"The Mega Drive / Genesis Ecosystem Is Getting Even Richer" - Say Hello To MD Engine

I hope the TurboGrafx/PC Engine and SNES can get something similar to foster its homebrew community a bit more ^_^

"No Programming Knowledge" is all well and good, but someone will eventually have to put out some royalty-free assets to make it accessible to people who can't draw their own art.

@AllieKitsune Or use AI. Human artists have a different mindset to programmers. (Hopefully AI should allow better user interfaces for open source software a traditional weak point).

This sounds mighty interesting! I used to create games back in the day using "Click'n Play" and "The Games Factory". This sounds very similar. <3

One big strength of gbstudio was its opensource nature. Would especially help non-Intel processors. Here, unless I'm mistaken, MD Engine isn't (to be clear : this is perfectly allowed by GB Studio's MIT licence, but still)

@HoyeBoye intel processors are not a requirement. it can be AMD as well. it does require windows or linux os though. but yes, i was close to getting a mac mini but steered away from it due to potential compatibility issues with niche programs in addition to lack of games on mac os. that will always be a concern but a mac mini makes for a great secondary setup depending on your needs.

"to enable users with minimal or no programming knowledge to make games,"

How exactly does that work? I don’t understand how you could make any sort of unique game without programming.

@AllieKitsune Such an odd comment, stating that those things don't already exist.

@GravyThief Define "unique".

You'll find that when it comes to games, unique is typically defined by the design of the gameplay mechanics, or the art style.

Not every game has to be pushing the technological boundaries of the hardware in some ill-fated attempt to be labelled "unique".

But there again, as you quoted yourself, it is aimed to "to enable users with minimal or no programming knowledge to make games", I didn't see the word "unique" there.

@NoirConceit I just want to understand how you can make a game without doing any programming. I genuinely want to understand how it works as I’m intrigued.

@GravyThief You didn't originally say "make a game", you said "make any sort of unique game". Those are two different things.

But in this case, GB Studio uses a WYSIWYG editor, which is fairly intuitive and easy to use.

@NoirConceit right ok. I am now fully enlightened by your explanation. It’s been a pleasure.

@GravyThief Perhaps I can help you understand better. I'll refer to GB Studio as my reference since the resources are readily availalble. The key phrase is "It uses a visual scripting system." As the description also states, those who know how to program with C can do more advanced things. What all that means is that all the basic processes of creating the game are included in the software and handled via the GUI. So for scrolling, you'd set up a background and then can set certain flags like scrolling direction and the software will handle the scrolling. Then there are additional visual tools for defining boundaries. Here's a video example if you wish to see how it works: https://youtu.be/-SvLqsYfaVc

For something more advanced like enemy behavior, the software has built-in functions(the visual scripting). There's still quite a bit to pick up, but it's learning what's available through the GUI rather than having to learn GB assembly or a higher-level language. If you think about other advanced software like image editors or video editors, you have to learn their processes like layers or timelines. It's similar for something like this. You have to learn what options and processes are available, and then you can create scripts that define enemy behavior through the GUI and the software turns that into game code. Here is a video showing the process for enemy behavior if you wish to see it: https://youtu.be/5e_n8Znid8w

I hope that provides a better understanding for you.