Game Engine Demonstration and More C# Practice

After having made a request with my teacher, Dr. Michael Young, I was allowed to demonstrate the capabilities of one of my favorite non-program based engines, RPG Maker 2003. I was allowed to demonstrate the differences between it and Game Maker 7, by primarily comparing the organization of the sprites (charsets), variables, switches. I demonstrated the abilities which are intended for by the engine, (which is to create an RPG obviously), but also displayed a few of my games which were centered around Platforming and Third-Person Shooter styles.

Although it is often argued that non-code based Game Engines are detrimental to the growth of a game designer, I argue that these engines are in fact beneficial to a degree. I believe that they can lay the foundation for a smoother transition into programming, by introducing to the player the concepts which a game revolves around. It also allows an early programmer to experiment with their creativity and manipulate the various aspects of an engine (such as switches and variables in RPG Maker 2003) to create new methods of interaction. However, I will attest that a person who is seriously interested in becoming a Game Designer stray away from solely using these engines. The likelihood that they will create a mega-hit or controversial game is unlikely using an engine which anyone has the capabilities of using. Unless of course, you are Danny Ledonne.

I also began to differentiate between Console.Write() and Console.WriteLine with C#, and continued experimenting with the Console.ReadLine(). It can be used for entering text into the command line, and can also be used to separate lines.