Game Programming Tutorials

[En929]

Hi I'm new to this forum and never programmed in FreeBasic before. I was basically looking for some good FreeBasic game programming tutorials that could show me everything from how to put graphics on the screen, to collisions to how to control a character and make things move around on screen. Thanks.

[bfuller]

Sorry to appear cynical but.............
Have you tried to use the search function on this Forum.......Search for "tutorial" gets 1471 hits and "game tutorial" gets 188 hits. These hits are obviously not all tutorials, but they will lead you in the right direction. (probably now 1472 and 189 after this post).
This forum has an example of almost anything you want to program, just search and find, there are pearls of wisdom buried deep down if you look.
Have you tried GOOGLE? Search for "freebasic games" will get you to a nice website (by a forum member) with some excellent example games. Google is your friend----there are many, many examples of BASIC games, in QB or other languages, that can be studied.

[En929]

I'm sorry. I probably should have said where can I find some good and easy to follow tutorials (as a beginner)? Yes, I've done all the searches that you talked about and yes there are MANY. Hence, that's why I asked here if there is a direct link to something that I can find directly and that helped other people.

[Gonzo]

I dont know, theres a lot to learn, and no game tutorial can ever cover all you need to know
You need to take one step at a time, first decide what game you want to make, ie. Tetris clone
then you need to figure out all you need to accomplish, the code you need to combine to make such a game

so, design your program so that it can logically run from start to end ie. :
1. open a graphical window
2. draw 1 or 2 types of tetris blocks that slowly fall down the screen
3. exit on keypress

once this is done you can fill in many of the blanks... but it requires patience and knowledge about programming
programming is literally about solving problems in logical order, reading manuals and understanding new concepts
like pointers, memory, colors, algorithms and complexity.. it goes on forever =)

my advice for now is to find someone elses program and tweak that so you wont be stuck doing nothing
theres many things one need to know to make a game from scratch no matter how small it is

i learned programming when i was 12 by doing stuff with the banana throwing game in qbasic =)
it taught me the concept of i = i + 1, a huge accomplishment!

i imagine you already have some experience in programming, and so you will learn even faster from looking at someone elses freebasic program

[En929]

Gonzo, yes I've programmed games in other BASIC languages such as JustBASIC, BlitzBASIC, and a bit of Python (I guess I'm intermediate as a programmer; not the best, but I guess almost halfway there) but still beginner in FreeBasic. And the way I learned was through good tutorials and direct sources that others either showed me, gave me and people directing me to where I can find the best materials as well as my own searches.

[TESLACOIL]

Some video tutorials and other random stuff here
http://freebasicportal.wikispaces.com/

we have a bit of surge going on with chess engines at the moment so thats one game you could cut your teeth building
http://www.freebasic.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=8

im just working on a simple protocol for chess engines, chess GUIs and multiplayer networked games in general, using .txt files to share data (is quit simple even for a beginner ) http://asimov1.wikispaces.com/Graphics

i can help you with Game design, AI and anything to do with chess, as for my uber code 'please avert your eyes' ,lol , i can be of little assistance on the coding front beyond the basics.

[BasicCoder2]

Hi I'm new to this forum and never programmed in FreeBasic before. I was basically looking for some good FreeBasic game programming tutorials that could show me everything from how to put graphics on the screen, to collisions to how to control a character and make things move around on screen. Thanks.

Start looking at some of the simpler FB games code and if there is something you don't understand just ask.

This is a simple game with some of the the subject matter you asked about.

http://www.freebasic.net/forum/viewtopi ... 85#p158985

[En929]

Thanks for the above tutorials. I have another question. I've been seeing a lot of things about QuickBasic tutorials. Thus, I was wondering, can I learn things from those QuickBasic tutorials and would they work inside the FreeBasic complier? Thanks

[TESLACOIL]

Dozens of FreeBASIC games here
http://lachie.phatcode.net/downloads.php

the QB code mostly will run in FreeBASIC ( use the language switch ) but you will have to make a few tweaks here and there

FreeBASIC runs very fast, this helps a lot when writing games



There are three things to learn

1) How to design a good game
2) What are the general methods for 'making things happen' with your code, or any programming language
3) The finer details of the particular language you are using

no magic wand, you pick things up as you go along. Take you time

a good game is the hardest of all small program's to write...its the difference between a master sculptor & a brick layer

[En929]

Dozens of FreeBASIC games here
http://lachie.phatcode.net/downloads.php

the QB code mostly will run in FreeBASIC ( use the language switch ) but you will have to make a few tweaks here and there

FreeBASIC runs very fast, this helps a lot when writing games



There are three things to learn

1) How to design a good game
2) What are the general methods for 'making things happen' with your code, or any programming language
3) The finer details of the particular language you are using

no magic wand, you pick things up as you go along. Take you time

a good game is the hardest of all small program's to write...its the difference between a master sculptor & a brick layer

Thanks Teslacoil. I totally agree.

[TESLACOIL]

Bit of inspiration for you

A 21-year-old computer whizzkid has become a millionaire and takes home £50,000 a month after he created a hit online computer game.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/n ... -game.html

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Don't forget the tutorials featured in my e-zine: http://games.freebasic.net/basicgaming.php

[BasicCoder2]

Bit of inspiration for you

A 21-year-old computer whizzkid has become a millionaire and takes home £50,000 a month after he created a hit online computer game.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/n ... -game.html

Being able to program doesn't mean you are capable of coming up with a great idea anymore than being a professor of a language will enable you to write a best selling novel or something like the Harry Potter stories. If you have a great addictive game idea I would suggest you can always hire someone else to write it. And if you have limited programming abilities I would think that using game specific languages with built in 2D and 3D game engines, along with graphic and sound programs for designing worlds and characters, would be the easiest way to go about it.

[TESLACOIL]

agreed, with so much to learn and so much to do there is only so much you can achieve on your own game writing wise

the complexity and diversity of OS & hardware is a large burden also

One man and his dog could write a polished minigame but for anything more substantial you need to join or create a team of coders, designers and artists etc

There are a number of 'Big Games' created by open source teams. This is one way forward.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_op ... ideo_games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ga ... ce_engines




There are other outlets too, writing modpacks & skinpacks for existing games, also hacking into existing games and altering the ini/config files

The original Redalerts rules.ini file was particularly easy and rewarding to hack...someone out there is no doubt still playing with my rules.ini




@ BasicCoder2 what game/s would you write or commission if you had the opportunity ?

[BasicCoder2]

@ BasicCoder2 what game/s would you write or commission if you had the opportunity ?

I don't play computer games so although I probably could write code for a 2D game I wouldn't be able to write a good one and a 3D game is beyond me. Programming IS a game for me although only as an occasional activity. I am analytical and problem solving by nature but not strongly enough to become a code monkey or an expert in programming. I came to it as an extension of a hobby I had in electronics and an interest in AI. So although I might find it fun to try and write a chess playing program I don't actually play chess.

http://xeodesign.com/xeodesign_whyweplaygames.pdf
http://gamecareerguide.com/features/625/why_we_.php