Ninjuit: Looks interesting, I'm assuming it's a side scrolling game? I'd love to see a fist person exploration/puzzle game with this art style. Like Myst but with art like this instead of pre-rendered 3d images.

Not quite sure how I'm going to approach the game, but it'll probably be a regular side-scroller while on land and more akin to Castle Crashers (for motion) while on water. These are just pixel concept arts/mock-ups of the game's style/atmosphere. :D It's one of like 9 games I've got going. Haha.

Sorry about not responding to your posts guys! I figured that after like 3 days of no responses I wouldn't get any. I haven't drawn anything realistic since either.

I think I will try again soon taking notes from what you guys said. I may draw my next picture with more dramatic colors than necessary to help with my color picking. Thanks for the comments!

As a note, I use Paint Tool SAI, I'm just new to the whole coloring thing. I usually just do lineart stuff (cleaner than the second picture, but I'm messing with a sketchier, quicker style).

That entire tutorial ignores tile sets for some reason...

So, I've just recently decided to move from GM to FlashDevelop/FlashPunk and everything was going pretty well while I learned the basics, but now, I've hit a sort of wall and I hope someone can help.

So, the issue spawns from the tutorial located here, it is one of FlashDevelop's official tutorials on utilizing the Ogmo Editor to import maps into FlashDevelop. The issue is that the tutorials use some older version of the Ogmo Editor (something like V.95x) and the version I have downloaded is V 2..0.0.40 (the most recent). I've noticed that the level file .oel that is produced in this newer version of the program is significantly different from the older version. Here is an example.

.905 :

VS

2 :

Ultimately, I am a very new programmer. The only coding I've ever done was in basic during my freshman year of highschool and in GM. I'm going to college this year so I'll probably grow as a coder, but atm, I have no idea what to do with this. The tutorials don't cover this type of XML formatting and I'm not sure how I can import the levels into FlashDevelop.

ANY help would be appreciated, especially in the form of code snippets or even just a project that has code that imports this XML format into a level. I could probably figure it out if I saw code that was doing it, even for a different project.

If anyone has a download link for the .915 or .917 versions, that would be really great.

Okay, well this will be my final decision then. I'll use FlashDevelop with Haxe/AS3 and Haxepunk/Flashpunk/Flixel, whichever I determine is better in the long run. If the performance of this game isn't what I want it to be, I will look into Unity from a 2D development standpoint in more detail, but potentially just purchase Game Maker Studio and work in that engine for awhile (and let college classes teach whatever languages they do).

I feel like that sounds good. Thanks for all of the help, I've managed to make a decision based on what a lot of you have said. It seems like Flash is a nice platform, but some people have said it is "dying" (I don't quite believe this yet) though the performance hits it can take sometimes may be the only defining detail that determines whether I use it or not. Oh, and also the music handling capabilities, which is another big reason why I left Game Maker.

@Geti. That is a really enlightening response, though while my goal is ultimately to make games, a secondary goal is to improve my overall knowledge base within a coding environment. I am picking up a degree in game design with a minor in programming, so I honestly just want to be able to make my own games, but additionally communicate at an intelligent level with programmers I may work with. This sentiment extends to artists and musicians as well, but I wish to take it one step at a time.

The goal of all me asking these questions, despite barely having experience with "real" programming (or none at all for that matter) is that I do want to learn and improve! I figure the best way to start is by choosing a platform/development environment that best suits my needs for now and the future and working from there. I just wanted to move away from game maker to something that would force me to do new things!

Edit: It's also come to my attention that if I used Haxe and wanted to do a commercial release, I'd have to release my source code? I'm not sure of the details and while that's not an issue for the most part, how would that affect the deployment of my game on a flash-based portal or some other, non-computer-based platform?

What will you do learning so much? I often try to learn something new. The end result is that I do not create games.
If you wish to create games, learn one language/tool/engine and stick with it, create a game or two or more.

I will probably use the experience as leverage on my resume when I'm applying for jobs, though in the end I want to go indie, but I need funds to do that! Haha. I have 4 years of college to go through first anyway. I also need to try different languages/engines to see what I like best.

To target different platforms you want to create an NME project in FlashDevelop. In the top bar there will be a drop-down box that lets you choose the target platform.  In terms of setting up a project with the Tilelayer (which you should do as it allows you to draw a ton of 2d sprites, particularly on mobile platforms), google Runnermark which will act as a decent source of how to set up a project with the Tilelayer.


Now, AS3 is a good option and a bit easier to dive right into, and you can create standalone executables if that is what you want (you can create a Flash Projector [essentially it binds together the Flash player and your content]).  You can also create an AIR application (essentially AS3 with a few extra tidbits) to create something that can be run on a mobile device, with no change in your code. 

