I'm making a platform game using DelphiX. The game is 2D, and is under construction (Just finished the sprite engine!). The game rules are simple: Two characters (probably two persons playing in the keyboard)shooting each other. The game takes place in a scenario in which you can take distinct weapons. I want to know, would it be better to make the game with the screen divided player1/player2, or would it be better to make it all in the same screen. The limitation in the "all in the same screen" game is that my scenario is going to be very short, althought the game will be very fast.(The players can't escape, so they'll have to fight). Now, the limitations in the "screen divided" game is that it would get complicated (talking about the code), althought it would be better for the ones that like escaping from the battle. (To get better weapons, recover some energy, etc..) I don't want to make something very complicated, but I want it to be interesting. Maybe I'm asking to much, but after all, the idea is simple. (So it is very possible to finish it). Well, any idea will be very useful. pd. I know my english sucks so, please don't blame me.

While split screen would be more complicated in code, I think it a must for this type of game your working. Otherwise the players will be "boxed in" and it will be a fight to the death endurance contest. (unless that's what your going for...)

I would say it really depends on what you want the game to be. Like you said single screen will make it a fast intense "deathmatch" whilst split screen will allow for a slower paced game, which one do you want it to be? :D

Sorry, I forgot to login!! The last post was mine ;)

Gameplay would depend a lot on how large the characters are. You can easily have small characters (32-64 pixels high) for which there is tons of screen space to move around in.

When using DelphiX though remember that you can choose where you render surfaces. You could use this to make a generic procedure RenderWorld(ScrollX,ScrollY:Integer; Surface:TDirectDrawSurface; PlayerHUDID:Integer);. In this way split screen could be done by simple rendering the world twice, once for each viewpoint (you could either render to seperate surfaces, or introduce an offset point variable and set clipping so that you can render to the main surface in two passes, each pass only being able to touch half the screen)

There wouldn't be many opportunities for hiding weapons etc. if both players were limited to one screen, unless the viewpoint was from a large distance.

If the screen was split, the players could start off in two different locations, allowing them greater freedom to choose which weapon(s) to head for, and possibly ambush each other.

Of course, the most flexible option would be if the game was played on separate computers, as neither player could peek at their opponent's screen to see where they were or what they were doing.

You could do both. :)

There was a Dragon Ball beat 'em up game on the MegaDrive (which was terrible) but had one neat feature - when the players were close together it showed a single screen. When they moved apart there was a breif matrix-esque moment as gameplay pauses and it moves the players to a regular split screen. That gives your players much more freedom of movement but makes the fighting much more intense when the players get close.

Or if you're using a 3d API you could just zoom the camera out as the players get further apart and keep one screen permenantly.

I guess that everybody prefers a divided screen game. I think everybody have made a good point here. A divided screen gameplay is going to make it more interesting, so I'm going to make it that way. Thanks for your ideas!!!