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Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by Tichy on Monday June 16, 2008 @03:21AM (#218469)
Where to begin? Do you know how to program?

I would guess download Flex and start coding.

Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by rsa on Monday June 16, 2008 @04:06AM (#218489)
Yes I do. I am not a game programmer though.
Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by Tichy on Monday June 16, 2008 @06:19AM (#218525)
I think all you need is a game loop (that is the difference to web programming).

while(isGameRunning){

   processInputs();

   processMonsters();

   updateScreen();
}

It really is quite straightforward. Start with something simple like Tetris.

Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by Tichy on Tuesday June 17, 2008 @02:24AM (#219508)
I thought of some more things:

- inputs are usually callback events, so the thing I usually did was accumulate all inputs in the callback events and then processed them in the processInputs() method. Accumulate was something simple like pressedKeys |= pressedKey

- updateScreen() is usually just a call to repaint() or something like that, which makes the Operating System call your applications paint() method. My paint method looks like

paint(Graphics g){

drawBackground(g);

drawCounters(g);

drawMonsters(g);

drawPlayer(g);

}

and so on... Flex does things in a slightly different way, so it really depends on the technology you choose.

Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by wlievens on Monday June 16, 2008 @10:26AM (#218647)
Good advise. I'd recommend starting with something like Asteroids, because it's even easier than Tetris (no tricky rotation/bounds logic) and more rewarding.
Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by rsa on Monday June 16, 2008 @07:33PM (#219229)
Thanks for the advise. I'll try that.
Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by Hexstream on Monday June 16, 2008 @12:19PM (#218740)
I'm guessing deciding on the game's look&feel, designing and integrating the graphics and tuning the difficulty is the hard part.
Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by reitzensteinm on Monday June 16, 2008 @09:27PM (#219290)
Definitely. A good rule to follow is that almost everything that turns out to to be hard is something you never thought of before you started the game.

So my advice to anyone who wants to make a game is to just start, there's not really any other way to learn.

Re:Robokill: Superb new Flash game from News.YC members by Tichy on Tuesday June 17, 2008 @02:19AM (#219504)
That is also why it is so much fun ;-)