Designing / Building a simple mame game

[cadis12]

I have an idea for a simple game that would go along with the theme of my arcade cabinet.  Has anyone ever pursued having a MAME game built?  Do they make any programs to create a game?  Are there people for hire to create a game?   

I just thought it would be cool to have a personalized game that went along with my theme.

[knave]

I am not a programer...so I don't know what is involved with the code to write a rom.

But it almost seemd you could have someone design a game in any language that is set up to use arcade style controls and build a cab around. That's much easier than to write a rom that will then be emulated by mame.  The emulation is just an unnesesary step at that point...just run it on the computer.

my 2¢

[cadis12]

Yeah, I hear ya.  I just thought it would be cool to select the game from the list of other games without having to exit mame and lunch a different program.  That would be an easier solution though.  Your right. 
I just wanted a cheesy game created that would get a few chuckles out of freinds.  Nothing to in depth. 

[unclet]

You might consider using a Mame frontend which supports starting PC games.  I believe most all of them have the ability now.  Your PC games will be listed just like a Mame gamelist so the user can scroll up/down and select one to play.   This is what I do with my PC Games on my cabinet.

[ChadTower]

You wouldn't write a "MAME game".  MAME emulates circuit boards that run ROM images.  You don't have the concept clear, I think.

What you would want to do is write a game that runs on whatever OS you use, and then call that game from the front end you're using, just as MAME is called from the front end.

Writing a ROM would mean writing a game to run on a processor that isn't even physically present... a really wasteful use of local computing resources.

[cadis12]

I got ya!  I understand now. 
Basically I just need to hunt for a programmer that does work on the side. 
Thanks for the info!

[GAtekwriter]

Purchase a copy of "Game Maker's Apprentice" and work through the 9+ game samples  - when you're done, you should be able to put together a fairly decent game of your own.  I played around with it for a month or so and created a game that I was very happy with - they have a free forum for questions and tech support AND the software is free to download.  It's not going to win any awards, but some of the games they've created are definitely "arcade quality"

Here are some links:

GameMaker 7.0:  http://www.yoyogames.com/make

The Book:  http://book.gamemaker.nl/

Forums:  http://gmc.yoyogames.com/

Jim

[u_rebelscum]

If you want (and are good) you can write a game based on arcade hardware (IOW, an arcade game), and add it to your personal (editted & recompiled) version of mame.  I think someone did that a couple years ago (even if the game was just for testing IIRC), but can't find it ATM.

And it would be cool to write an arcade game that would work on real arcade hardware.


But it's far easier to write a game for your PC that's arcade-like, like the others suggested.

[ChadTower]

Oh, for a professional, it's not out of the question.  That wasn't his requirement as laid out in the first post, though, so I steered him towards what sounded like his wish.  I've written stuff in the past for the 6809 that could probably be adapted for some vector game boards with a bit of tweaking.

[SavannahLion]

And it would be cool to write an arcade game that would work on real arcade hardware.

What would you consider "real arcade hardware?" I was at the theaters and one of their cabs was sporting a windows BSoD (Cruisin USA I think). Saw another one that was hung up on Windows boot. I've read in some posts that some cabs are using modified PS2 hardware. Some games use standard IDE hard drives.

Just build a PC, throw in a custom hardware dongle, add a coin mech and you have your real arcade hardware.

[vrf]

Purchase a copy of "Game Maker's Apprentice" and work through the 9+ game samples  - when you're done, you should be able to put together a fairly decent game of your own.  I played around with it for a month or so and created a game that I was very happy with - they have a free forum for questions and tech support AND the software is free to download.  It's not going to win any awards, but some of the games they've created are definitely "arcade quality"

Multimedia Fusion 2 is also a really powerful program for making games. I've tried both Gamemaker and MMF2. Both can do the job, although I ended up liking MMF2 better because the scripting logic was easier to understand (for me). The big difference I found between these two is that MMF2 games tend to run a lot better on a slower machine. Gamemaker seems to bloat the code or something.

Still, both programs will work well for an arcade-type game.

[ChadTower]

If you're going to use a game studio, I'd go with XNA.  That way when you get it done you can compile it for the Xbox 360 as well.

[RayB]

You could even use Flash, published to an EXE. Just keep the size down to a low resolution, and your frame rate will hold up just fine.

[GAtekwriter]

XNA, in my opinion, has a high learning curve.  When I finished the GameMaker book, I was already tweaking and modifying the games in the book and had begun planning my own game (which is 80% finished - just creating tons of levels which is easy but just takes time).

Thanks for recommending MMF2... I'll have to check it out.  The reason I went with GameMaker is because of the "GameMaker Apprentice" book - when I want to learn something new, I always look for a book.  Anything for MMF2 on the shelves?

Jim