I need serious help!
Joe Wiltrout
type game, but I have no programming experiance whatsoever. Someone told
me this was the best language to start learning with. So here I am,
confused about everything except blog making because of that "15 minute"
tutorial which turned out to take an hour+ for me. So I need someone to
tell me how to get started making even a basic game. Like 2d, horrible
graphics, the worst they can get. Like taking a game for 4 year olds,
then taking a step back. So simple, not even I want to play it. How
would one get started making any kind of game? And if anyone could
supply me with information for my sub-childrens game, that be nice too.
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Joe Wiltrout
Joe Wiltrout
Space Bar to make your pirate character slash. That simple. With sucky
2d graphics. Like the same graphics as Pong or Pac-Man or Galaga, only
with pirates, on a ship deck. Eventually I want to make a pirate based
MMORPG based on the book Stormchaser, Book Two in the Edge Chronicals,
by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Well, not based, but with the flying
ships and stuff. And different races, and different kinds of boats, and
hundreds of weapons, and tons of skills, and multiple classes, and
professions. Kind of like a Pirate WoW. I shall call it,
World of The Sky in the Spanish Main! Or not. I could call it WotSitSM!
Or not. Either way, this post is about my 2d sub-childrens pirate game.
With sucky graphics, one weapon, one pirate, one ship deck to fight on,
basic controls, and lots of bad animation enemy pirates with one weapon,
one outfit, and one shipdeck to fight on. I hope one of you experts can
help me.
John Joyce
You might want to start with Chris Pine's 'Learning to Program' then
move to Peter Cooper's 'Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional'.
Peter does a pretty cool intro with a text-adventure program, so you
can get your feet wet with the kinds of things that you'll face
programming games.
Joe Wiltrout
I sorta have no money to use on books and the like. I was hoping I could
avoid buying anything by consulting the greater population of Ruby
programmers. Maybe get someone to post a link to a good website that
dumbs the tutorials down enough for me to understand. And who knows?
Maybe I will get good enough that I will be able to go over to C++ and
not be this stupid. But I have heard that text-based games are easier to
make than games with moving graphics, so I might start off with a Sky
Pirate text-based game instead. It all depends whats easiest for a
beginner.
Joe Wiltrout
But thanks for the suggestion. Maybe when I get some cash, I shall buy
said books.
Skt
For me, alot of these guides i know i had issues with (especially why's guide) because in alot of parts i had no idea the direction he was going for. I'd definitley suggest googling and find which one fits.
Hth
skt
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Peter Seebach
>I sorta have no money to use on books and the like. I was hoping I could
>avoid buying anything by consulting the greater population of Ruby
>programmers. Maybe get someone to post a link to a good website that
>dumbs the tutorials down enough for me to understand. And who knows?
>Maybe I will get good enough that I will be able to go over to C++ and
>not be this stupid. But I have heard that text-based games are easier to
>make than games with moving graphics, so I might start off with a Sky
>Pirate text-based game instead. It all depends whats easiest for a
>beginner.
If you wanna write text adventures, my recommendation would be Inform 6.
(I don't like 7 as much.) It's a domain-specific language, but gets a
lot of advantages from it; on the other hand, it is probably by far the
quirkiest language I've ever used.
Ruby's a nice generic language for learning things. You can find
Pine's learning to program online, although I couldn't swear that it's
word-for-word identical to the printed book.
Depending on what kind of "no money" is involved, if it's possible for you
to save up a few bucks here and there, it's not that hard to get a good
reference or something, and it is VERY useful. (You might consider the
PDF version of the PickAxe, which is cheaper than paper.)
-s
Skt
-----Original Message-----
From: "Joe Wiltrout" <wiltr...@hotmail.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby...@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: 7/12/2007 10:26 PM
Subject: Re: I need serious help!
John Joyce wrote:
> That's a tall order!!
> You might want to start with Chris Pine's 'Learning to Program' then
> move to Peter Cooper's 'Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional'.
> Peter does a pretty cool intro with a text-adventure program, so you
> can get your feet wet with the kinds of things that you'll face
> programming games.
I sorta have no money to use on books and the like. I was hoping I could
avoid buying anything by consulting the greater population of Ruby
programmers. Maybe get someone to post a link to a good website that
dumbs the tutorials down enough for me to understand. And who knows?
Maybe I will get good enough that I will be able to go over to C++ and
not be this stupid. But I have heard that text-based games are easier to
make than games with moving graphics, so I might start off with a Sky
Pirate text-based game instead. It all depends whats easiest for a
beginner.
