woensdag 26 maart 2014

Gomba early preview

It has been awhile since I last wrote about indi3DS. I get asked pretty frequently about the status of the project, and today I decided to shed some light onto it. The project is basically canceled and turned into a different project. When I started indi3DS it was just a compiler for my own scripting language. I made the compiler because I wanted to be able to rapidly test my 3DS prototypes.

Over time it turned into a huge project. Offering a debugger, simulator, level editor and asset editor. Each of those could be a big project on their own. Making games is my main priority and all focus recently has been going to Tappingo, so development of indi3DS has always been slow. 

With the recent rumors of Unity coming to 3DS, I do not really see a point in putting all this effort into making such a complete tool from scratch.  After seeing Puzzle script something just clicked and I decided to transform the project into why I was building it in the first place; making rapid prototypes for my games!

So today I want to announce the project indi3DS transformed into; Gomba!

Gomba is a rapid prototype game creation tool for Nintendo 3DS. It offers a game engine, level editor, simulator and C-like scripting language and debugger. It’s super easy in use. Non-programmers can probably create a simple game in just a hour. While advanced programmers can go nuts with the C-like script.

Right now I’m building it for Windows. I have plans to transform it into a online tool, probably made in Flash, so that you will only need a browser to run it.

Here is a screenshot showing a overview of the Gomba toolset (fun fact; that’s actually I prototype  I’m working on together with pixel artists Danny Flexner):


http://www.goodbyegalaxygames.com/gomba/gfx/gomba_v1_preview.png

(Click on the image for full size)


Game engine
 I’ve chosen for a tile-based logic engine, which means that if the player moves forward for example, he will move one tile forward (not one pixel).

I know this is not ideal for all game types. Actually, it works mostly for puzzle games and adventure games. This allows, however, for really easy and fast prototyping and this is something I really wanted.

The engine has a lot of functionality (like collision detection) build in. You also have standard movement controls.

Scripting
Gomba features it’s very own C-like scripting language. With this script you can add events to the engine. Combined with the Game Engine already build in features, scripting is really easy and fast.

Debugger
Helps you debug your script. All errors are processed into a error report list with all the details (type of error, hint to solve and line number). When you double click on a error, it will highlight the specific line in the script editor for easy spotting.

Simulator
Will let you run the game on your PC. You can quickly check if your scripts and levels are working correctly before putting it on the Nintendo 3DS.

The future
I hope to convert the project to Adobe Flash soon, and release a beta somewhere early in the summer.




18 opmerkingen:

  1. This is really awesome. Looking forward to both Gomba and whatever game you and Mr. Flexner are working on!

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  2. Im interested :).
    Wowsaletest @ gmail.com my e-mail :)

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  3. I'de love to help test this for you, should you need it.

    ashlyquin123@gmail.com

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    Reacties
    1. Thanks! I'm hoping to have the flash version ready this summer, so that testers can use it and give feedback :)

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    2. I can be a tester? P.S. can you give me the download link for 3ds then? Thanks and good job

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  4. Deze reactie is verwijderd door de auteur.

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  5. I'd be glad to test this if you are in need! I can do some simple programming and it looks great for a strategy game. One question, though: how do you get it running on 3DS hardware?

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  6. I assume this would run in Linux using wine? I'm gonna try it!

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    Reacties
    1. the version I plan to release will run in Flash.So as long as you have a browser that supports Flash, it does not matter which OS you are running :)

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    2. Ah right, I thought you had already released the windows version.

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  7. Hi Hugo!!

    This is very interesting, I'm a developer and pixel artist, I hope to make a platform game is.

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  8. Just wondering.
    While it's clear you will need a browser to test the code before putting it on a 3DS.
    But does it require a developer 3DS?
    And also, will it be available just to licensees? Or to all people?

    Because really, keep in mind you're still dealing with the NDA you signed with Nintendo.

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  9. It looks like a really good start. I'm happy to chip in and do some testing on this development tool (As Petit Computer isn't really put into good use by me.)

    I've always had the idea of working with base-development like this, although it would be a good idea to send whatever code you're putting on to a cloud service and fetch it on the 3DS using the app, instead of QR Code (Which would break the game up into segments.). This would also allow for people to share their ideas quicker and get feedback on bugs that can't be found using the compiler (Logic errors). This is also good for version control, so if something goes wrong in the current version you can back up to the last version. This is just a thought though, since I've had problems scanning 20 QR Codes just to get one fully functional PTC game running and sometimes backups are also hard to manage with the PTC system.

    Hoping for all the best with Gomba :)

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  10. That's really awesome!
    Hey, I can help you making a HTML/JS online editor instead of flash if you want. I think it will be simplerand faster without Flash - and it will work on spartphones and tablets too! :)
    Even if you're not interested, you can count me in for the beta-testing (or anything else)
    max.06.87 at gmail dot com
    Thanks!

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  11. Would love to try this! Would even pay for it. Sounds awesome and can't wait to hear more.

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