2D Engines?

[Mr. Happy]

So here I am a humble Hammer mapper and XSI modeler and I want to make a 2D game all by my lonesome but I'm not a programmer and I have no clue where to start! Anyone of you guys done this kinda thing?

Oh and I eventually want to get something on the iPhone. Of course I don't actually own an iPhone...or a mac.... Oh well, those are small problems.

Anyway anyone here have any suggestions for where to start? I'm thinking I should probably grab an indie licence for an engine like Torque (TGB...though I here that's a buggy pile of crap too) or Unity (there's a 2D plugin for it). Of course they aren't free but is anything these days (except the best things of course)? Any other options? Any other routes? Learn C++ and write it from scratch you say? Please no

Stop being a fool and make a Flash game? Came with CS3 but that seems a little not at all what I want to do at all.

Finish my TF2 map? NEVER!

Anyway thanks for any advice.

[e-freak]

finish your tf2 map.

on another note: define 2D-Game. I'm currently working alot with Processing for minigames and it's not too hard and you can achieve pretty good results.

[KoKo5oVaR]

You could try to head on Multimedia Fusion 2 http://www.clickteam.com/eng/mmf2.php, it's a software designed to make 2D applications without programming but it still ask some time before mastering it.

Or you have Allegro http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/, at the difference of multimedia fusion, you have the entire control over your game, the graphic engine is already made, but still have to know a bit of C to code the game .

Good luck anyhow !

[Jetsetlemming]

I made a 2d level for Knytt Stories but you can't make new enemies or creatures, or really change the gameplay. It's good for expressing 2d design ideas you want to try out though (which is why I tried it out). The KS editor is really nice, lets you have layers and custom backgrounds and music and sound effects are easily imported.

[2d-chris]

I've got no idea bout 2d games, it's a bloody mystery ;P

[hessi]

if you want to make iphone software you better start learning objective-c 2.0 + get your self a mac. if you have no software engineering background, i wouldn't start with a game. though i have no better advice. maybe try to join existing and running projects, so you can hook on the other developers.

[Mr. Happy]

I'm definitely willing to learn enough of a language to work with something that's already pretty robust, I just don't have time to devote to truly learn a language...it's not my focus. That said I've used QB then VB then C++ in the past so I have a basic knowledge in place I suppose. I can do it! But ya, iPhone (or other portable device) is looong term goal and I just want the path I start down to teach me skills that are very transferable. But in the end I just want to screw around in 2D and make something that makes me giggle

After a quick glance at what everyone's mentioned multimedia looks good, but processing and allegro look FREEEE!!! And I have no problem learning a bit of C, or even a lot of C. It's just programming is not my focus. Alot of toolkits speak of things such as 'C-like scripting' or 'minimal programming required' and that's what I want.

Time to start downloading stuff. Thanks guys

p.s. e-freak a 2-D game is a game that runs on a 2-D engine silly! But ya my ideas are mostly in the realm of simple-simple platformer and puzzle games.

[Taylor]

GameMaker is probably your best bet for PC development.

For the iPhone I don't think there's any 2D toolkit. The SDL library works that will provide the groundwork but you're still programming the game logic in Objective C (not C!).

[robert.briscoe]

I recommend http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker, it has a huge community, loads of plugins to make your life easier and a pretty unlimited demo (The pro version is dirt cheap at $25).

There are loads of tutorials and I made this game about 2 years ago with it with no coding at all:

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/show/2953

Only thing im not sure of is compatibility with the iPhone but like I said people are always writing compilers and plug-ins for it so it might be worth checking out the forums.

Good luck!

[Warby]

my experience has thought me that you get more performance out of a 3d engine doing a 2d game than a 2d engine doing a 2d game ... i know kinda weird ^^

unity will enable to do a lot of stuff without coding it comes with a ton of premade scripts for all sorts of stuff an has a 2d gameplay tutorial on the website with sample project

http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tu ... y-tutorial

[KoKo5oVaR]

oh and maybe Flixel, http://flixel.org/ that looks really cool