How to make a game on Steam?

[jleger91]

I would like to make a Point & Click Adventure game for Steam using either Python or C++. However, Python may be good enough for a simplistic Point & Click game. But... where do I get started?

[BJWyler]

jleger91 původně napsal:

I would like to make a Point & Click Adventure game for Steam using either Python or C++. However, Python may be good enough for a simplistic Point & Click game. But... where do I get started?

Not here, bud. And if you think here is where you go to start making a game, then that does not bode well for its future.

[jleger91]

Do you mean "here" as in this is a bad forum for advice?

[HereIsPlenty]

jleger91 původně napsal:

Do you mean "here" as in this is a bad forum for advice?

Pretty much. You could ask on Reddit but really if you do not know how the games industry works, you might need to research a little more first. I am not trying to be unkind here. It is just one of the strangest requests I have seen on the Steam forums.

[Haruspex]

Ooh! Ooh! This is relevant to my interests and knowledge!
I recommend you try Adventure Game Studio.[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk]

It's very specifically tailor made to create point and click adventures in the style of Lucasarts and Sierra games from the 1990s. There are several games on Steam made using this engine.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/283880/Heroines_Quest_The_Herald_of_Ragnarok/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/395250/The_Adventures_of_Fatman/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1603980/If_On_A_Winters_Night_Four_Travelers/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1098770/The_Crimson_Diamond/

I've been using it since it was a DOS engine. It's been around for a long time. Syntax is C like, but all the lower level stuff is handled for you.

[King of Games]

Haruspex původně napsal:

Ooh! Ooh! This is relevant to my interests and knowledge!
I recommend you try Adventure Game Studio.[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk]

It's very specifically tailor made to create point and click adventures in the style of Lucasarts and Sierra games from the 1990s. There are several games on Steam made using this engine.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/283880/Heroines_Quest_The_Herald_of_Ragnarok/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/395250/The_Adventures_of_Fatman/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1603980/If_On_A_Winters_Night_Four_Travelers/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1098770/The_Crimson_Diamond/

I've been using it since it was a DOS engine. It's been around for a long time. Syntax is C like, but all the lower level stuff is handled for you.

I think Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw used that software to make alot of his games

[RPG Gamer Man]

Take a university class. When i had to, i had to make a game. I never uploaded it, but it worked fine. I made a simple game with some graphics that basically is hangman. It was my final assignment i made for programming class. Very easy for me to make once i knew how to code games.

[Haruspex]

King of Games původně napsal:

I think Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw used that software to make alot of his games

He did indeed! He was an active member of the community over on the AGS forums.

[King of Games]

Haruspex původně napsal:

King of Games původně napsal:

I think Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw used that software to make alot of his games

He did indeed! He was an active member of the community over on the AGS forums.

thats neat. His Chzo Mythos series was really good.

[jleger91]

Haruspex původně napsal:

Ooh! Ooh! This is relevant to my interests and knowledge!
I recommend you try Adventure Game Studio.[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk]

Good idea! I wonder if the character sprite is necessary, or the game can be played without the character sprite? Furthermore, are custom effects allowed such as rain effects and the camera bogging up and down? Would it be easier to write my own Point & Click style game from scratch? I did it once before with SOS on Newgrounds https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/899100
even though SOS can be refined and bugs fixed and more hints to make it more enjoyable.

[Fenny]

Could you elaborate more? Do you want to code an entire game engine in those languages, or do you want to find a game engine that uses those languages? What's your coding experience like? Are you looking for a game engine that's either free or paid for? Are you going to be a solo dev? If so, do you know how to make art, sound design, music, and so on and so on?

[jleger91]

I'm a solo dev and have experience programming a Point & Click game in JavaScript from scratch; it took place on a ship and had lightning flashes, the background would bog up and down, and there was a rain effect when outdoors. The game also had unique puzzles with their own user interface.

Most of the assets used for Project SOS on Newgrounds could also be used for this redux of it. I still have all of the original files and JavaScript scripting; I even figured out how to have the game save and load.

I hope that Adventure Game Studio allows plenty of creative flexibility.

