Last game with DBP

Alas, it is with a serving of sadness that I must admit RoboCubez will be my last project in DarkBASIC Professional. Whilst it will be the first full game I'll have made with it, I've been playing around with DBP for ages and had many incomplete projects. Some of which others knew about, some of which I only messed with for about 10 minutes before realizing I didn't have the time to do it.

Why, you ask, am I leaving DBP?

Well, the answer is quite simple. I've moved on from BASIC. I wish to explore more advanced languages such as C#, C++, and even Python. I've found XNA Game Studio for C#, Panda3D for both Python and C++, and  the potential for them all is very exciting to me.

TGC, the makers of DBPro, have also shifted focus from supporting it to their newest and most promising product, the App Game Kit (AGK), and eventually I will purchase that to develop games for iOS, Android, and any other platform I want to get my name on. But for now, Python, C# and C++ are my main focus. I'm focusing on Python more, as it's a little easier to grasp (and less daunting) than the C languages. My first Panda3D game will probably be made by summer time, provided I finish RoboCubez by the end of February like I told myself I would. :P

Workin' on some game mechanics...

I've just been spending the better part of the night working on some game mechanics for "RoboCubez".

First, I decided to program the menu. I decided this because the way my project is set up makes it easier to start there. I spent at least an hour making a 2D menu with box commands and such to create a simplistic style, and... I didn't like it. It wasn't enough. I then realized that a 3D menu would work (and look) a lot better.

The idea that I have is to use cubes as menu "buttons". You press the left/right arrow keys, and the blocks leading to the appropriate part of the program fly from either side of the screen, depending on which key you pressed. There will be pretty particles in the background, annoying video game music, and a whoosh sounds that plays as you go through the menu items. I should have a working demo of the menu after Christmas sometime. It won't be finished, but you'll at least be able to see what I'm going for!

RoboCubez: A new game for Windows, coming in 2012

NaGaCreMo 2012!

My game idea for NaGaCreMo '12....

RoboCubez: A puzzly action game

Description:  In a robotic world, there exists a peaceful, cuboid community of RoboticCubez. They've existed with all of the energy they've needed to survive for the past century and a half, and life is great for them.

Then one day, an evil, energy-sucking device breaks into their community, and steals their energy for its own evil purposes!

Now it's up to a certain RoboCube to stop The Power Monster, and rescue his own people...but it shan't be easy!

While this version of the game for Windows will be in 3D, I eventually hope to translate the game to a 2D mobile game for Android and iOS with the use of the AGK. I'm excited to develop this game because it will challenge me to use new ideas for a different game. Normally, I program something like a platformer, but this is very different: it's a puzzle game that will hopefully rock, to put it humbly. :P