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Joe Wiltrout
made in Ruby? Or is that mainly a Flash Player type game?
Joe Wiltrout
> Why's guide has an example of a text based game, i don't know if that'd
> be any help.
>
> For me, alot of these guides i know i had issues with (especially why's
> guide) because in alot of parts i had no idea the direction he was going
> for. I'd definitley suggest googling and find which one fits.
>
> Hth
> skt
An example of text based game? Cus I know what a text based game is,
and I have played many. Or do you mean how to code one? Because knowing
how to code one hits the nail right on the head. And, like I said, I
really can't afford to buy any materials. I just need something less
complicated than all these tutorials.
Joe Wiltrout
And would this 'Inform 6' be harder than Ruby? Because I don't even get
Ruby very well. And what's this 'Text Adventure' type thing? If you mean
text-based game, then I'll check it out. And say I was going to make
some sort of 2-d but still good graphic game, would it be possible in
Ruby, or would I have to use C++ or Java or something else? And could
you post a link to this Pines Learning to program? Because if it is as
helpful as you imply it to be, I would very much like to see it. And
define Quirky. I need to know what you mean before I go and confuse
myself on another coding language.
Chris Carter
http://poignantguide.net/ruby/index.html
It has an example for how to code a text game. Be warned though parts
of it are really wacky. It's as much a novel as it is a programming
book. But it is very comprehensive, works well, has a soundtrack, and
is free.
--
Chris Carter
concentrationstudios.com
brynmawrcs.com
Joe Wiltrout
g2p didnt help me much. I just got a bunch of gibberish for search
finds.
Skt
-----Original Message-----
From: "Joe Wiltrout" <wiltr...@hotmail.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby...@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: 7/12/2007 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: I need serious help!
Skt wrote:
> Why's guide has an example of a text based game, i don't know if that'd
> be any help.
>
> For me, alot of these guides i know i had issues with (especially why's
> guide) because in alot of parts i had no idea the direction he was going
> for. I'd definitley suggest googling and find which one fits.
>
> Hth
> skt
An example of text based game? Cus I know what a text based game is,
and I have played many. Or do you mean how to code one? Because knowing
how to code one hits the nail right on the head. And, like I said, I
really can't afford to buy any materials. I just need something less
complicated than all these tutorials.
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Joe Wiltrout
Wow... Even the front page scares me. And by comprehensive, you mean
easy for a teenager to understand? But I do like a good novel. And I do
wanna learn to program in Ruby, so to hell with saneness.
Skt
-----Original Message-----
From: "Joe Wiltrout" <wiltr...@hotmail.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby...@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: 7/12/2007 11:15 PM
Subject: Re: I need serious help!
Skt
-----Original Message-----
From: "Joe Wiltrout" <wiltr...@hotmail.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby...@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: 7/12/2007 11:17 PM
Subject: Re: I need serious help!
Skt wrote:
> Searching www.g2p.org Could be your best friend with ebooks and
> tutorials as well
g2p didnt help me much. I just got a bunch of gibberish for search
finds.
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Joe Wiltrout
> Its an example of how to code one, and whys guide is free, so two birds.
> Although i dont know if you'd want to just skip to it without reading
> the guide a bit first.
Ty. But why do you make a new topic for every post? If you can't find
the post button, just click post with quote, and delte the qoute.
Peter Seebach
>And would this 'Inform 6' be harder than Ruby?
Maybe.
>Because I don't even get Ruby very well.
Ruby is not necessarily easier, or necessarily harder, than other languages;
different people find different languages easier. I found C easier to learn
than Ruby.
>And what's this 'Text Adventure' type thing?
Like Zork. If you don't know what that is, find a search engine.
Actually, in general, you might want to work on your research skills; before
asking a question, make at least one attempt to find the answer yourself.
That skill will matter more than anything else; it's what makes the
difference between theings being easy or hard to learn.
>If you mean
>text-based game, then I'll check it out. And say I was going to make
>some sort of 2-d but still good graphic game, would it be possible in
>Ruby, or would I have to use C++ or Java or something else? And could
>you post a link to this Pines Learning to program? Because if it is as
>helpful as you imply it to be, I would very much like to see it.
Well, if you were to search for "learn to program ruby" on Google, you'd
find it. First hit, even.
