Omnimaga
General Discussion => Introduce Yourself! => Topic started by: Radical Pi on March 07, 2010, 11:03:12 pm
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Hi, I just found this place today, and uh... well that's it. I want to learn everything I can about making calculator games and all that fun stuff that seems to be happening here ;D
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Heh well you came to the right place. Welcome to Omnimaga!
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Hi and welcome here!
Hopefully you should have a wide range of possibilities, calculator-wise. If you plan to get a calculator for hi school, if not alerady owning one, I recommend the TI-83 Plus, 83 Plus SE or 84 Plus series. Otherwise there is the TI Nspire. There are also the TI-89 and v200 series, but they are not as popular anymore :(. TI-Nspire is the most powerful one, performance-wise.
Then you have some choices of programming languages for each platforms. Don't hesistate to look around for help and ask questions if you are confused :). Another option for the TI-Nspire, in terms of calculator programming, is Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROM hacking. That's a more limited, but good alternative to create games people can run on their calculators. :)
Then obviously there are other stuff to do ^^
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Welcome to Omnimaga.
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Thanks for the warm welcome!
I only have a TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, and I started college this year so I can't afford any newer ones.
I do have some programming experience with it, so... what do I do now? What CAN I do now?
Oh, and what are some must-play games for my model? :P
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Well for the must play games there are a quite a few but if you updated to the new OS that just came out you might have to run a ASM program or two to get them to work properly.
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There are a LOT of must play games for the 84+ SE, and I mean a LOT. What type of games are you interested in? Arcade / RPG / Action / simple / etc. The platform you have, has it all.
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For programming, I recommend starting with TI-BASIC if you never did any PC programming language before. It is one of the easiest language to learn, altough I still recommend reading the programming section of the guidebook on TI website, then once you are a bit familiar with some stuff, http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com has a nice set of tutorials, altough some are more complicated. Otherwise some people here are willing to help with code.
Later you can give ASM a try, but that's much harder. Otherwise, an easier alternative is Axe Parser.
For games it can be hard to tell, because it's a matter of opinion, but if you like RPGs we have a download section just with RPGs. I personally love RPGs. Some are hard to install, though.
There is an old list of games, also opinion-based, by an older member of the forum, here: http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=5
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I don't think I've ever updated my OS. I must have whatever it had when I first got it... Version 2.30. Is updating the OS worth it?
And thanks, I'll check out the download section here for games then.
And I'll check out this Axe Parser you mentioned.
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Welcome to Omnimaga!
Updating to v2.43 is worth it, but updating to v2.53 MP is not yet.
I would recommend axe parser for a beginner, because it is easy to learn, but oh, so powerful. Of course just plain basic is good too, especially when you move on to working with Celtic III and the like.
Edit by ztrumpet: Changed "ace" to "axe"
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I agree with Eeems on the updating part. v2.53 has some nice features but it is still pretty buggy and ya. Normal stuff with things that just come out.
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for a lot of games, you can go to http://www.ticalc.org/ (http://www.ticalc.org/)
They have the most complete archive of games, although there are some that they don't have that omnimaga has, such as reuben's quest or illusiat series.
Welcome anyways!
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Also keep in mind a lot of stuff at ticalc.org (and other large archives for that matter) is extremly redundant or terrible, because they allow everything, so it can be a bit hard to search for something good, and the programs ratings are misleading (TI-Boy SE, for instance, isn't even getting 8/10), same for certain reviews and screenshots. Fortunately this was improved by dividing games by genres and sub-genres (for example, text-based RPGs are separate from the rest and there's an entire folder just for number guessing games) but still watch out what you download, since your time might sometimes be wasted x.x
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Welcome to Omnimaga! Here are some complimentary peanuts! :)
(http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1256.0;attach=410;image)
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I'd say you should try these games:
5: AI Checkers Checkers with AI in basic. Nitactu's games are all very good, but this one is incredible!
http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/checkers
4: Nibbles Snake in basic at it's finest. I have spent a lot of time on this game, and it's really fun.
http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/archives:nibbles
3: Portal Portal is an awesome puzzle game that is really fun. Almost anything by Builderboy is awesome, but Portal the best, so it's the only game by Builderboy on this list. (Note: It doesn't work on OS2.53MP)
http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/archives:portal
2: Donut Quest This is an excellent puzzle game that shows what basic and text sprites can do. It's also very hard. :)
http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/archives:donut-quest
1: Illusiat 13 This is my favorite calc game ever, and even thought it's only 90% complete, it is still a huge RPG with about 20 hours of fun.
http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=455
If you need any help with these games getting them to work, understanding how they work, and/or figuring out to do at a spot, just ask. :)
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I'd recommend starting with Ti Basic and then working with Axe once you've mastered basic. :)
TIBD ( http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/home ) is the best place to learn about the commands. :D
If you have any questions, just ask here. ;D
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Have fun on Omnimaga! O0
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I made some other games that are as complete or almost as Illusiat 13 that are finished, but while they take less memory than Illusiat 13, they are much harder to install and some are slower.