hello all, i have an idea for a game i'm making. the game is called "The Adventures of Stickman". You control a guy, currently named "Stickman". He is, as you might have guessed, a stick figure. Now you ask, "Why a Stick Figure, Andrew?"…Good Question, better answer. He's a stick figure because it is my first full game. I am making the graphics myself and the animations will not be hard as opposed to a full character. Anyway, the object of the game is to go around a world, a LOT like Mario3 (except without the world maps) this game is completely linear <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>. The object (as with all great platformers) is to save the damsel in distress. The Stickstress(as in StickMan mixed with Princess) (I *REALLY* need a better name!) If you have any questions, then please ask. –superRoy (aka roy[]) –<a href="http://roysoft.cjb.net">roySoft Games</a> Edited by - superRoy on October 17, 2001 5:24:46 PM

As I recall, one of my first programs on the old PET computer was a stick figure doing jumping jacks. So you''re ahead of where I was!

I don''t think Nintendo''s straining at the leash to pick up the license for this one. But this sounds like a good way to explore graphics and game creation. Have fun with it.

"Stickstress"? How about "Stickbellina"? Hey, there are worse names out there. (Although I can''t think of any offhand....)

There''s a great game floating around the net called ''Stick fighter II'' which is basically street fighter two with stick men for fighters. If it worked there, I don''t see why ''stick mario bros'' couldn''t work.

hehehee Mario''s Stick is fighting for the Princess

-----------
-WarMage
...without sick humor, there would be no need for cable...

And now, My $0.02



The development cycle has about ten stages. Here is the basic framework,

although you can expect variations:



I. Idea. Develop an idea and write it down into a cohesive story and game plan. 1 to 4

weeks ideally



2. Approval. You need money and time and permission and people and computers and

software and other hardware and ... 4 to 8 weeks hopefully; can take significantly longer.



3. Setup. Assemble your team, gather equipment, find a place to develop, get your white-

board, familiarize the team with the concepts, get computers running and networks up, make

sure that all software is working and everyone is properly prepared to do the jobs assigned.

4 to 6 weeks if all goes well; most of the time this takes a little longer.



4. Begin coding and research. Find good asset delivery methods, start tools work, begin

simple program testing, establish game engine framework, make sure you have the latest

version of DirectX, spend time on the Web looking up pathing, etc. 8 to 12 weeks.



5. Code. You will need to develop many of the tools yourself, but you need to design them

such that you can rely on them. You will be subject to feature creep here,

so expect delays. Depending on your game, this can take as little as six weeks for a simple

game or as long as 72 weeks. 40 to 56 weeks normally



6. Cleanup. This is when the end is in sight. Most of the game basics work and now you’ll

do a code review and lock down features. Don’t add any new features. Fix bugs and prep for

Alpha. 6 to 8 weeks.



7. Alpha. Send out Alpha and start getting all of the levels in the game fully tested. Put all

creatures in the game in situations where they need to think and make sure you have no

crashes. Prep for Beta. 4 weeks or more. Alpha almost always take the same amount of prep

time in RTS games unless your management 15 disorganized.



8. Beta. The game should be done and have fewer than 100 bugs. You need to concentrate

fully on crushing bugs and let the level designers test the last few levels by themselves. You

are almost done. 3 to 6 weeks.



9. Prep to ship. Prepare the install routines. You might be preparing for internationalization

and testing on different hardware. 2 to 3 weeks.



10. Ship. Get some sleep, take a vacation, make love to the woman you used to call your wife

until you didn’t come home for three months, etc. Catching up on reading is good here too.



That about does it. For a programmer, this is almost always the same year and a half routine.



Excerpt from, Real-Time Strategy GAME PROGRAMMING Using MS DirectX 6.0 by Mickey Kawick.

Thanks Kawick!

©1999 Wordware Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



GZM Software® WebMaster

webmaster@gzmsoftware.f2s.com

http://www.gzmsoftware.f2s.com

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster


8.    Beta. The game should be done and have fewer than 100 bugs. You need to concentrate

fully on crushing bugs and let the level designers test the last few levels by themselves.

If your game is called Anarchy Online --Beta = ready to ship--. Has anyone been violated by this vile game? I didnt buy it but I was over a friends house and she has it. Oh the humanity........

Roy you are on the right track you really should start small and have very attainable goals. Hell if you put enough gameplay in the game could be an excellent first effort.

Good Luck,

J.C.

Hey Roy, welcome to our world. Go for it, full speed ahead. The idea may not be perfect but like you said its your first game(I wish I was trying to do something that simple for my first game). And dont let that long list get you down. Just break it into steps and dont worry about deadlines unless you really find yourself procrastinating. If you find yourself just not doing anything with it at all, then start setting small goals for yourself to get you back on track without overwhelming yourself at the same time.