Making games

[Steel]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any programs that are available that can be used to make games of some kind. I'm talking about text or primitive graphics things here rather than modding for existing proper games, or making anything professionally.

Basically i have been playing around in C and making some stuff, but of course i'd prefer a program that can actually make something that you dont need a special obscure program to play,for example something that can make something that looks like some of the browser games on the net.

I have a maths degree, so I'd prefer something that is powerful (as long as its got some documentation somewhere) over a kind of cookie cutter thing with limited flexibility.

Anyone have experience with something like flash? Graphical capabilities arent essential, although some rudimentary graphics might be nice.

[Dooey Jo]

If you want something truly simple and text-based (and maybe a few pictures for illustration), you can go with Javascript and XML. I made a simple "choose your adventure" "game" that way once, although it was basically a tool for testing ways of creating non-linear stories for actual games. I uploaded it here if you want to take a look, but if you decide to use it as a model, stay away from the instant death "comedy options" I put in there (I was bored). It wouldn't be hard to expand that sort of thing with some form of simple battle system or something to create a game proper.

But it really depends on what kind of game you want to make. Flash is good if you want things that move around and interact (which is possible to do in Javascript, but you probably don't want to go there).

[Lagmonster]

There's an old bit I tried once called, really, "Gamemaker". I think YoYo games publishes it now, with a free lite version and a registered pro version. That's the closest I ever got, although there was one called "FPScreator" which I stared at longingly for some time. You can google either of them, they're likely still around.

[Steel]

Crap, sure i responded to this earlier, must have hit the wrong button.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions i'll look into them.