Star Defenders!

Behold! The greatest game for HPC and to think it dosen't even exist. You're probably thinking I'm crazy, but allow me to explain.

Star Defenders! is all a figment of my imagination. I thought of it while at the dinner table one fateful night. I was nine years old. It was a vision, of an online multiplayer space/empire/arcade game. Sounds pretty typical, but you gotta admit, it was pretty ambitious for nine years old. That kind of game would be commonplace among desktop PC's, but what would make this dream better? Portability. The game should be made for HPCs!
At that age I used to spend hours down at Fry's drooling over those marvelous HPCs. They were pretty new at the time, and I used to think they would become all the rage. But no, the HPCs began to die out, and so did my hopes and dreams.
Ever since then, I haven't really put any thought into the whole project. It was shoved into my mental stock room. Collecting dust, on a dark, imaginary shelf.

But last night, I had that dream again. And I have decided. One way or another, I would make it a reality. I completed the first step(or one of the first steps) in making this game. A screenshot. I made it using Paint Shop Pro 6, and it is ENTIRELY MADE-UP. No downloadable game exists at the moment. I think this game is going to need more than just BasiCE. I need to find(and learn) a rather powerful programming language to accomidate this game. Could anyone share their thoughts on this?
When(someday) I finish this game, I will not charge any money for it. It will be ported to all CPU types possible, and it will be considered a tribute to the HPC and all of it's faithful users.

Feast your eyes on this:
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/8750/stardefenders6eq.jpg
It's even better to save the picture and look at it zoomed in.

Please let me know what you think. Suggestions, Help, Comments, Please!

Hey that looks cool, Ill play it. I wrote something like this for Pocket PC but never got it to a final stage. It used Gapidraw (an older free version) and was my take on a dope wars clone where you actualy flew between the places (Being planets and not cities in my version) and did some trade.

Im totaly interested in where this goes.

If you need help, advice, or anything else, get into the developer IRC chat room for a chat.

Dexxta,
Thanks for the support! That's really cool that you are in to this kind of thing. I used to think I was the only one. I will definitely keep you posted as soon as I get home from school today!

The one we're still waiting for:
http://marriseri.altervista.org/tunnelxevoluzionehpc.htm

It's nearly a year late.

I sat down about 3 days ago to try and write a concept for a non graphical online space trader game. I did come up with some ideas but nothing grabbed me enough to make me start writing. Got some cool ideas, thing is that some HPCs cant do the graphics, like my 820... So if I could come up with a game that uses only selections and options and stuff then it might support any device, but it suffers in the fun dept I think.. haha

That other game looks nice, pitty its so late and only for HPC2000.

I like your concept picture, it looks cool, but not too much for the devices to draw.

Gee. Maybe it is a bit much on the graphics side... but that's what optimization is for!

I guess you guys are right... it would be really tough to get something like that to run on an HPC... and to think it's online as well! I do appreciate your input.

But that dosen't mean I shouldn't try! What if I succeed? It just might revolutionize the HPC industry alltogether! Sheesh... listen to me... trying to be a hero...

I think it's time I get a good compiler, and start experimenting with it. After all, I wouldn't want it to end up a year late!!

If at first you dont succeed, throw something at the window, and the dog, and start again. I NEVER said not to do it. Do it and do it NOW!!!

I started writing a Direct Play type of network wrapper today that can be used on both HPC and Desktop. Its in C++ so if you want to get away without writing the network stuff, then learn C++...

First thing you want to do is write a proof of concept app. Write something that moves a sprite around and see if its going to work with the speeds you want.

What sort of concept are you looking at? Players flying around and shooting each other? what else? some item trade, some AI enemies?

Sorry for the long time away, my internet got cut off...

Good news everyone!
I finally got Microsoft eMbedded VB and C++ for making programs on Win CE! And a CE emulator too! I've already made a few simple things in VB, but C++ is REALLY hard. I'm sure after a bit of instruction and/or experience, I could get the hang of it. But it's really cool that I can make CE apps now!

So, after checking out some other people's work in C++ for WinCE, I've decided that I will make Star Defenders! in C++. C++ is much more powerful and is more suited for making complex programs that use network and internet functions. Not to mention better for doing complex graphics and sound.

So far, I haven't really started much on Star Defenders! itself. I'm going to get better at C++ first. However, I will soon start making a notebook or document or something to write down a storyline, concept art, enemies, flow charts, features, menu styles, gameplay rules, and other such important things for designing a game. I have however, started writing the musical score in Finale! 2005b and it actually sounds pretty good while being played through a MP790's speaker. The greatest part about C++ is that it is easy to port programs to all processor types with little extra work. Which means more players...? I hope to start soon, and I will not give up. This project will be a truly great accomplishment in my life, and also the lives of HPC users around the world.

Any questions or replies? I look forward to what everyone else has to say. Thank you for your help.

hey it sounds pretty cool! hmm maybe Dexxta will be glad to assist you in learning c++
hope you'll make it in the end, i'll be an avid beta tester! i can easily test it as i have so many different hpc's and every OS (except 4.0 but that sucks anyway), etc... not every cpu though because i could not buy that nice aero 8000 i had here for a few days...
so, point is that you don't have to be afraid of a lack of beta testers. )

CardBoardCrusader, I am glad to see that we have a new H/PC developer on our hands . Oh, if possible, could you make your future Star Defenders game on CE 2.0 MIPS and other ones of course ?

Oh, I will gladly be a Beta tester . I would not hold you responsible if the Beta caused *undesirable* results in my H/PC. Wait, I was just thinking, could you make a Palm Sized PC version ?

Too bad about that other game, it looked fun. I finally have the time I need to learn to program (I think I will start with C, nothing else works for me. I couldn't stand writing a program in Basic, because I would think about how inneficient it is. And my c++ book is...not that great).

We'll see, but right now I am concerned with getting Linux on my 720 working perfectly before I can program new games. And I have pretty much given up on CE, because I am too distracted with getting Linux to work.

Good luck, the game you want to make is definitely possible on the H/PC platform (and would finally give it a decent online game...).

Yes, I will do everything within my abilities to port it to CE2.0 as well, but a Palm-Sized PC? I could probably do it, because eMbedded C++ has a platform template for it, but aren't Palm-Sized PCs really slow? I don't know the hardware specifications, but I'll check it out. Great to hear that there will be lots of beta-testers. That will definitely help. I will probably drop in on the developer IRC sometime this Thanksgiving break, so maybe I can get some help there, too. I don't really need anyone to teach me the entire language, but I would like to chat sometime with someone who uses C++ to tell me where to find resources, books, some common strategies, just a general approach as to how I should start off. Anyway, I've got some things to do, so I'll see you all later. Thanks again for all your help.

Ever play Escape Velocity by Ambrosia? I used to play it every time I went over my Dad's (he had an Apple) and then they released it for Windows... I was all over it for like a few weeks! Demo only, however, no campaigns for me :-(

well.. if only Dexxta would still be present on #HPCDev.. i have no idea where and why he completely disappeared