D
Drazex
Guest
Hi,
I'm a fairly new programming hobbyist. I've already designed one simple game with GameMaker, and now am aiming for something more ambitious. My goal is to create a strategy game framework that I can build on and make more complex over time, for something that basically bridges the gap between Civilization and Stellaris, allowing for interaction with a living galaxy on multiple levels.
Right now I have the concept of what I want to do, but I'm having trouble figuring out what the best way to mechanically implement it would be, and also how to start. I'd love any and all advice on what would work best for the sake of end-user processing, keeping the potentially very complicated game elegant, etc.
So my opening questions:
(1) What would be the easiest/most elegant way to handle multiple map views? To reduce processing requirements, I was thinking it would make the most sense to have different "levels of resolution", with higher levels giving more summarized information (total production, etc.), and smaller levels having more detailed information (possibly to the point of regions of a few hundred square miles).
To handle this, I was considering using a section of the main room that would change based on the section selected, and have either a persistent "detail" view section in the UI, or create an object to display it. I'm considering that having object pop-up windows is probably better, especially so that multiple levels can be opened from each other, though I'm open to suggestions on the best way to handle this. Further, I would love any pointers (either directly, or pointers towards good tutorials) on creating an interactive view inside an object.
(2) What would be the most elegant way to store world variables? I'm planning to use very simple graphics to reduce the load on the computer, so I don't need to store any kind of meshes or textures to the save file. I was thinking of using nested arrays to store this information. Things like "sector[0,0]=world1, sector[1,0]=world2" where "world1[0,0]=province1, world1[1,0]=province2", etc. With 2D arrays, I could then store variables like terrain, production, etc.
Is this a good idea, or will this result in something unwieldy/unstable? Especially because I plan to procedurally generate the areas of each province, the provinces of each world, the worlds of each sector, and possibly go up to a larger level above that (eg, sectors in a galaxy); I'm not sure the best way to distinguish "province1 of world1" from "province1 of world2", for example.
Thanks for any and all help! Any advice in general is greatly appreciated!
I'm a fairly new programming hobbyist. I've already designed one simple game with GameMaker, and now am aiming for something more ambitious. My goal is to create a strategy game framework that I can build on and make more complex over time, for something that basically bridges the gap between Civilization and Stellaris, allowing for interaction with a living galaxy on multiple levels.
Right now I have the concept of what I want to do, but I'm having trouble figuring out what the best way to mechanically implement it would be, and also how to start. I'd love any and all advice on what would work best for the sake of end-user processing, keeping the potentially very complicated game elegant, etc.
So my opening questions:
(1) What would be the easiest/most elegant way to handle multiple map views? To reduce processing requirements, I was thinking it would make the most sense to have different "levels of resolution", with higher levels giving more summarized information (total production, etc.), and smaller levels having more detailed information (possibly to the point of regions of a few hundred square miles).
To handle this, I was considering using a section of the main room that would change based on the section selected, and have either a persistent "detail" view section in the UI, or create an object to display it. I'm considering that having object pop-up windows is probably better, especially so that multiple levels can be opened from each other, though I'm open to suggestions on the best way to handle this. Further, I would love any pointers (either directly, or pointers towards good tutorials) on creating an interactive view inside an object.
(2) What would be the most elegant way to store world variables? I'm planning to use very simple graphics to reduce the load on the computer, so I don't need to store any kind of meshes or textures to the save file. I was thinking of using nested arrays to store this information. Things like "sector[0,0]=world1, sector[1,0]=world2" where "world1[0,0]=province1, world1[1,0]=province2", etc. With 2D arrays, I could then store variables like terrain, production, etc.
Is this a good idea, or will this result in something unwieldy/unstable? Especially because I plan to procedurally generate the areas of each province, the provinces of each world, the worlds of each sector, and possibly go up to a larger level above that (eg, sectors in a galaxy); I'm not sure the best way to distinguish "province1 of world1" from "province1 of world2", for example.
Thanks for any and all help! Any advice in general is greatly appreciated!