Have you seen TrapThem-physics?

That's nothing different today. Crysis2 was bound to what is feasable on a console and it was a hell of a challenge to create a performant engine for it.

....It was necessary to build the game they wanted to make, and with all of the features they wanted it to have.

The real trick they used is this: They simply didn't make the game they wanted to make.

Anyway, I am making games not everyone can make, even on recent hardware. It is just a matter on what you want to spend serious attention. There is more thought spend on the movement-system alone in TrapThem than in all other grid-based action-puzzlers. Not to mention the challenge I face with TrapThem-physics. Just try to apply it in a large environment in a Metroid-Rethought. Now you need to think about optimization more than ever, even on recent hardware, or you simply don't make the game you want to make to make things simpler.

Programming games required much more skill in those days.

Who are you telling this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFd6zFM8L80&feature=channel_video_title

The physics are assembler-optimized. Notice that those physics can kill every new age pc with a few more blocks. If you are not doing it well the processing power will linearly scale to the blocks-amount, it is tried to make it independent from the amount of blocks.

I also use some glue next to assembler to make it better stick together (nah just joking).

Anyway, but you have to admit that those games were a lot simpler, too.

Divide and Conquer is really the gold-tip here. I cannot imagine any other concept how to deal with complexity since it simply doesn't exist.

Some will believe in their own superiority and in others' incompetence.

That's not a problem as long as others accept it.

Don't be afraid of physic-basics. Just grab a good mechanics-book and look up the ideal rules.
Approximate them and it should suffice if it is not supposed to be a hardcore-sim. 

Do you mean something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCq9AJbZl7U&feature=channel_video_title

I have implemented it some time ago. But it is nothing you can find in a book.

If you want a simple solution but a bit more general and more robust then here is my suggestion by  example.

A box is nothing but some space included between 4 lines. Let's assume you are landing on the ground from a jump. You can consider the ground a horizontal line. It basicly looks like this:

bool lineCollisionCheck(Cline line)
{                           
 if (previousPos.Y > line.Y - smallOffset && pos.Y < line.Y) 
  return true;
 return false;
}

Notice that especially for the perpendicular speed-direction: it doesn't matter how fast it is. The collision will be registered correctly. I recommend to always hold the previous position and computing the potential actual one. Then in your collision-handler you adjust the pos to a valid value.

Also notice that smallOffset is just to prevent numerical issues with floats if you don't know how your hardware is handling them. If you don't include it, it can possibly be that at some point of the game the player just falls through the ground.

A street fight is the ultimate game, requires the highest variety of skills.

GameMaker might be a wonderfull tool for certain type of games. But I see really no reason why not just to start with xna then. In general you will have to learn programming anyway, even when you use game-maker. With xna you have more control over what is happening, you have also support to track back prog-errors. Once you have your engine going you will likely be more productive.

Not only that, but the action is much faster-paced and exciting.

That pretty much sums up all the fuss in this thread.

Btw. Derek, I like your face. He was my favorite, too.

Not sure how serious you are about it. By constricting the consequences you are limiting depth. So what's the point of having an rpg with poor amount of consequences?

My assumptions are always correct, son:P

Pretty much my points as well lol. Also very little of the game's content is tied to the quests (other than the quests themselves obv). This what differentiates Skyrim and the other Bethsoft games from something like Gothic. After you've completed the intro you can see all of the game's world, clear out all the dungeons, get the best, gear, max out your skills etc. without ever completing a single quest.

Note that I am referring to Gothic2 in particular (Gothic4 etc. is another game made by different people with no taste):

The problem with people is that they think they have a sophisticated new age game and get hyped up. But there were some games a decade ago which were more sophisticated. Only no one knows them.

So that is your understanding of "content". You can collect a bazillion of goodies outside a quest in Gothic2, too. First off, Gothic2 is almost a complete coherent simulation on its own. Do what you want. There are hardly any artificial limitations. And because of that it is a game with consequences. You will quickly learn to respect your environment. You cannot start off and kill a bear easily like in Skyrim. Because obviously, it is a strong animal.

You have a larger environment in Skyrim. Fine, collect what you want, visit new areas but what is the motivation to move on and do all this? The combat-side is no concern. And literally every npc in this game is a monotonous dead-boring text by voice-acters who have no feel for the game at all. The npc-design is unauthentic and poor.
In Gothic2 the npc-networking is a lot more sophisticated. And despite having only few voice-actors they perfectly feel the game (original in german). The game is serious but still provides some humor in addition, because the npc's are more authentic.
Nothing like that will you find in Skyrim.

But what am I talking about, here is the ultimate reason why Gothic2 beats everything similar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJA3n4Tee_s&feature=channel_video_title

I recommend you to play Gothic2 - Night of the raven.

Play Gothic2, in german, and change your opinion

I played the sequel, Equinox.  I think that one was SNES.

How far did you come?

Seagal > Chuck Norris

and I allow you to make games. So in all my mercy can you please answer my serious question?

Now that i am in this process a reward-concept came to mind:

If a rule-set manual is going to be included, how about that you have to unlock it in order to read it? It will be the reward for completing the tut-levels (since some seem to like such rewards). So in case you forgot some special details, you can look them up then.

What do you think about that? I really want to know ones personal perception. Does it add to rewarding experience or is it just annoying?

j-snake is the next mattg

and you will play this game! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaPPFbI0dks