LoginLogin
Nintendo shutting down 3DS + Wii U online services, see our post

Point and click engine?

Root / Programming Questions / [.]

WindyCreated:
Has anyone done a point and click type of engine? Would love to see Beyond Shadowgate from TurboGrafx get a remake :)


The engine itself is pretty straightforward and requires some basic things: -Defining a walkable area -Defining objects and their properties, such as obtainable, triggers, map links, etc. -Really simple pathfinding -An inventory (if it has that kind of thing) -Dialog boxes (I can't think of a point and click game that doesn't have dialog) -Room transitions (not so hard) And then if you want to get more complex, you can do stuff like making a way to define a mapping for combining items, timed events, etc. Even though the engine is probably simple, a LOT of time would have to be sunk into designing the environment, setting up all the puzzles and items, and writing all the dialog. Some games are difficult in a technical aspect, but in this case the difficulty comes from the "artistic" side. Uhhh but that's not the answer you wanted lol. No, I don't think anybody has made an "engine" for that yet.

@randomouscrap that was a very informative answer though. Thanks for that. Maybe I will start some very simple stuff for a point and click engine. I've had a lot of trouble understanding SmileBasic. But I will start on some of the easier stuff for a point and click type of game engine tonight. Would love to see some point and click type of stuff come out. I loved a game on the Wii-U called Lone Survivor. Graphically not all that great but storyline absolutely top notch

Some simpler games would be something like Quiet Collection

I've played some good point and click games; I know they can be really good!

I think something like Lone Survivor would be easier in SmileBasic, rather than having an actual pointer on the screen. Still lots of work.

I think I will strive for something light like the Quiet collection type of game. Those are 4 short point and click games. Should be very easy to put som thing like that into motion

Of course I'm not making 4 games in 1.