Interesting idea, I recommend adding virtual arrow keys for mobile compatibility.
24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
21–30 of 42 posts
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#22Nice! I think you could do a port of the classic Milton Bradley board game "You sunk my Battleship!" with this ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(game)
This framework is based on a game loop that runs an update on each frame which is more intended for real-time controls. I think a turn-based game like battleship is a different paradigm.
You always have to update every frame -- UI, sounds, animations, etc -- the question is whether you update your game simulation every frame. But really, you don't want to link your simulation-updates to your frame updates anyways, real time or not, because then you get weird behaviors like different framerates producing different physics (I believe it was quake that famously let's you jump further if your framerate is higher).
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#23I have no idea if this is any good compared to existing game engines, but the limits imposed by its simplicity certainly tickle my creativity. If nothing else, it could be a great prototyping space.
One question: have you considered making it mobile friendly somehow? Given that all of the examples require arrow keys, it's a bit hard to demo on a phone.
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#24I love artificial constraints like this. Really forces you to innovate
And, in a sense, allows you to innovate, by lowering the bar you feel like you have to clear to make something of "quality."
Exactly. The demo scene requires innovation, but the bar for entry is high. This also requires innovation, but the bar is on the floor. Great idea! I'd love to see game competitions around these sorts of arbitrary restrictions.
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#25What's the a2 refer to?
24A2 sort of looks like 24^2, which is what I originally wanted to call it, and only uses alphanumeric characters. The combination of numbers and letters also reminded me of P5 and pico-8, which were both inspirations
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#26No mobile support is a missed opportunity.
Also misses bleeps. Beep boop
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#27I find that any game created with this game engine ends up being far more code-heavy and complex than it would be without using it. In my mind, this invalidates the argument of using an ultra-minimalist game engine at the first place...
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#28I find that any game created with this game engine ends up being far more code-heavy and complex than it would be without using it. In my mind, this invalidates the argument of using an ultra-minimalist game engine at the first place...
Of the two example games that come with the engine, skiing is 113 lines long and snake is 158 lines long. Both include comments and don't make any attempt at a brief style of coding, so their lengths seem reasonable to me.
What games have you seen that you feel are too code heavy, written using this engine?
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#29Is importing P5 a requirement for this engine to work? I know “minimal” can mean a lot of things to different people, but I don’t think it P5 adds much that you couldn’t trivially do without it in this case, and by stripping that dependency away you’d be able to make a very strong case for this being an ultra minimal engine.
I'm sure it's easy to render a 24x24 grid of colored dots using JS without any kind of graphics engine. But I guess it's a stylistic choice - abstract out the rendering code so that it's just an engine.
Re: 24a2: An ultra-minimalist game engine
#30Make a place to share stuff