so. i made a textadventure engine...

[wrdmnr]

I think i did something wrong or something?


this is my first time using flash, and people were saying on the forums it was very hard?


but this took me a week tops, it has html text, pictures and 12345qwertasdfg controls. (you can save and load too)


Did I do something not right? or is the difficult part later on?


thaught i'd ask before diving into something impossible (or having to recode evrything)

View attachment myadventure.rar

 

[yuuki]

yeah you forgot to remove this :
 

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[Kregeron]

I'm dying right now this is actually the funniest damn thing like boy tried to flex didn't even bother to take copyright off of the shit he stole and got his ass bounced i just can't right now I don't know why this is so damn funny but just agh xD

 

[dndw]

So what was the point of this post, exactly? Just trolling, I assume? Not cool. If you do make a game, I for one won't care what engine you use as long as the game itself is good. No one is demanding that you use a custom engine, but if you blatantly copy one like this and pretend that it's yours, then we'll have a problem. 

 

[wrdmnr]

Yuuki: I have no idea what that is. but I didn't use Twine?


dndw: I'm just asking feedback. is this a wrong forum to do so? Then I apologise for my disknowledge.


copying: I did use FlexDevelop and well, Flash. the rest I coded myself.

 

[dndw]

Upon closer inspection, I can't find the copyright statement Yuuki posted. What I did find, however, was not a good foundation for a game engine. No one is saying it's impossible to create a game (-engine) in Flash, clearly Fenoxo and crew have managed it on two occasions. It's just that there is no point in reinventing the wheel. What you built is not an engine, but a hard-coded set of buttons and text. The point of an engine is that you build a framework which accepts input in a certain format, and then runs it. Twine uses your input to make HTML and JavaScript so your browser can run it. Now, of course you can make a game like this. CoC was much the same, and I guess TiTS is, too. But if all you want to build is a text adventure, why bother? Twine works very well, it's well-tested and well-supported. Sure, building it like this is useful as a learning exercise, but that's it. You mentioned it's "Made with code editing software only. (no fancy help system like flash professional)", and that's a bit of an attitude problem. Why not use 'help systems'? Flash Professional is prohibitively expensive, I assume, but there are others. Using proper tools will help you write stuff better and faster, and it allows you to focus on what you are really trying to make instead of boilerplate code.


In short, if you want to make a text adventure, use Twine. If you want the coding practice, that's fine, but you are vastly underestimating the complexity of a game engine.

 

[wrdmnr]

Thank you,


Half of the point was to see if I could, really.


I'l think about switching over or not. I like coding and flash is fun because its so limited.


Your input is much appreciated!

 

[dndw]

Thank you,


Half of the point was to see if I could, really.


I'l think about switching over or not. I like coding and flash is fun because its so limited.


Your input is much appreciated!

Yeah, I should have verified that you actually copied Twine stuff before my first post, sorry about that. I'd be really interested where Yuuki got that statement from...


Anyway, if it's all about the programming, you might want to check out Inform: http://inform7.com/


It's purely text-based, but it gives you a lot of liberty where coding is involved. The proprietary language it uses is probably the most verbose ever created, but it's quite fun. An example of a very successful Inform game: http://blog.flexiblesurvival.com/ (At least the single player version is in Inform, I don't know what the MUD is built in)

 

[yuuki]

ah sry could that i had the wrong link open.

 

[Void Director]

I think i did something wrong or something?


this is my first time using flash, and people were saying on the forums it was very hard?


but this took me a week tops, it has html text, pictures and 12345qwertasdfg controls. (you can save and load too)


Did I do something not right? or is the difficult part later on?


thaught i'd ask before diving into something impossible (or having to recode evrything)


View attachment 2442

Building the basis of a text adventure game is not very difficult. Making buttons and linking between screens is not the challenging bit (although good UI design can be hard).


The hard parts come latter. Where will you store all the scene data for your game? Will it be embedded into the code like in Fenoxo's games? That approach violates some coding principles about separation of code and data. It can lead to a mess with lots of inconsistencies and replicated code. On the other hand you could create some kind of data file (or a database) and store your scenes there. But then you need an engine which can read those datafiles and do all the different things that you want to do. This approach loses a lot of the generality of just writing your scenes directly into code. On the other hand you could  embed some kind of scripting language into your datafile. But that brings up security issues (now data files need to be from trusted sources) and your still mixing code and data. If you build a datafile do you edit it by hand or build an editor? If you build an editor is it for your use only or do you share it with fans? How much time will having an editor save you vs the amount you would spend hand coding things? A large number of issues come up


Combat systems, managing global state, dealing with different screen resolutions all bring up their own sets of issues. 


So yes, you absolutely can code your own engine. The question is whether it is of any benefit to do so. Your users could care less, they just want a good game. They would much rather see you spend your time making content than recreating the capabilities of an existing engine. So only create a new engine if you can't find the capabilities you need in existing engines and you have the time to pull it off.