My personal recommendation is to try out Haxe (and there are libraries out there like HaxePunk to make it easier) and AS3 (Flixel, FlashPunk, and Starling), and see what you like the most.  The technology you use to create the game is only so important, and finding something that fits your mental framework is at least as important as using the technically best option.

Is the NME project the only way to target different platforms? I mean, I'm not terribly concerned, but I was wondering since I started with an AS3 project under the Haxe section. Now other Haxe-related question has to do with "Tilelayer". What is that? I presume it's some sort of library, but while I know where I can find it (sort of) I'm not completely sure how to implement it (newbie). Haha. Any information regarding this would be godsend.

And well, I did a quick tutorial with Haxe and FlashDevelop and it seems like a pretty decent language. I have to learn about the workflow and about real object-orientated coding though. Now, my other question is, is HaxePunk another code editor? So if I used that would I have to not use FlashDevelop?

Well, I'm trying to learn Haxe with FlashDevelop right now, hopefully the few tutorials they do have plus the documentation will be enough for me. Once I feel well versed in Haxe or AS3, I think I'll move into Java for another prototype or move straight to C++ and SFML. Thoughts?

Now assuming I did attempt to use C++ with SFML, what would I be expecting in terms of time spend learning?

[Haxe with FlashDevelop]

In the long run, I think you need to be clear about your goals. If you want portability, no matter what language you choose, you code will need to be structured to allow said portability, which is a challenge on its own right.

Well, ultimately my goal is to work on multi-platform indie games. So, ideally, I would like to be able to create games that can run on a PC initially, but are relatively easily ported to other platforms like Mac, or even a mobile OS (which I would probably recode for usability purposes anyway). I'm not sure if there is an environment that fosters this desire, but honestly, I'm pretty interested in just about all platforms, which might be an issue for me, haha. I would like to however, focus on new platforms during my time in college so I don't exit college with only knowledge in one platform/programming language. Granted, I don't PLAN on being a programmer either, I just hear that it's good knowledge to have as a designer.

If Flash and Haxe can handle the video of the project ( http://youtu.be/BKomG-BBRfo ) I posted (with upgraded, but still 2D graphics) then I will look further into FlashDevelop (which I have downloaded) and make attempts to learn the language. It doesn't seem to be too hard and tutorials for AS3 are pretty abundant if I can't deal with Haxe. I am interested in non-browser-based deployment as well for this project though and I'm not sure if that would work with Flash and Haxe. Presuming it won't, I'll still work in it for a bit just to get the experience and distribute the game that way if necessary.

I am simply looking for a new, non-GM platform to make a 2D platformer in. The more useful the platform/language will be in the future or in the long-run, the better for me.

My options seem to be:

AS3 with Flash/FlashDevelop
Haxe with FlashDevelop <---Currently best option?
Java with ?
C++ with any number of engines, the only one I know being DarkGDK (any other suggestions?)
C# with XNA
Unity 3D with extensions for 2D usability

What advantages would I see over Flash in Java if I were to use Java? Would I have portability? Or would Flash be more "portable"?

HaXe is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. It can deploy to flash and native binary though so if that's your aim, it ticks the boxes.

I'm still not sure what deploying to flash and native binary means? Does it allow me to quickly port/compile into another language or something (which is what I gathered from reading about Haxe).

This is pretty funny.

I will try out FlashDevelop and Haxe, though I'm still interested in opinions on DarkGDK if there are any? I really do want to learn to code in C++/C/C# sometime. Haha.

Fallsburg: What do you mean deploy natively? I'm still a bit new to all this more advanced coding stuff. Would that be like porting it to the other languages? Or something that the engine/compiler does?

EDIT: I looked up Haxe, I now understand what was meant! I am interested however, do you use Haxe? Or have you used it? I'm interested in using it to create a flash game, but potentially have it ported/deployed to windows.

I'm looking into DarkGDK with Visual C++ Express and Flash/Flixel/Flashpunk. Are there any objections or any better engines I could try to use for 2D development? AND, can Flash support a port of this game http://youtu.be/BKomG-BBRfo (this is my GM prototype). Because it needs to handle quite a few instances/sprites/objects at once. Usually, Flash has issues with this kind of stuff. haha.

So, Unity is out then. I'll probably still look at the tutorials to get a feel for it regardless (I have to use it in college in a few years I believe), but are there any other solutions for desire to work on a 2D game? Or is a self-written engine my only chance? (Or XNA, with XNA am I forced to publish to XBLI?)

Does anyone have thoughts on DarkGDK (C++) or any other engines based in C? I figure I should learn the language sometime...