Hi!

[Netjera]

Hmm... I guess I should be brave and introduce myself, since I'm new and have already started pestering people with questions. Incessantly. Oh - and did I mention I'm a beginner and I tend to ask a lot of questions? Incessantly. What -? Oh.. I mentioned that.

Well, I'm Netjera - pronounced Netchera. Net is great for short. Don't mind it at all. I'm partly disabled and have been looking at making casual games as a way to generate some part time income. It's been a long journey with me learning a lot of stuff - still doesn't seem like enough. I've been five years learning various bits and pieces regarding game making, and I'm proficient with Daz|Studio and Photoshop at the Intermediate+ level, as a result. If anyone needs a little help, I'm more than happy to *try* to answer a few art-related questions. Art is definitely my strength. Coding... err... not so much.

I have two (I think) great game ideas, and I'm trying to see if AM will be able to really work with either of them. I need to be able to do certain things like use sprites or similar animations, have enemies, move items around the screen, and so on, for one of the games. For the other, the biggest issue is marking a picture once it's been used, so that it can't be used again. I'm calling a series of pictures randomly, and I don't want to use them more than once - the game ends when they've all been used.

For both games, I've tried using other engines - TGB, GameMaker, and a couple of others. However, none of them were a good fit. (I'm not looking for perfect, just say - 75%. I expect to have to work to make a really good game.) AM seems like a good fit because part of the work is reduced. My first game requires an inventory system and the ability to combine inventory items - features which AM supports and seems to have plugins for. My second is definitely an adventure game, but it includes the picture mini-game as a way of getting through hurdles. In both cases, a lot of work can be saved with AM, if I can just make the couple of other things function.

I'm a total beginner with VBs. I last looked at BASIC in the 70s and since then, not at all. It's easier than C++, from what I can see, but I'm still having a lot of trouble getting anywhere, so I'm going to drive y'all crazy - for which I apologize in advance. >.< I've been looking at all the references, and I just don't understand them as well as I'd like. Half of them read like Simplified Chinese to me, and the other half read fine, but I have no idea how to apply what they're saying. The tutorials are the best, but don't always cover the topics I need.

So - that's a bit about my interests - sorry it's so long. Thanks for a great program and an excellent forum. Everyone here seems so friendly!

[Lyberodoggy]

Don't worry, you can always ask. This forum hosts many coding-and-AM gurus so you will probably find an answer to your questions.
Best way to learn is work with AM. I did work a lot with it and it rewarded me with knowledge. You will gain experience not only of the program itself but also coding experience.

Anyway, AnimationMaker and MobilityXtreme, both included in my plugins pack, can help you with animated, moving targets. If you want to take a slight look at what AM is really capable of when it comes to moving targets, you can try my game, shooting field, which can be found on the games page of AM. you are going to need XP or vista to play because I haven't compiled it in the newest windows7-compatible version of AM

[Netjera]

Don't worry, you can always ask. This forum hosts many coding-and-AM gurus so you will probably find an answer to your questions.

So far, everyone has seemed super nice. I'd hate to overstay my welcome, though. Sometimes, I just have trouble understanding what I'm reading. (I never did make it through classes and pointers in C++ >.<)

Best way to learn is work with AM. I did work a lot with it and it rewarded me with knowledge. You will gain experience not only of the program itself but also coding experience.

Surprisingly, I've been working with it for three or four days, and I already feel like I've learned a huge amount. I also don't feel impossibly overwhelmed, like I did with TGB.

Anyway, AnimationMaker and MobilityXtreme, both included in my plugins pack, can help you with animated, moving targets. If you want to take a slight look at what AM is really capable of when it comes to moving targets, you can try my game, shooting field, which can be found on the games page of AM. you are going to need XP or vista to play because I haven't compiled it in the newest windows7-compatible version of AM

Thanks! I didn't think to download any of the games, duh! *whaps self* It should work fine, since both my computers run some form of Vista.

Right now, my biggest hurdle is getting AM to register on my desktop. For some reason, whenever I enter my registration info, it just... quits to the desktop. I can't get it to do anything else. It works fine on my laptop, but I want to be able to use it on my powerhorse instead of my backup machine.