The following text was written by Kyle
Everett:
A while back Maxis (makers of Sim City) released a program called
plug and play. Basically what it allowed gamers to do was make their own video games using
their own graphics, sounds, etc. What I believe we need is a plug and play program for TI
calculators. We already have many great level editors for the PC why not take it one step
further and create a program that allows gamers to home brew games on their PC or MAC. This
is basically one step in the evolution of Alan Wong's idea of skeleton games, a program with
the skeletons already built in among other things. Due to the requirements of this program
it would probably have to be made to run in Windows 95/98 or Mac OS 8, not DOS. This would
also allow for the viewing of multiple parts of the program at once.
The basic
structure of how the program could work and the parts of the program:
- Sprite
editor: Make sprites in mono or greyscale, along with built in clipping.
- Map/Level
editor: A way to make maps and levels for the characters to travel on in either overhead or
side scroll view.
- Event editor: Certain spots in the map are chosen as "hotspots" where
events will occur or where enemies will appear, this could also be expanded to include
options where your character must have a certain item or fullfill a certain task for the
event to occur.
- Gameplay editor: How will the game play i.e. picking up items,
attacking, jumping, collision detection and the such.
- Path editor: Choose a path in
relation, either in relation to the map or at random, that an enemy or other character will
follow, even your character in cut scenes.
- Animation editor: For creating "special
effects in the game".
- Built in library splitting: For use especially on the TI-86 this
would allow graphics etc. to be stored in libraries as in SimCommunity and Joltima.
- ASM
editor: For hard core programmers who want to add something special to their games that is
not available in the other options.
- And finally Expansion Support: Support for applets
that can be downloaded and added to the main program in order to add new options and newer
or updated code.
This program would be the ultimate in game making technology
with possible support for all calculator models. This program could virtually eliminate
bugs, since there is no chance for human error because the computer is doing all the work.
Please someone consider making this program, if you have any questions about my
ideas email me and I will give you an answer.
In closing I am begging someone out
there to make a River City ransom or Harvest Moon Clone for the TI-86.