That's what's killing you here; not how easy or hard Ruby is, but how
quickly you give up without even making a couple of tries to find
something. Be more willing to make a couple of tries. It's okay if
sometimes they don't work out. Take some chances! Five minutes of
browsing the internet is not too high a price to pay for a good shot
at answering a question for yourself, and even the things you find
that aren't the answer you're looking for might be USEFUL to you.
>And define Quirky. I need to know what you mean before I go and confuse
>myself on another coding language.
Quirky languages are those with characteristics that don't make much sense;
for instance, it might be hard to tell when, or whether, you need commas
to separate items in lists. Inform6 is fairly quirky. Ruby's relatively
predictable.
-s
Joe Wiltrout
> Hmm, i found a bunch of perl books, ruby, python etc.
Free and online? Cus if so, hit me with some links for the ruby one. Im
starting to read Whys guide. I actually like it a great deal, and it
hasnt even gotten to anything about coding.
Skt
-----Original Message-----
From: "Joe Wiltrout" <wiltr...@hotmail.com>
To: "ruby-talk ML" <ruby...@ruby-lang.org>
Sent: 7/12/2007 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: I need serious help!
Skt wrote:
> Its an example of how to code one, and whys guide is free, so two birds.
> Although i dont know if you'd want to just skip to it without reading
> the guide a bit first.
Ty. But why do you make a new topic for every post? If you can't find
the post button, just click post with quote, and delte the qoute.
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Joe Wiltrout
I hate to break it to you, but asking people is, and always will be, my
last resort. I prefer the feeling of independance rather than feeling
guilty because I didnt have anything to offer my advisor in return for
his/her information. I have searched every engine I know for free online
info about Ruby Game Programming and every other related term I could
think of. Hours upon hours. I went like 20 pages into google for one
term, until it got so irrelavant it became pure gibberish. Five minutes?
try 5 days. And as for my problem being whether something is easier or
harder, I have never coded before, and I am always just the ideas guy
when my friend codes things into his game. I have some kick ass ideas,
and I want to implement them into my own awesome game. Then me and his
game could be like partner companies or w/e. Orc Studios (my friends
gaming company, so to speak. Not really a company.) and Iceblaze
Entertainment. If you think that's anything close to Blizzard
Entertainment, sue me.
Joe Wiltrout
> Im posting from a cellphone, sorry bout that.
O. Okay. No problem. I was under the impression everyone was on a comp.
Bill Kelly
One 2D game library with Ruby bindings is gosu:
http://code.google.com/p/gosu/
Here's a post from Florian Gross about a game written in Ruby / Gosu,
running on Win32 / OS X / Linux:
http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/187832
Screenshot: http://flgr.0x42.net/gdc72h-05/final.jpg
Also, here are some game-related ruby quizzes that might be apropos:
http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz80.html Dungeon Generation
Two different solutions were submitted for doing 2D text based
dungeon generation.
http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz49.html Lisp Game
Nineteen solutions were submitted for implementing a text adventure
game in ruby. (Porting a Lisp game to Ruby.)
You will be able to look at the ruby source code for all of the above.
Hope this helps,
Bill
Joe Wiltrout
> Dont try to tackle more than one at a time (my problem) thats for sure.
Great idea. My first problem is I need to know if coding games is
possible in Ruby. According to Why's, atleast Text Based Games are
possible. Problem solved. Next problem, I need to learn Ruby. Now im
gunna read thru some of Why's.
Peter Seebach
>I hate to break it to you, but asking people is, and always will be, my
>last resort. I prefer the feeling of independance rather than feeling
>guilty because I didnt have anything to offer my advisor in return for
>his/her information.
Eh, don't worry about that; there will come a day when you answer questions.
But for instance, you asked me what a text adventure is.
Did you try putting "text adventure" into Google and clicking on the
first link?
-s
Joe Wiltrout
Unfortunately, it is simply easier to ask you guys while I'm already
asking. But for now, I have assumed that Text Adventure and Text Based
game are the same thing, or nearly the same thing. An online interactive
book would be cool, but I could probably do that with Freewebs.
Peter Seebach
>Unfortunately, it is simply easier to ask you guys while I'm already
>asking.
And that's the thing; the best way to ask questions is to ask questions when
you get stuck, then go back to doing your own research and puzzling. You'll
learn faster that way than you would alternating between a couple of days of
research and then a frenzy of questions, most of which are trivial.
We make a better crutch than an escalator. :)
>But for now, I have assumed that Text Adventure and Text Based
>game are the same thing, or nearly the same thing.
I'd recommend reading more about them, then. Text adventures are a special
case.
