Question, creating art based game

[M-Shack]

Hi, I have been searching around for game creating in Actionscript and saw a few mentions of Art based games vs coding based games. I wanted to know if someone could explain this to me or point me in the right direction on where I can read up on or watch some tutorials about art based games. I have experience coding in AS2 making banners, web sites, etc. but none really in gaming and want to focus on my animation instead of trying to heavily learn AS3 or AS2 coding. I understand that art based means you make a lot of the assets manually instead of coding the movements and everything, but I wanted to get some more information on it before deciding if I wanted to pursue creating some games. And yes I know I need to start small and do some reading and tutorials on those basic games before trying to create something big. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[TheRyoku]

At 5/15/10 05:18 PM, M-Shack wrote: Thanks

I've tried to make some sense of you wall of text, and I'm confused.

For one, this sounds like a Flash question, and if it is, I'd like to happily link you to the Flash Forum.

Otherwise, are you asking for the difference between a code-based game vs. an art-based game? You said you knew the difference a good 3/4ths through your paragraph, and this is why I'm confused.

If you could rewrite what you're trying to say a bit more clearly, we might be able to help you further.

[M-Shack]

At 5/15/10 05:37 PM, TheRyoku wrote:

At 5/15/10 05:18 PM, M-Shack wrote: Thanks

I've tried to make some sense of you wall of text, and I'm confused.

For one, this sounds like a Flash question, and if it is, I'd like to happily link you to the Flash Forum.

Otherwise, are you asking for the difference between a code-based game vs. an art-based game? You said you knew the difference a good 3/4ths through your paragraph, and this is why I'm confused.

If you could rewrite what you're trying to say a bit more clearly, we might be able to help you further.

yeah sorry, sometimes I just write as im thinking. I wanted to find some more info on the difference between the 2. Or if there was a basic tutorial I could check out to get an idea on the difference between the 2.

[TheRyoku]

At 5/15/10 05:44 PM, M-Shack wrote:

At 5/15/10 05:37 PM, TheRyoku wrote:

At 5/15/10 05:18 PM, M-Shack wrote:

yeah sorry, sometimes I just write as im thinking. I wanted to find some more info on the difference between the 2. Or if there was a basic tutorial I could check out to get an idea on the difference between the 2.

Well, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find one, because the definition of both terms isn't really strictly defined.

Here's what I take both terms to mean, and if someone else in the forum has a better definition, please share it, because mine's likely to be awful. Here goes:

Code-based Game:
A game where code is essentially the reason the game was made in the first place. I take this to mean that the game is very structured (i.e. tile system, RPG-type game, etc.), and is obviously heavily dependent upon the code to be successful. I would say that the art isn't the primary focus of these games; I would probably say that the experience as a player is the most important aspect.

Art-based Game
A game where art is the reason the game was made. I assume that this means that these games tend to focus on art, rather than the experience. I don't know too many examples for these kinds of games, but I imagine Braid was partly an art-based game. I know it's an amazing game code-wise too, but it focuses heavily on art and design, rather than things to actually do. I guess these games would be more puzzle-based, and not nearly as fun as code-based games, but they are still fun because of the depth that art brings to them.

Do you see what I mean? It's hard to define them because most games don't fall entirely into one category. Especially with technology only getting better, people are expecting games to be fun, and look good.

That's basically how I would personally define both terms, but please don't blindly accept what I have to say as truth. Do some research of your own (Google it) and see others' points of view, and read other definitions. Hopefully this sheds some light on your problem, and if it doesn't, sorry I couldn't help. Good luck with the game though; don't ever let anyone tell you to stop if it really is a passion of yours.

[M-Shack]

Thanks, Yeah I had googled it a few times before and remember finding things saying that the code based games use tiles and can be more organized while the art based are easier and can take a little longer. So I'm guessing that even if I wanted to try and make a unique game with an art base, I would still have to study up on some more actionscripting.