Another Newbie Once Again

[Echo]

What's up, I'm yet another newbie, so I've been checking out game engines and stuff on google and found this (LOVE) and so far I was actually intimidated a little since I am used to creation-kits with IDE's like in the easy-going RPG Maker Series and the horrendously ugly and infamous Game Maker series, LOVE seems to me like treading on uncharted territory but I understand that the Forums here are really friendly and that LOVE Rocks! Am I right?.

Anyway I guess I should introduce myself since it is tradition to make a thread like this after joining a forum site:
I've been messing around with video-games since I was about 5, then there was a magical game called super mario bros on the NES that inspired me to become a game developer, after that I used to make cut-outs and play with them, and draw stuff on paper or imagine little-interactive stuff and jumping things up till I was 14-15 when I found out that it was actually possible to make a game without having to be some kind of genius or have 1000 of people to work for you. Long story short I kept jumping from game engines, firstly rpg maker which was great for me at the time but too limiting now ( I want to make other stuff not only rpg's ), then I hit-up game maker somewhat but the terrible interface an * especially the map editor ) drove me mad, then I found LOVE which was what I was looking for all along.

I hope I can soak up as much Lua and LOVE in these forums and maybe even make some friends.

Your wannabe-nerd Echo .

[Robin]

Hello and welcome!

[Qcode]

Welcome ! Yeah everybody's really nice here.

[BlackBulletIV]

Welcome! Good luck with your quest in game development.

[Echo]

I just have two question, not sure If I should have made a separate thread or something but:

1.) what do you use to edit maps or do I have to code it and keep testing until I get a good result? Sorry I'm just too used to IDE's with built in map editors, but pure coding would be very useful if that's how its done with "real" games.

2.)Also how did you guys make avatars/profile pictures, I might have missed seeing the option in the user control panel.

[BlackBulletIV]

1: You can do either. Most games that require a decent amount of work to make the levels will use a level editor. You could make a level editor yourself, save the levels as files in a certain format, and then load levels in your game as needed. You could also use another level editor like Tiled Qt, which, I think, exports to Lua.

2: User Control Panel -> Profile -> Edit avatar

[Echo]

Reply to answer...
1)
Could you direct me to a tutorial or a link on how exactly this works, I have never made a level editor myself but wow this seems very interesting!
I thought making your own map engine was very complex stuff but I think a map engine and a level editor/tile editor are two separate things right?
I'm however not interested in making any game engine but a simple or at least relatively manageable editor made from scratch is a very attractive feature that could make the process far more enjoyable than being limited to an IDE's interface and I will be willing to learn more.

2)
Thanks for the clue fellow comrade. I see it now.
(^_^)

[BlackBulletIV]

I'm not sure where you could find tutorials on making levels, level editors, etc., in Lua. I know kikito has this old, unfinished tutorial about tiling; that may be of some use.

Making a feature complete level editor yourself is rather complicated. The main complication about doing it in LÖVE is the user interface, which can be pretty hard to write yourself. There are some decent GUI libraries out there though.

I assume by "map engine," you mean the system inside the game that reads in the files for the levels, displays it on the screen, and so on. In that case, it's not that hard to make a simple one. The level editor is always much harder to make, which is why using an external one can save a lot of time.

Since you're just starting out with LÖVE, I'd recommend getting familiar with it and creating a few things that don't require levels before you going to more complex like this.

[Echo]

It is difficult to make something that I can't see even simple puzzle games require some kind of interface and level for the user to play and then making this with function love.draw then coding everything would be to me like riding a bike without the steering/handle to guide me ( it's only possible after a lot of tries and practice but you will get hurt badly a lot ).

I'm not really good with numbers but maybe I could make a grid over a layer like on paint.NET or something, make the majority of the map a parallax and then memorize the grid-co-ordinates when I want to add stuff over the map in the game for tile-occlusion ( having some tiles over the player ) or just to add in items, enemies and collision detection e.t.c. that might work right? given that the maps remain simple and that I don't as you say make a game that is purely level based ( maybe something like a puzzle or simple arcade game could work ).

Actually you're right, the level editor is a lot harder because of the interface and making the IDE, I found Tiled though (https://love2d.org/wiki/Tiled) which seems to be exactly what I was looking for and more. Have you had any experience with this, is it recommended for a newbie or should I stay away from this for now, also the games here are awesome and really fun, LOVE must be a great framework!.

[BlackBulletIV]

I didn't mean creating a game with no graphics, I meant creating something that doesn't require level creation, such as an arcade or procedurally generated game (that was where I started).

I'm not quite understanding what you're trying to describe with paint.NET, though I definitely know that the program has been used as a level editor in the past.

Yeah, I mentioned Tiled Qt in my first post on the matter. Using a level editor like that will definitely help you a lot if you choose to make that kind of game. I personally haven't really used it, but it definitely looks like it would work nicely with LÖVE.