A couple of 'creating games' Qs

[Eva Isotalo]

Thank you Malte for the information. :o)

I must use a tile solution (as you mentioned) because the "world" or 
"landscape" will be *at least* 18000 x 13500.
Some areas can probably be separate cards without loss of flow (one pass 
a gate or similar).
I will test the button setup you mentioned and see how heavy it gets on 
resources.
Play area will be 1024 x 768.

I also have a type of isometric view but it is my own version. I have 
adjusted the background images so they fit together and give a 3D feel. 
Images are rendered 3D scenes.
I am working in another game setup application at the moment but am 
running into limits. Especially the multiplayer part.

Another question: Can I open other applications (eg. other game .exe 
files) and have a smooth "overlap" back and forth?

My Revolution demo time ran out. I'll have to talk with Heather later to 
give me a second chance. ;o)
Must clear every question marks out of the way before upgrading again.

Eva



Malte Brill wrote:

> Hi Eva,
>
> first of all thanks for the kind words about ArcadeEngine. :-)
> I´ll try to give some detailed thoughts on your second question. For 
> the first question I can give the same recommendation as X. Look at 
> chatrev. Not only the Client Server is impressive, but the people that 
> hang around there. If you have questions concerning Client server 
> solutions for your game chatRev is definetly the place to go.
>
> <http://www.chatrev.bjoernke.com>
>
> >2. Can one have a scrolling screen?
>
> The answer is yes, you can. I would recommend not to lay out a huge 
> backgroundimage like hugh does in his stack. This would be overkill 
> for really large maps. Instead you may want to set up a tile based 
> engine. Create a set of tiles (images that align to draw the map) 
> These tiles should have a fixed size. The next step is to create a 
> group of buttons that fills your card. Store your map in an array, or 
> a customproperty. This could look something like this:
>
> tile1 tile1 tile2 tile3 tile1 ...
> tile1 tile2 tile2 tile3 tile1 ...
> ...
>
> The group must contain at least 2 rows and columns of butons more than 
> is needed to fill the card. 4 or 6 could be better though. This 
> technique allows you to have a "buffer" once a button scrolls out of 
> view you can set the icons for the buttons that are out of the visible 
> area of your map to the next needed image IDs. You will need to play a 
> bit with buttons locations to come up with a useful tile system 
> though. :-)
> Currently I am experimenting with isometric view. And I can only say 
> it rocks, but setting up an isometric tile system is a lot harder than 
> a front or from top view.
>
> Hope that helps a bit,
>
> Malte