3D animation of your wireframes) basic linear algebra. If you're okay with non-animated instantaneous visual transitions from one player viewpoint to the next (like, when the player takes a step, the whole screen instantly changes and is completely still other than that) then you don't need the linear algebra, although it could still help.

>>3848895

http://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/maze/

>>3848895

It's pretty easy as people in this thread pointed out, wouldn't even really require programming knowledge if you use modern languages, just ignore the idiots that say it's hard, I started learning Unity a week ago with no prior knowledge and I could already make a simple game, but what you want to do could be done even easier

>>3858563

oh and remember Undertale was made in GameMaker as are locomalito's games and most fangames like Power Bomberman and most of these made by people with no proper programming knowledge, AM2R is GameMaker too, all things this entire thread would tell you to avoid, avoid programmer advice and only pay attention to proper game developer advice

Feel free to use Python and all that stuff too

>>3854305
>really do suck at math
no such thing. you can learn it just like you can learn anything else.

I think what OP is looking for is raycasting
http://permadi.com/1996/05/ray-casting-tutorial-table-of-contents/
Mixed with random dungeons
http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Dungeon-Building_Algorithm

Other than this, there's a game making general on /vg/ who might help you out.

>>3858578
AM2R eventually got scrapped and rewritten in C#

Hey guys thanks for all the help!!

>>3860516

Hm, my tripcode doesn't seem to be working...

Everyone acts like a fag when someone asks how to make games because game developers (and especially game programmers) are usually autistic and they want to gloat about their knowledge and act like if you don't learn and do things in exactly the right way then you'll irreparably damage yourself or something.

If you want to learn how to write code on your own, you'll probably need at least a year or two before you can comfortably make something like in the OP pic. Just Google "how to program" or something and go at it. There are many good resources. It doesn't matter what language you learn. People pretend like it matters but it doesn't. Enjoy your life for God's sake.

If you use a tool like Unity or Game Maker I guess it would be easier. Can't give you any advice there, I've never used those tools before.

>>3860545

>If you want to learn how to write code on your own, you'll probably need at least a year or two before you can comfortably make something like in the OP pic.

Ultima-style 3D dungeon crawling is a fucking cinch to make, and could probably be done within months starting with zero knowledge.

You just have to cover the basics of programming, and then learn a library for drawing things to screen. Hell, for this specific type of game you don't even need a 3D capable engine, you can just do it the old fashioned way by drawing lines on a screen by hand.

>>3860545
I'm honestly not very impressed with games lately and I'm not sure if even current industry developers even have a real game plan beyond what we've already seen. It's getting to the point where we should start to realize that the powers that be never had any end game, and we should probably steal the house out from underneath if you know what I mean.

Shit is all over the place

>>3860545

>Everyone acts like a fag when someone asks how to make games because game developers (and especially game programmers) are usually autistic and they want to gloat about their knowledge and act like if you don't learn and do things in exactly the right way then you'll irreparably damage yourself or something.

It's actually more likely that they purposefully want to make their jobs seem impossible for the layman, both as a boost to their ego, but more insidiously because they know that more programmers floating around means lower pay for them.

>>3860564
>I'm honestly not very impressed with games lately
That's probably why a lot of us are here.

>and I'm not sure if even current industry developers even have a real game plan beyond what we've already seen. It's getting to the point where we should start to realize that the powers that be never had any end game
"End game"? Of course there's no such thing, the plan for any game is to make a game and hope it's good. Same with books or movies or anything else. I'd be happy to talk about the problems with both AAA and indie gaming today, although I imagine most people here have had that discussion before.

All I can do is make games to the best of my ability.

>>3851142
Speak for yourself pleb

>>3860573
>It's actually more likely that they purposefully want to make their jobs seem impossible for the layman, both as a boost to their ego, but more insidiously because they know that more programmers floating around means lower pay for them.
It's mainly the ego thing. Usually, they have no real accomplishments on which to base their self-image, so they have to resort to berating the few beginners who know even less than them. This happens not just in programming, but in many fields. I know because I used to act like that.

>>3851142
>I do not recommend trying to auteur a videogame, you are not going to be Eric Chahi or Daisuke Amaya

Sounds like a challenge.

>>3860558

What exactly do you mean by "drawing lines on a screen"? Do you mean like in MS Paint?

Pls no bully

>>3860708
Most graphics languages have something called a draw function.

For example, to draw a line, the function might be drawline(x1,y1,x2,y2), where x1,y1 is the starting coordinate, and x2,y2 is the end coordinate.

A circle function might look like drawcircle(x,y,r) where x,y is the center and r is the radius.

>>3860719
Edit, graphics languages should be graphics libraries.

Libraries are collections of functions for programming languages.

>>3860719
>>3860724

Oh, I see. Thank you.

