PHP Game Tutorial (2021) aka GrindFest

[Sharlenwar]

Haha, thanks halls! I've also fallen into working with GameMaker Studio 2. Feels great to work with it's IDE and I had a game up and running in moments with it. Sure it focuses on 2D, but I'm not really looking for 3D anyways. 2D is the esthetic I'm looking for. Not sure about isometric.

Just feels good to be back into doing something as a hobby and to keep this brain going. Just want to make something that works and have fun along the way. There is a game I want to try and replicate in GMS2 since the developer has abandoned it.

But yeah, I'll post up here as I chug along.

[Sharlenwar]

Okay, great news. Been working on the game on and off, had a break for about 3 weeks and was uninspired. Had that desire to move the game forward and so things are progressing.

I have it hosted as well and so the live version of the game is found: http://grindfest.game-host.org

It's still in it's infancy and there aren't any instructions. If you click around, it should be fairly self explanatory. I like the state that the game is in and it's all from building off the foundation that I started. It's taken on it's own and I doubt I will update these files on here further. The concepts are there and it all works, so someone in the future might take advantage of the code as long as it remains linked in my Google Drive.

Thanks halls for everything you've done and for this site. Even though it's taken me over a decade to do anything.

[hallsofvallhalla]

Awesome work so far!

I would say the server for me was pretty slow and took away from the experience. It was taking a while to load my actions. Also your text boxes on the register screen are page wide which was a bit confusing.

But great start. Looking forward to what this becomes!

[Sharlenwar]

Thanks halls! Check back every so often as I'm continually working on the game now. I'm in adding in the Smelter building upgrade for the blacksmith. I'm glad you poked in there. The register screen is still the original and I might have broken that with the screen overhaul I did as I think about it while typing this.

I'm glad you hopped in. The server can be a tad slow, but from where I live and on my end I find it fast. The initial time you go through some screens it will be slow because that is what php and mySQL is. But if you stay on and play, then all the queries are almost instant because of how php & mySQL handle queries. I plan to do optimizations eventually down the road. This is all very early access, and I was worried to post on here. But I knew you would look at it, and I'm glad. It is from your tutorial series you did years ago is why I did this game. You gave me the tools to get started. I had to figure out how to make it work with the mysqli format, and thus this project was born. I then wanted to make a "tutorial" to give back.

Well, now Grindfest is born and here I am sharing it with you. Thanks for all that you've done and inspired.

[hallsofvallhalla]

I will definitely try again this weekend and play further through it.

[Sharlenwar]

Haha, all good Halls. It's still very much "Early Access". I am trying to code in the smelter so that we can play with that mechanic and maybe make some Iron Ingots to be able to craft some metal items. Been working everyday on the project since I posted up here again.

As for performance, I'm going to tell you my experience as I think it depends on the quality of internet connection you have. With this in mind, for myself, the game server is pretty much instant. When you first log in, the initial screens are slow due to PHP & MySQL doing what they do. But as you play more, the screens become fast as expected. Now this is with my internet connection. I now they might have a slight delay, but that is easily ignored. I also don't have any instructions, but it's pretty easy to figure out I think. Post up any questions if you have any.

I'm not really looking at optimizing the code right now, but that will happen as it gets closer to a more official Early Access launch date. Since this is my game, I figured I would do a birthday/launch party together. This way I can celebrate each year in my game, do an event on that day.

The ultimate thing to keep in mind is this is all very Early Access. I've given the toons in the database 5k resources across the board to test out the game mechanics. I've hit that point where I have to add more content and freshen up the combat system, etc. Lots of stuff to do, and not enough time. Thanks for visiting, I appreciate that you did and hopefully the game is responsive for you.

[hallsofvallhalla]

I am on 1 gig internet service but yeah it seems much faster now. I must have caught it in a bad time

Also I am working on some new tutorials for a game that has lots of things like crafting, fishing, mining, smeltering, cooking, ect.. Heavy survival type game with MASSIVE world. Should have a few vids out this week.

[Sharlenwar]

That's awesome. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Always good to see what you have. I'm on course to making my game and so I could always learn something new or at least see how you do that stuff.

Thanks for being here and keeping this site running.