 

[wrdmnr]

Yeah, I should have verified that you actually copied Twine stuff before my first post, sorry about that. I'd be really interested where Yuuki got that statement from...


Anyway, if it's all about the programming, you might want to check out Inform: http://inform7.com/


It's purely text-based, but it gives you a lot of liberty where coding is involved. The proprietary language it uses is probably the most verbose ever created, but it's quite fun. An example of a very successful Inform game: http://blog.flexiblesurvival.com/ (At least the single player version is in Inform, I don't know what the MUD is built in)

what? i think flexiblesurvival is a mess! you need an installer, a costum reader(that luckely comes with the installer) and its not much of a step-up from command-line games(at least from looking at it)


They're also going over to Flash i heard, because of the engine failing on them because they had too much content i believe?

Building the basis of a text adventure game is not very difficult. Making buttons and linking between screens is not the challenging bit (although good UI design can be hard).


The hard parts come latter. Where will you store all the scene data for your game? Will it be embedded into the code like in Fenoxo's games? That approach violates some coding principles about separation of code and data. It can lead to a mess with lots of inconsistencies and replicated code. On the other hand you could create some kind of data file (or a database) and store your scenes there. But then you need an engine which can read those datafiles and do all the different things that you want to do. This approach loses a lot of the generality of just writing your scenes directly into code. On the other hand you could  embed some kind of scripting language into your datafile. But that brings up security issues (now data files need to be from trusted sources) and your still mixing code and data. If you build a datafile do you edit it by hand or build an editor? If you build an editor is it for your use only or do you share it with fans? How much time will having an editor save you vs the amount you would spend hand coding things? A large number of issues come up


Combat systems, managing global state, dealing with different screen resolutions all bring up their own sets of issues. 


So yes, you absolutely can code your own engine. The question is whether it is of any benefit to do so. Your users could care less, they just want a good game. They would much rather see you spend your time making content than recreating the capabilities of an existing engine. So only create a new engine if you can't find the capabilities you need in existing engines and you have the time to pull it off.

Well I saw some CoC scene code, it woudln't be a problem to make something similar for my own. althrough i would agree that i'd be a mess after a while, althrough I can't see how having it in files would make it better? and what do you mean security issues someones gonna make a file that whipes your savefiles?

 

[Void Director]

what? i think flexiblesurvival is a mess! you need an installer, a costum reader(that luckely comes with the installer) and its not much of a step-up from command-line games(at least from looking at it)


They're also going over to Flash i heard, because of the engine failing on them because they had too much content i believe?


Well I saw some CoC scene code, it woudln't be a problem to make something similar for my own. althrough i would agree that i'd be a mess after a while, althrough I can't see how having it in files would make it better? and what do you mean security issues someones gonna make a file that whipes your savefiles?

CoC eventually collapsed because it became a huge mess. By security issues I mean genuine security issues. Like malicious users injecting code that can do real harm to you users. If your game has a full scripting language (like JavaScript or ActionScript) embedded into it and a malicious user's contribution gets into the game file containing malicious JS or AS code then they can launch any current JS or AS exploit. This is all quite unlikely as probably much more efficient ways to launch attacks. But the issue exists.


Moving game data into data files has a lot of advantages. It enforces the separation of concerns. It means that your game always works consistently. It allows game data to be created through an editor or transformed procedurally through code. It allows you to easily run algorithms over your scenes to do things like verify they don't have dead ends or create diagrams of them. 


Anyway, feel free to do it however you like. If you want to learn about programing, then writing your own engine is a good idea. If you just want to make a game then it's probably best to use an existing engine. Learning/Improving your programing is probably a more valuable  skill than making an adult text adventure in the grand scheme of things.

 

[wrdmnr]

CoC eventually collapsed because it became a huge mess. By security issues I mean genuine security issues. Like malicious users injecting code that can do real harm to you users. If your game has a full scripting language (like JavaScript or ActionScript) embedded into it and a malicious user's contribution gets into the game file containing malicious JS or AS code then they can launch any current JS or AS exploit. This is all quite unlikely as probably much more efficient ways to launch attacks. But the issue exists.


Moving game data into data files has a lot of advantages. It enforces the separation of concerns. It means that your game always works consistently. It allows game data to be created through an editor or transformed procedurally through code. It allows you to easily run algorithms over your scenes to do things like verify they don't have dead ends or create diagrams of them. 


Anyway, feel free to do it however you like. If you want to learn about programing, then writing your own engine is a good idea. If you just want to make a game then it's probably best to use an existing engine. Learning/Improving your programing is probably a more valuable  skill than making an adult text adventure in the grand scheme of things.

Ah, i just re-read your previous comment, I missed the embedding code in-file part, so I was still thinking you were talking about txt-style files, which i can't imagine can do much harm.