>>3853137

You're stereotyping here. Being good at programming doesn't necessarily imply a lack of creativity in other areas nor does it imply a lack of varied life experience. You don't need an expert level of skill in art, music, and programming to make a decent game.

Ideas are a dime-a-dozen. There are people out there who think they're special snowflakes with great creativity and unique ideas because they strongly believe in specialization to the point of delusion. They have no talent in anything so they latch onto the delusional belief that they're good in something that's subjective.

>>3853989
You don't even have to do that. You can find the shit online. But you actually have to do something to acquire the knowledge.

>>3849363
>then, after you have mastered C, you may learn the higher-level languages of your choice, but you will always use C and assembly as your primary languages because everything else is unnecessary bloat.
Stop trolling a guy who is asking for solid advice.

My dad doesn't know what that formula is, transistors, how a CPU works, or assembly and he has been in the industry for 30 years. You guys are the equivalent of those faggots during camping who brings $1000+ worth of equipment and spent countless hours studying every piece of flora or fauna alive only to not enjoy it as much as the guy who goes out there with a tarp and a $15 knife.

OP, learn the basics of programming of any language you want and google what you want to do once you start understanding how things work. Learning more is never bad, but PEMDAS and basic algebra will get you so far it's crazy. If you haven't been programming since you were 12 years old, don't worry about becoming the next Bill Gates. I'm pretty sure this is pasta now because I saw the exact same thing on /g/.

Tl,dr get out and practice instead of theorizing everything for years only to get burned out.

>>3849395
Pick one and learn the basics. The basics like loops are universal so it doesn't take long to adapt the logic to slightly different syntax.

>>3860784
Actually I said none of that. What I said was, the creativity and imagination to design a game actually requires an investment of time similar to that which it would take to program one, just to catch up with modern game design and give yourself any kind of a reasonable bed of knowledge from which to build on.

>>3860824
I think your analogies are really bad and you need to take some time to research not being a terrible writer before any of this other shit.

>>3860824
Come on man. You can't expect to come on 4chan and not get trolled a little. Aside from that one guy (who made it pretty obvious he wasn't serious) op has gotten some pretty sound advice.

>>3860824
>dad doesn't know shit
>in the industry for 30 years
>i know what my dad knows
So you both know how to mop up spilled caffeinated drinks and pizza crusts. Cool story kiddo.

>>3848895
You can do it in gamemaker studio. Basically you've got sprites of all wall segments, and turn them on and off based on the surroundings.

>>3848895
You actually don't need THAT MUCH maths. My first school project was recoding a raytracer (aka: "A Wolftenstein clone").

It took me twelve hours to achieve something this result (not mine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7wLiwaJu4

You need basic trigonometry to calculate "if the wall is in distance X, it should be that high, so I'll draw Y pixels of wall and the rest is ground + ceiling".

It gets funnier (harder) once you add texturing, but otherwise, basic displays are easy.

Start with learning one language (Java, ruby or Python are good for beginners), look up a graphics framework in your chosen language then look for algorithms for "raytracer" and one month should be more than enough for a first prototype.

>>3860998
That's an interesting approach and certainly easier for a math challenged person.
Wouldn't recommend gamemaker though, unless he's done his homework and knows that's what he wants to use. Doing it in js like the other guy is probably a better option.

OP here. Again I want to say I appreciate the advice, and the arguments a lot.

It seems clear to me that there is no exact consensus on exactly how I should go about this, how much time it will take, whether it's even feasible, whether it will be easy, whether it will be hard, how much math I will need...and that's okay.

I just wanted at least to get some idea of where to begin, and that's what I've gotten (not to say the thread is closed--if you have something useful to contribute please do)

Thank you all again.

>>3862060
Godspeed OP

>>3862060
What have you accomplished thus far op? Send a hastebin link if you can. What will your next project be?

>>3862060
The big reason that there's such an range of time is that it just depends.

It depends on how smart you are, how much stuff you want the game to be able to do, how dedicated you are, that kind of stuff.

Realistically, you could probably kick out a demo in about a week, after you've learned how to program, and the full game in about 6-8 months.

>>3848895
You made this?

>>3862060
The combat system will be the harder part, but also the most fun because you basically get to invent your own tabletop RPG rules

>>3864325
What sort of math do I need to program ai? I took regression analysis and probability models but it was many, many years ago.

>>3864325
Or you can just pretty much copy whatever.

>>3864412
For this kind of thing? None at all, classic games literally would just assign monsters a list of attacks and they would pick one randomly--most monster types literally only had one, if you ran into a wizard or some shit they might have a second or even third attack for spells (healing themselves or attack magic) but usually they literally had infinite MP, and again would just pick an attack at random.

The most complex you might end up with is some simple if > then statements, like "if player health is below x use fireball spell" to ensure they kill the player, but that would end up being some cheap shit. Depends on how hard you want it to be.