[Haruspex]

jleger91 původně napsal:

Good idea! I wonder if the character sprite is necessary, or the game can be played without the character sprite? Furthermore, are custom effects allowed such as rain effects and the camera bogging up and down? Would it be easier to write my own Point & Click style game from scratch? I did it once before with SOS on Newgrounds https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/899100
even though SOS can be refined and bugs fixed and more hints to make it more enjoyable.

Character sprite is completely optional. You can easily create a first person kind of point and click adventure game if you want. I often remove the character sprite for certain up-close puzzles, like in Myst or something.

AGS supports plugins, and people have made plugins for weather effects[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk], including rain. Custom camera movement is doable to, either built in already or using a custom plugin like Tween 2.0[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk]

Some folks believe AGS is outdated. It's true it's been around a long time, but if your goal is to make a classic-style point and click adventure, it really suits that purpose perfectly. For something a bit more modern, there's Visionaire Studio[www.visionaire-studio.net], which is what the Deponia games were made in.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/292910/Deponia_The_Complete_Journey/

As for whether it would be easier to make from scratch, I don't believe it would, but I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with creating all that base functionality from the ground up. With an engine all the busy work has been done for you, so you can just focus on the creative process of building your game.

[Subsonic]

If you want something light weight and cross platform and easy to use, but doesn't hold you back, use Dragon Ruby.

If you want something lightweight with good platform coverage, full code control and C++ you could use CoCos 2DX, or Godot.

If you want something similar to JS+Canvas, use PixiJS as a renderer, or CocosCreator as a typescript game creation engine.

My suggestions are to avoid any black boxes, if its not "open source code" don't touch it.

[jleger91]

Haruspex původně napsal:

jleger91 původně napsal:

Good idea! I wonder if the character sprite is necessary, or the game can be played without the character sprite? Furthermore, are custom effects allowed such as rain effects and the camera bogging up and down? Would it be easier to write my own Point & Click style game from scratch? I did it once before with SOS on Newgrounds https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/899100
even though SOS can be refined and bugs fixed and more hints to make it more enjoyable.

Character sprite is completely optional. You can easily create a first person kind of point and click adventure game if you want. I often remove the character sprite for certain up-close puzzles, like in Myst or something.

AGS supports plugins, and people have made plugins for weather effects[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk], including rain. Custom camera movement is doable to, either built in already or using a custom plugin like Tween 2.0[www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk]

Some folks believe AGS is outdated. It's true it's been around a long time, but if your goal is to make a classic-style point and click adventure, it really suits that purpose perfectly. For something a bit more modern, there's Visionaire Studio[www.visionaire-studio.net], which is what the Deponia games were made in.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/292910/Deponia_The_Complete_Journey/

As for whether it would be easier to make from scratch, I don't believe it would, but I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with creating all that base functionality from the ground up. With an engine all the busy work has been done for you, so you can just focus on the creative process of building your game.

I'm a bit confused on how to install the plugin and run the test game; the instructions don't help and the thread doesn't help either. So I put ags_snowrain.dll in the main AGS folder but what do I do with the files in the SnowDemo folder? In there I see ac2game.dta, acsprset.spr, editor.dat, room1.crm, and "Edit this .AGSGame"; I tried renaming "Edit this" into "Game.agf" but it just gives me a list of errors when I try to open the file.

[Haruspex]

jleger91 původně napsal:

I'm a bit confused on how to install the plugin and run the test game.

AGS Documentation is very thorough. They've had decades to write and revise it, and it's invaluable to working with the software.

Using plugins section.[adventuregamestudio.github.io]

Up-to-date AGS manual[adventuregamestudio.github.io]

Another solution, instead of using a plugin just create a pre-animated rain animation and play it as an overlay either on a big object covering the screen or use a GUI. You could complete the illusion by animating the background with raindrops hitting the ground, and if you're using a character animate them with rain hitting their head and shoulders.

The plugin I linked you is kind of old. Sorry for not vetting it a bit closer. It will work, but it might take some adjustment, and you might want to forget about it until you're a bit more familiar with the system.