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[fatalblur]

So, I've tried looking but I haven't been able to find some good tutorials on how to make a 2d game engine? I'm very new to all of this and I've thought of using something like Flixel or Flashpunk, but I really want to make an engine specialized for what I want to do, to make development easier. I also want to make an easy to use level editor, like what Super Meat Boy did, they said that the released level editor was a more basic version of the same editor they used to make all the levels.

So could someone find some tutorials on that? If you could I would be forever grateful towards you. Thx!

[nikki]

for specific answer it wouldn't hurt to define this

what I want to do,

.

in general i guess you could get your hands on a few opensource free engines and have a peek.
i believe i liked the architecture of flashpunk better that that of flixel but that might be personal.

and also : everytime a new language (or major version) appears there seem to be a million/few dozen books in the store that claim to teach you that language, usually by building a crappy 2d engine (this statement might not be true anymore, i stopped bying these beginner books a few years ago..)

and most important

have fun

[fatalblur]

Well, so what I really want to do is to design a platformer, one which is based on speed, I want it to be a short game, as it would be my first, and hopefully get it done within 6 months, that includes learning the language and everything as well. I want it to have a decent sized, maybe 50 levels and 5 boss levels. So in short, it's a game about getting to point A to point B in the shortest ammount of time, using powerups and your environment.   

[Maud'Dib Atreides]

Learn how to draw a square graphic, (32x32 usually) in either DirectX, OpenGL, or whatever rendering engine you choose.

Choose 256 distinct Graphics of the same size (Again, shoot for 32 x 32)

Name the files "0.png, 1.png, 2.png" etc

Create five 5 item byte arrays in the language you use.

Example

[33, 54, 22, 02, 05]
[04, 56, 33, 90, 123]
[04, 50, 31, 96, 53]
[12, 50, 31, 90, 121]
[212, 45, 05, 94, 100]

These arrays can be random.

Now code a loop that goes into each of these 5 arrays and retrieves the values in order, moving on to the next array after the last was complete, with the byte value corresponding to the graphic name.

The loop should draw the graphic with your rendering engine in the order that it appears in the byte array.

You should now have a screen of the graphics you chose, corresponding to the arrays you had.

Change the values in the array to create levels.

[ThemsAllTook]

You might be better off forgetting about writing an engine, and instead just writing this one specific game. Once you have a few games under your belt, you'll start seeing the common patterns you've had to implement in each game, and you can extract them into that will become your "engine" for future reuse. The problem with trying to write an engine is that you often end up spending a lot of engineering time on speculative features that you won't ever actually need, and the game never gets done.

[fatalblur]

Learn how to draw a square graphic, (32x32 usually) in either DirectX, OpenGL, or whatever rendering engine you choose.

Choose 256 distinct Graphics of the same size (Again, shoot for 32 x 32)

Name the files "0.png, 1.png, 2.png" etc

Create five 5 item byte arrays in the language you use.

Example

[33, 54, 22, 02, 05]
[04, 56, 33, 90, 123]
[04, 50, 31, 96, 53]
[12, 50, 31, 90, 121]
[212, 45, 05, 94, 100]

These arrays can be random.

Now code a loop that goes into each of these 5 arrays and retrieves the values in order, moving on to the next array after the last was complete, with the byte value corresponding to the graphic name.

The loop should draw the graphic with your rendering engine in the order that it appears in the byte array.

You should now have a screen of the graphics you chose, corresponding to the arrays you had.

Change the values in the array to create levels.

Thankyou so much.

[sublinimal]

Aim for the level editor first. Think of a level editor as a graphical way to produce code. Instead of hardcoding data, you'll prepare automated methods for anyone to select object n and set (x, y) to it, without requiring programming knowledge.

Then take this to the next level by wrapping it in a neat interface (see if you can implement dragging blocks or even real-time playtesting)

[Maud'Dib Atreides]

Learn how to draw a square graphic, (32x32 usually) in either DirectX, OpenGL, or whatever rendering engine you choose.

Choose 256 distinct Graphics of the same size (Again, shoot for 32 x 32)

Name the files "0.png, 1.png, 2.png" etc

Create five 5 item byte arrays in the language you use.

Example

[33, 54, 22, 02, 05]
[04, 56, 33, 90, 123]
[04, 50, 31, 96, 53]
[12, 50, 31, 90, 121]
[212, 45, 05, 94, 100]

These arrays can be random.

Now code a loop that goes into each of these 5 arrays and retrieves the values in order, moving on to the next array after the last was complete, with the byte value corresponding to the graphic name.

The loop should draw the graphic with your rendering engine in the order that it appears in the byte array.

You should now have a screen of the graphics you chose, corresponding to the arrays you had.

Change the values in the array to create levels.

Thankyou so much.

Don't mention it. You asked for help and I was in your shoes once. If you do decide to use the array method for level making (Which is extremely efficient might I add) and you get this running, feel free to PM about methods of implementing further features.

[eyeliner]

That, my friend, is a helpful hand indeed. I congratulate you.