I suggest playing an old Wizardry game for like an hour to get a real feel for how these games ran. The NES versions are generally regarded as not great ports because of how difficult they are and how much they change later in the game but for an exploratory look at the game it's not bad.

To be honest it wouldn't even be hard to do it in something like OpenGL, just basic linear algebra stuff

>>3864820
>basic linear algebra
>muh mah dun said i done gonne learn that buy teh time i get out of joovie for but sek wid dem dar chickenz

>>3848895
Well learing about programming is a thing you won't be able to skip if you realy want to make a game by your self. Keep in mind that we are in 2017 and there are a lot of great programming libraries that can aid you in this task. SDL makes drowing on a screen easy.

Also you might wan't to look at this:
http://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/

>>3867707
Yeah, people have been making games with zero programming skills for decades using game making software.

>>3867878
Well GameMaker has its own scripting language, also I think RPG maker uses ruby as a scripting language. In my opinion you won't be able to make a full game without looking at least once on some code.

Ok let assume you made a game without writing/changing a single line of code. The game you would have made would be very limited. It would have only things that the game making software pre-created for you. I don't think this is a good way to make a game and you should at least understand tha basic progmramming.

>>3868623
Your opinions don't change you being wrong on the facts.

>>3868780
And can you back up your words with a example of a decent game made with absolutely zero programming?

>>3866712
you seriously just need a couple first year math courses if you're in college to get the maths knowledge necessary for programming simple physics and graphics engines.

>>3864412
Every Megaman boss, pretty much through the entire series, and basically every Capcom boss in a 3D game is just a series of concentric circles around the boss feeding actions on a timer relative to the player's position.

>>3869020
I don't need to do that. "my words" simply were that people have been using game makers for decades. "your words" were that programming was required to "make a game by yourself".
>b-b-but what i meant
Pic related is all the fucks given about your opinion which is no doubt a moving target.

Here is a real fucking actual programming example for OP to follow.

eab.abime.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=27846&d=1297204411

This PDF breaks down how the Eye of the Beholder games engine worked, and it's a decent read for anyone who wants to get some ideas where to start on a similar type game.

Just try breaking things down into small steps and work on one step at a time.

>What does a tile represent in my game?
>What properties does a tile have?
>What kind of data types should I store those properties in?
>When I read that data, how do I want it to be displayed on screen?

And so on.

>>3869032
>first year
Of what? Post grad? Some of us aren't in the same grade as you.

>>3869020
Developer of Undertale admitted that he has 0 programming knowledge.
I wouldn't call it "decent", but it was successful.

>>3870041
post secondary.

what I'm saying is you really don't have to go very far past highschool math for programming vidcons. you don't need to be the guy that reinvents game physics.

>>3870148
So you didn't read the tread. Not cool but not surprising. Feel free to contribute if you got anything.

>>3870184
this thread is shit and making mediocre games is not an achievement.

>>3870215
>my posts are shit and i am shit and I'm going to shitpost again and again until I get the last shitpost in

>>3869039
That's pretty cool. Did you realize this from the source code or could you just tell after you learned a bit about programming what was going on?

>>3870143
I could qualify undertale as decent (based on the opinion of others because I didn't played it myself) but i failed to find him admitting that he knows nothing about programming. In fack I found something opposite:
>I always liked talking to monsters in Shin Megami Tensei," says Fox."So I started programming a battle system where you could talk to foes and convince them not to fight. When I started making the game the idea that you could beat it without killing anyone just evolved naturally ( http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/257471/How_Undertale_makes_you_think_hard_before_killing_monsters.php )

>>3869695
You don't need to do anything ( and maybe that's for the best of humanity ). But maybe in all of your free time you would consider that saying
>people have been making games with zero programming skills for decades using game making software
and not backing up your words with some proof is the same thing as only stating a opinion, and for all its worth I also gives a rats ass about what you think.

>>3871696
Top kek kid. If you're not aware that game making software exists and people with no programming skills use it you're more retarded than I even thought. Do I also have to prove to you that people exist? That some have no programming skills? To what level are you going to take your autism to avoid admitting you're wrong?

>>3871927
You could begin by naming one instance of the contrary, faggot.

>>3871938
Instance of what? Someone who used a game maker 20 years ago but had no programming skills. Do I have to exhume his corpse and give it a polygraph to prove it was indeed the author of a game and had no programming skills? What if he spent an hour being taught that the turtle knows logo 20 years before that? You're pathetic.

>>3869039
>concentric circles
Point/circle and point/sphere collision detection is very easy. All you need to do is check the distance to the center. If you remember Pythagoras's theorem, you'll know that's sqrt(x_distance^2 + y_distance^2 + z_distance^2), but you don't actually need to calculate the square root because you can square the value you're comparing to instead. It's a very fast calculation, so even if you're doing more complicated collision you usually check with a bounding sphere first.