Writing my first game

[Twilight]

Hi all

I am looking at writing my first game. I am hoping to do something like a business tycoon game but not sure where to start.

I have started to write the login script.

Graphics don't have to be great if any at the start

I want players to be able to start with a bank loan and build their first business like a farm with wheat or chickens. They will have a limited number of storage and as they grow will need to buy storage and other types of buildings

I also want them to have to hire staff and pay them once a week.

I want the players to be able to buy shares and even buy each other out.

When they don't have much money then they are able to sell building they own or get bank loans.

I guess I also want the to be able to buy stock from other players. So if they have a shop that sells eggs then they should be able to buy eggs from a player who has a farm with chickens.

So does anybody have any ideas on how to start. As I have said I have never done anything like this before and may be taking on too much too quick but I like jumping in at the deep end. I feel I learn better that way.

Regards
Andy

[Jackolantern]

One thing is that you may want to give players luxury items or some other kind of end-game goal to attain after they become "successful" if you allow players to buy each other out, or else the player who sold out their business is then kind of left with a bank full of cash and really nothing else to do. Give people the chance to show off the spoils of their success. That is one of the driving forces in the real world behind people who are always striving for more in business.

As far as how to start, watch Halls' PHP MMO tutorial if you are new to PHP, even though it is not the kind of game you want to make. The techniques are all the same, and by the end you should be able to make any game in PHP you want!

[Foofighter]

Hi,
My advice is to make a much more detailed Concept, yout should really think about what you wanna put in your first game and what is for example too difficullt atm...

After that watch the Tutorial and get an impression how halls startet the game and built it up.

greetz
Foo

[Callan S.]

Hi,
My advice is to make a much more detailed Concept, yout should really think about what you wanna put in your first game and what is for example too difficullt atm...

I agree. Work out the steps in finer detail - like, what does a player start with? Zero money? A certain amount of money (from a loan)? If a certain amount and they run out of money, would it be smarter if they just started a new account? Do you want it to play that way or not? If not, can they default on the loan and get another one? Maybe the only penalty to defaulting on the early (small) starting loans is a record of defaults (which could be paid off latter for large sums, if a spotless record is desired)?

[Twilight]

Hi All

Thanks for all your posts. Lots to take on board.

What does everyone do when planning a game. I have a few notes that I have put into excel and that is it. But I am sure there are ways to start the planning of your game that are better then just notes.

Regards
Andy

[Callan S.]

No, notes are pretty goods.

Sometimes what's even better is when lying in bed or on the couch, write in fine detail what you need to get typed - even write out the code to an extent - <?php include_once 'connect.php' etc etc etc.

I do this, though after awhile I get less and less detailed and more and more overall idea-ish as I get towards the exciting stuff!

This helps because when you come to the computer you just just slip into a groove of typing up the code and you know what to do. Part of our brains isn't intellectual and just wants to hit the right keys and to know it did a good job! Once it does, you feel better about working on stuff that isn't hashed out in as fine a detail.

[Jackolantern]

No, notes are pretty goods.

Sometimes what's even better is when lying in bed or on the couch, write in fine detail what you need to get typed - even write out the code to an extent - <?php include_once 'connect.php' etc etc etc.

I do this, though after awhile I get less and less detailed and more and more overall idea-ish as I get towards the exciting stuff!

That is kind of interesting, because I do the opposite and start from the overall idea and work down into the details. I guess that is kind of a form of top-down versus bottom-up design in the game design document.

[Callan S.]

I do figure the overall idea, but kind of like in the first post - more of an overview.

What I concentrate is on feeling I'm about to get something done right now and here are the steps (that I'm writing out) to do it. Writing up the details of the middle or end of the game wont give me that feeling. Also it's hard to describe but it's creatively 'cold'. When in the moment of creativity, you have the enthusiasm for it then. If I wrote up the details for something near the end, when I finally got back to them the enthusiasm would be gone and it'd just be the work of writing up the actual code for those details. I like the 1% inspiration moment, not the 99% persperation! Atleast when I do them together I get the inspiration buzz to help drive enthusiasm for the persperation part.