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Geek Culture / Isometric tile based war strategy game?

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Philip
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Joined: 15th Jun 2003
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 25th Feb 2004 07:52 Edited at: 25th Feb 2004 07:55
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One of my friends is considering writing a fairly simple isometric hexagon shaped tile war strategy game. He's asked me which programming language might be best for this. To put this in perspective, I think he would be classed as a beginner programmer.

I've suggested either DBC/DBP or Blitz. (My personal preference is DBP over Blitz any day of the week but its only right to let him form an unbiased opinion of the rival offerings in the marketplace on his own).

Anyway the object of this post is twofold. First, does anyone have any views as to the most suitable programming language for this? Don't feel restricted to DBC, DBP or Blitz. Feel free to suggest anything. For all I know there might be some specialist language which someone has created purely for hexagon based tile war games out there on the internet somewhere!!

Secondly, does anyone have any hexagon based tile games, even prototypes, written in either DBC or DBP which I could direct him to have a look at as an example?

Cheers

Philip

What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P1.3ghz / 384 megs / GeForce MX 5200 128meg / WinXP home
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Arkheii
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Location: QC, Philippines
Posted: 25th Feb 2004 08:13
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Obviously we'd say DB, but tell him to try out gamemaker (that drag n drop 2D thing). I know it's crap, but let him try out a free program before doing anything else. I'm not sure how to implement a hex grid on GM's grid though because I haven't used it.
http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/gmaker/

Quote: "Secondly, does anyone have any hexagon based tile games, even prototypes, written in either DBC or DBP which I could direct him to have a look at as an example?"


http://www.hpssims.com/
Lots of expensive hex based war strategy games.

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Van B
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Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 25th Feb 2004 10:23
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Scarily, he'd be better off using a 3D terrain and plain sprites for characters - Blitz is a bitch to learn - DB's 2D is not too great, psuedo 3D might just be the ticket.

I'm quite looking forward to UWDesigns PlayBASIC, it's a 2D basic based on Blitz and DB, should be pretty good for isometric RPGS and hex wargames, only in beta stages just now though.


Van-B


The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!.
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zircher
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Posted: 25th Feb 2004 17:38 Edited at: 25th Feb 2004 17:45
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He can find some solid information here:
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html

Since you mentioned isometric, the impression that I get is that he wants 3D models of military units. My VirMin project does exactly that. Have him check out the TCOM2/VirMin gallery and if that peaks his curiosity, you all can find the current beta of the source code at the second link.
http://www.geocities.com/tzircher/tcom_gallery.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/virmin

VirMin is written in DBP, so that language gets my vote.

If he wants something more tactical, try to find Sierra's Mission Force: Cyberstorm. It uses a turn based combat system with hex tiles to create 3D outdoor terrain. I plan to use something like that for my next project. It's a fairly ancient title, but the concepts are still viable.

The last few pages of this review show some of the tactical displays.
http://www.cdmag.com/strategy_vault/mission_force_cyberstorm_preview/page1.html
--
TAZ

Game Beavers
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Pricey
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Posted: 25th Feb 2004 18:27
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Quote: "Blitz is a bitch to learn "


blitz took me a 2 weeks to learn but db took me 3!


Dig a pit and poo in it
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Neophyte
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Joined: 23rd Feb 2003
Location: United States
Posted: 25th Feb 2004 19:28
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@Philip

I'm writting an isometric game in DBPro although it is a staggered and not a hex one. I really haven't had any problems that limited me in DBPro so I'd suggest it. Of coarse, I haven't used blitz or any other language so my opinion is a bit biased.

If he is a beginner to programming though I'm not sure he wants to do hex based maps. Those are going to give him a lot of difficulties including but not limited to: Pathfinding, Tile Selection with the Mouse, and Displaying the tiles.

I'd seriously suggest that he follows zircher's first link and read through the parts about hex-based maps. Hex-based maps can be quite difficult and the info he provides is quite usefull to overcoming some of the obstacles that he will encounter.
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jrowe
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Posted: 25th Feb 2004 19:36
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Doesn't The Magic Land use a hexagonal tile combat system, and that was DBpro. It might give him a few ideas. Tell him to download the demo from Dead Glory's website:

http://www.digaw.com


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Phaelax
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Posted: 26th Feb 2004 08:14
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Quote: "blitz took me a 2 weeks to learn but db took me 3!"

well some are slower than others.

j/k

"eureka" - Archimedes
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TKF15H
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Posted: 26th Feb 2004 08:41
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What I'd use is definitly not what I'd recommend for a beginner. (Euphoria+SDL)
I don't know what I'd recommend for him. I don't know how good DBP
is for 2D. I use DBP for 3D games only, and Euphoria for 2D.

(1 + 2 + 3 + 4)^2 =(1^3)+(2^3)+(3^3)+(4^3)
100=1+8+27+64
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