Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have this book:


It is intended to introduce 2D graphic programming using a free,
open-source library called Allegro. It is much easier to program
with than newer commercial libraries like DirectX, so it's good for
beginners. The best thing to do with beginners is focus on 2player
games, so you don't have to think about any Artificial Intelligence.

Some games I used to hone my skills when I was a teenager
learning BASIC on a Wang (seriously!) were boardgames like
Mastermind, and Connect Four, and simple 2 player shooters, like
Tank War.

Wait, I just realized I probably misconstrued your intent for this class.
You probably don't want to teach programming, but rather design. I think
a good project for that is to think about making a Text-based adventure.
This is a very old genre of games (which is still around). These games are
a little like playing Dungeons and Dragons in that the player has to use his
imagination to visualize the scene. The game would only give a description
of the room you're currently in, the items or monsters or NPC's in that room,
and which direction has an exit (into another room, where you would get
another text description). The player can pick up objects, use objects,
talk to NPC's, fight monsters, and move via any of the exits in that room.

It's very easy to visualize because you only deal with one room at a time.
Kids can create a plot for their game, and draw a map with each room, with
the connecting exits, and mark what's in each room. Then, they'll have a
nice basis for a game without yet having to worry about any actual computer
programming.

Here's a list of some Text-based adventure games. Zork, Adventure, and
Oregon Trail are some of the most well-known.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text_based_games

OMG.
I played "Adventure" when the company I was working for went belly-up in the eighties, and they had no work for us to do. It was the most tedious, aggravating, obnoxious game I'd ever seen. Actually, it still is. It's a tribute to our "keep your head down" mentality and the boredom of the time that we managed to get all the way to the end.

"You are in a ruined water tower. Behind you is a shallow stream. to your left is a door.
Here is a lamp.
Here are a set of keys.
Here is a birdcage. "

Pick up lamp
"Do not understand 'pick'"
Lift lamp.
"Do not understand 'lift'"
Crush lamp
"Do not understand 'crush'"
****** lamp to ******
"Do not understand '*******'"
<long pause>
Take lamp
"You have a lamp."

And that's the way it went. You can download a playable version of this for windows, if you have a fortnight to spare. It will drive you nuts.
Especially the Twisty maze of little caverns, all alike.

Caroluna wrote: I don't know Spoof, what's it like?

In Real Life:

The two-player game goes like this. Each person has three coins and two hands. When the signal is given, each person raises their right hand in a fist, with a number of coins in it. The number can be zero, one, two or three. You keep your other hand concealed in case it gives anything away.
The first person to play guesses the TOTAL number of coins in both the right hands. The second person then makes a guess, which must be a different number. Then you open your hands and count the coins. Play continues until someone guesses right.

It's played in bars, where the loser pays for the drinks. We used to play it a work, where the loser paid for a round of packets of snacks. (Crisps!)
It was an eight-handed game. If you won, you were out. I never lost.

In the two-handed game, experienced players know that "three" is a safe call. It doesn't give away the number of coins in your hand. If you always call "three" when you go first in a two-handed game, that is a winning strategy. Don't tell the kids though. Let them work it out.

Thanks for all the ideas. I just ordered a bunch of books (thanks Fearfaoin!) and I'm continuing to brainstorm. As I said, this is something I know very little about, but it's fun learning new terminology. New term for the day: procedurally generated content

I found the following documentaries about the making of Myst and Riven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmhA7RNm ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7nO7A__ ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq5gz-Pv6UA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbm85YXGf4&NR=1

Really good stuff-- the fusion of technology, art and music to make something fun, exciting and a work of art.

I've also been reading about Will Wright and the Sims series (culminating in the upcoming Spore).


Trill pointed out this link, the Multitouch Interface Design.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jeff ... creen.html
I'll have the kids watch that vid and see if they can thing of a way to incorporate that technology into their "game" they're "designing".

How about speech recognition? Are there any computer games that use speech recognition yet?

I think it would be fun to have a game that utilized the "Rogerian therapist" model of computer replies. Not AI-- it's more of a programming trick. The computer replies by making statements that are ways of rephrasing the original statement.

Person says "I am so frustrated with that team mate who refuses to cooperate with me as we go on alien shooting expeditions."Computer replies, "You seem angry today."

I read about such a program 20 yrs ago in a course in Congnitive Psychology, so I would imagine by now the Rogerian Conversationalist is available as shareware for $ 20 !!!

ALICE has been around for years and is still going strong.
http://alice.pandorabots.com/

About computer games - in the old days it was a single-programmer job and many games reflected the personality of the programmer.
One of the most famous was Yak the Hairy, Jeff Minter.
His obsession with ungulates led to the creation of Llamasoft and many games that featured his furry favourites such as Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time.
The Yak is active to this day and still produces unique games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Minter
His old games are available as freeware - well worth a look.
http://www.llamasoftarchive.org/

One area where individual programmers can still find success is in downloadable content on the PS3 and Xbox.
There are many simple, old-style games available that are usually produced by individuals or small teams.

A few studios got their big breaks by producing modifications for exisiting games.
Many game companies release mod development tools to prolong the life of their products.
Players make new maps, game enhancements and even total conversions of the game,

It could be worth looking into Valve's Source engine and SDK.

Here is a mod making tutorial from at Valve's developer community.
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Making_a_MOD

BTW - I have a spare copy of Half Life 2 on Valve's Steam download service. You need the engine included with the game to use the mod tools - the tools themselves are free.
I can give the game as a gift to other Steam users. If you were interested I would be happy to donate a copy to your project.
You would need a Steam account (free) and a PC with a spec good enough to run Half Life 2 (not free).

Mukade (former code monkey, and still a gamer at 38)

Caroluna wrote:How about speech recognition? Are there any computer games that use speech recognition yet?

I think it would be fun to have a game that utilized the "Rogerian therapist" model of computer replies. Not AI-- it's more of a programming trick. The computer replies by making statements that are ways of rephrasing the original statement.

Ten years ago or more there were a pair of games for children too young to hold a mouse, (before trackerballs became popular) about a pair of mice - brother and sister - searching for cheese. All the activities were all voice-driven. I can't remember what it was called though. It didn't survive the next upgrade from Windows. They were a very good couple of games. Kept our children and visiting children amused for hours. Didn't keep them silent, of course...

I also wrote a "conversation" program. About twenty years ago. In Pascal, I think it was. It was called "Sweetie". I wrote a second one which was paranoid instead of sympathetic. Can't remember the name of that one either, not that it matters.

The voice-driven games were called "Marty and Morgan" and "Marty and the Cheese". The games came with their very own microphone - not a bad one either.

Innocent Bystander wrote:In Pascal

*shudders*

Different human interfaces are interesting. It makes the consumer buy
into your hardware, too. Look at Rock Band, what a revenue generator!

I bought a game awhile ago from the Biofeedback "research" company
Wild Devine because of the neat interface: you put each finger of the
left hand on a sensor, and it tries to measure your level of "energy" or
relaxation. The game (which is waaaaay too new-agey for me) tries to
teach you to slow and speed up your heartrate using the sensors,
thereby teaching you biofeedback techniques. But where in traditional
biofeedback, you're watching a boring readout of your stats, in the
game you're trying to open doors or blow pinwheels or raise elevators
by changing your energy level. It's kitchy fun for about 10 minutes.