I have started working with the guys on this "Template", what the plans are at the moment is to build on the sample and add some of the functions that Mojo was talking about.. ie adding a sound framework/Storage and some other smaller functions. Then if the project is accepted and liked by the community we shall continue to work on it, maybe under a codeplex project.

But the system will be designed and shipped in a VSI format so that it can be used as a project like a starterkit.

I have to admit, I'm still a little unclear as to what Mojo is looking for. The only thing the GSMS is missing is sound. It basically gives you a shell that you fill in with game specific code. You're not locked into a certain genre of game and it handles most of the cookie cutter stuff you have to do for any game. There's some things you could add (high score for example) but not all games might have a high score feature so it's not added. Even so, it's trivial to create a new class derived from what's there and show high scores.

A starter kit, IMO, should either be pretty generic, making no assumptions as to what features a game might include, or pretty specific, allow the developer to tweak some code to add gameplay features. The starter kits that are out there now cover both areas with the specific ones being the racer and Marblets kits.

Just my $.02. :)

IF YOU HEARD OF "ROMANCE OF THE 3 KINGDOMS" SERIES, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT START UP KIT. BECAUSE KOEI ONLY MAKES THEM FOR PLAYSTATION  NOT FOR THE XBOX

reddfayce:

IF YOU HEARD OF "ROMANCE OF THE 3 KINGDOMS" SERIES, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT START UP KIT. BECAUSE KOEI ONLY MAKES THEM FOR PLAYSTATION  NOT FOR THE XBOX

Easy on the caps :).

He's not offering to make you a game, but a starter kit for XNA from which you can learn and build games. On top of that, nobody is going to completely redo a complete game that is covered by various copyrights and trademarks, so you are never going to see Romance of the 3 Kingdoms on Xbox until Koei makes it so.

Anyway, I think it might just be nice to make the progressive beginner's starter kit. One that contains a Pong clone, Tetris clone, and perhaps a third simple game. All with simple menus and maybe sounds. Just so that beginners can dive into real basic games and see how an entire game looks together without needing lots and lots of code as in things like Spacewars.

Will try a different approach, Machaira. =) And will make this response as short as possible. Heheh. I don't want to hijack this thread to discuss templates and samples further, but you can e-mail me if you would like some more information as to the subtle differences between _my idea_ of the two if this doesn't clear it up. Glenn seems to have the idea, so already more than enough has probably been said about it. =)

What I'm looking for is something I can start with, and learn with, as I craft my own game. WITHOUT (<--important) having code from a real game getting in the way of my learning and game-crafting process. But WITH (<--important) enough code that I can get something that obviously looks like a game "package" right when I begin my project.

Starter Kits tend to HAVE code from a game mixed in to the point where it's hard for a new game designer to really get started without learning a lot of things about a lot of things before-hand. (In starter kits you tend to learn IN the kit, after learning the WHOLE kit...)
Templates tend to have little-to-nothing in the way of code, but are too empty for a new game designer to get started on a project without extensive learning elsewhere. (In templates you tend to learn elsewhere from books/online/etc...)

The template/starter kit Glenn is working on is a combination of the good things about most current starter kits (something that works right away) and the good things about most current templates (nothing to interfere with the learning and project design) and more of a happy medium between the two. I'm getting more and more familiar with how everything gets put together personally, but the process has been very daunting. And I know a lot of people who just can't seem to get past that initial overwhelming sense of confusion to take the baby steps necessary to really learn about designing a game from the ground up.

A template of this sort will help people like me, and them, to really get started with our projects and idea with the smallest amount of investment before we get visible results we can see and play with. If you don't understand the difference from that explanation, wait until you see the template and it might be self-apparent what the differences would be between the two. =)

Correct , what I am working on is just a begining point that would expand the basic windows or xbox game templates that ship with the XNA Framework. By this I mean that I have migrated the gamestate sample and have converted it into a Starterkit format, this means that you can now select it as a new project type when creating your new project in GSE.

Now with EvilDeD we are working on expanding it so there would be a Sound Layer and a Storage Layer added in. I have also intergrated the transitional effects for the menus that Shawn was talking about in his blog. Now you are able to pick the menu transition you would like for a menu screen when you create it.

Should have more soon.

I like the Jet Set Willy (Platformer) style games, a starter kit for that would be good.

I would like to see a strategy kit that allows you to make something like a RTS or even a turn based strategy game.

2D RPG. Can then be easily extended to a turn based strategy or RTS.

FPS. Can then be easily extended to a 3rd-person shooter.

Starter kits can't (and shouldn't attempt to) write a whole game for someone or cover every genre. They need to be just that - starting points, that we can take and extend and tear to shreds and get cool ideas from and learn from and write something completely (or maybe just slightly) different for ourselves.

2d or 3d fighting game

I would love to see a starter kit that gives an basic 2D kit. Like animation class, controller class (both PC/360), basic maths functions in some kind of helper class. 2D collision. Menu's All that necessary stuff needed in all games.

Anything to make this maze of code as easy to program as gamemaker.  making something with provides all the basic stuff would make it so easier for me and other beginners.

Don't know how hard that will be :D

Hello,

I kinda like the XNA Racing Kit but I also like First Person Shooters. However, I'd like to see a starter kit for either racing or 1st/3rd person shooter that contains:

: Support for Large Outdoor Scenes

: Multiplayer / Network Support Included

: Visual Terrain / Mapping Editor like BattleCraft

: Game Media Packager. Simular to loading all content into a game_media.cab sorta like how Quake uses pak0.pk3 files.

Pretty much everything that isn't included in any of the latest XNA Books. Something worthwhile would be the most useful. There are tons of tutorials that already cover everything in the books but I have yet to find any kits showing the most wanted features.

Just my thoughts,

Chris