-s
Joe Wiltrout
though. I be alot easier and wouldn't be lagged by my crappy comp. I
just wish it wasn't so distracting with the funny foxes though. It makes
my learning slower, but it makes it more enjoyable too. This guy was
smarter than Einstein. Make it fun to read For Dummies books. GENUIS!
John Joyce
If you want to know or try an excellent (but not easy) Text
Adventure, try the classic Zork, there are some free online versions
available. The original is still hosted online, accessible from the
command line. Originally it was only on a university's unix network,
back in the days of dumb terminals and no internet. It's old, but the
history of the game and its development is interesting and worth
reading if you want to create a game...
The first MUDs (multi-user dungeons) were pretty much inspired by
Zork and similar games (and dungeons and dragons of course). Ruby is
an excellent way to create just such a game for starters.
Later Text Adventures added some still pictures. The genre died out
long ago, with the advent of faster computers and better graphics
abilities.
Joe Wiltrout
I found an archive of Text Adventures on Wikipedia. Some of them look
rather fun. I look forward to making a totally awesome one that will
respark the genre. Not likely though. Maybe if I make it like MMORPG
style, just with no moving graphics, it would get some kind of popular.
Chad Perrin
> Skt wrote:
> > Dont try to tackle more than one at a time (my problem) thats for sure.
>
> Great idea. My first problem is I need to know if coding games is
> possible in Ruby. According to Why's, atleast Text Based Games are
> possible. Problem solved. Next problem, I need to learn Ruby. Now im
> gunna read thru some of Why's.
You can create just about any piece of software you like with Ruby. Ruby
is better suited for some things than others, however. For instance,
writing an operating system in Ruby might be a bit challenging
(especially since I'm not sure how practical it is to embed a Ruby
interpreter in your bootloader).
So . . . yes, you absolutely can write games in Ruby. I'm not a game
programmer myself, however, so it's a little outside my range of
expertise.
--
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Patrick J. LoPresti: "Emacs has been replaced by a shell script which 1)
Generates a syslog message at level LOG_EMERG; 2) reduces the user's disk
quota by 100K; and 3) RUNS ED!!!!!!"
Ari Brown
Just do a google search for 'Chris Pine +"learn to program"'
On Jul 12, 2007, at 10:26 PM, Joe Wiltrout wrote:
> John Joyce wrote:
>> That's a tall order!!
>> You might want to start with Chris Pine's 'Learning to Program' then
>> move to Peter Cooper's 'Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional'.
>> Peter does a pretty cool intro with a text-adventure program, so you
>> can get your feet wet with the kinds of things that you'll face
>> programming games.
>
> I sorta have no money to use on books and the like. I was hoping I
> could
> avoid buying anything by consulting the greater population of Ruby
> programmers. Maybe get someone to post a link to a good website that
> dumbs the tutorials down enough for me to understand. And who knows?
> Maybe I will get good enough that I will be able to go over to C++ and
> not be this stupid. But I have heard that text-based games are
> easier to
> make than games with moving graphics, so I might start off with a Sky
> Pirate text-based game instead. It all depends whats easiest for a
> beginner.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------|
~ Ari
crap my sig won't fit
James Edward Gray II
> In message <3086e6b698191ec8...@ruby-forum.com>, Joe
> Wiltrout writes:
>> I sorta have no money to use on books and the like. I was hoping I
>> could
>> avoid buying anything by consulting the greater population of Ruby
>> programmers. Maybe get someone to post a link to a good website that
>> dumbs the tutorials down enough for me to understand. And who knows?
>> Maybe I will get good enough that I will be able to go over to C++
>> and
>> not be this stupid. But I have heard that text-based games are
>> easier to
>> make than games with moving graphics, so I might start off with a Sky
>> Pirate text-based game instead. It all depends whats easiest for a
>> beginner.
>
> If you wanna write text adventures, my recommendation would be
> Inform 6.
> (I don't like 7 as much.) It's a domain-specific language, but gets a
> lot of advantages from it; on the other hand, it is probably by far
> the
> quirkiest language I've ever used.
There's a text adventure framework for Python called PAWS. It's
certainly something that could be redone in Ruby. I've considered
doing it myself.
See the solutions to this old quiz for some great ideas on how this
could work out:
http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz49.html
James Edward Gray II
Joe Wiltrout
Could you do me a favor and link the PAWS adventure to this thread? If I
googled PAWS, I'm likely to get thousands of websites, from adoption
centers for abandoned fuzzy animals to strip clubs.