Noob Game Ideas?

Haha, good point. I took an AI class some semesters ago and one of the early assignments was to use a language like C++ or Java to recreate the child-parent-ancestor program that prolog can do so easily.

 

How about a 2D platformer? No, seriously: It is one of easiest games to make. Granted, the original Super Mario Bros wasn't easy to make, but that's only because they had to code it in ASM. If Miyamoto had access to Unity, he'd be done in an afternoon, two days tops.

 

No, prolog is easy. Try out lisp to really know the devil. S-expressions are jerks.

 

Lol seriously?
I mean I'm an absolute coding noob so I'd never even consider a platformer to be so easy to make. Could you explain it in more detail what would be so easy about it? From my supernoob point of view there's just too many different features in a standard platformer game that it seems quite complicated for a complete beginner.

 

Mind you that this doesn't has to be full blown metroidvania or anything. The minimum reqs for platformer is that there are platforms and you can jump.

 

"As an example, the Boolean expression written 4 == (2 + 2) in C is represented as (= 4 (+ 2 2)) in Lisp's s-expr-based prefix notation."

My CS490 teacher made us write a program to do *, -, /, + operations with this syntax. Never mentioned what it was. I think I prefer C++ and Java

Make flappy sonic. You jump between platforms and collect rings.

 

A live training session goes through the process of setting up the basics for a platformer. After that create some enemy blocks - some that walk back and forth between boundaries, some that walk toward the player, some that throw objects toward the player, some that only move toward the player when the player is not facing it. Then create some mechanic to damage these enemies - shoot, squish, fart etc. Create some objects to collect and/or powerup the player - stars, flowers, shrooms, hookers etc. After that, its all up creating different levels/boards

 

Creating a platformer in Unity is easy. Creating a good platformer in Unity is a considerably more difficult proposition. Of course, this would be true no matter what engine you were using, but there you have it.

Unity has a lot of built-in tools that make basic platformer creation relatively simple. Basic collision detection and physics are built-in components for both 2D and 3D. That's 90% of what you need for a platformer.

The challenge comes in when it comes time to really refine the controls and start constructing levels. Platformers are more than simply jumping around. In order to excel, you have to make sure that the player gets to jump around well, and that they have a good reason for jumping around. And for that you need a much more refined custom character controller, and some solid level design. All of that takes practice, and craft.

A basic platformer is easy. A really good platformer will take a lot of time and testing. The nice thing about Unity is that it lets you jump straight to the point where you are refining things. That's the really important part, and Unity provides a valuable shortcut to get right to it. It won't make your game for you, but it will save you quite a bit of time and effort.