SpritesMind.Net

Hello,

In my spare time, I have been coding a tool named twee2sam; in a nutshell, it allows one to create Sega Master System games using Twine.

A thought just came to my mind: twee2sam could be easily modified to generate GINCS scripts instead of SAM scripts, therefore allowing one to use Twine to create Genesis games.

Would there be interest in such a tool?

Sounds great! Probably easier for non-Russian folks than GINCS Studio.

Speaking of which, where's the latest version of GINCS?

Well, the last version I've made was from 2007; I wonder whether I should use 3DSchuminator's enhanced version (that comes with GINCS Studio), or maybe I should start from the original 2007 sources, and enhance the engine from there.

GINCS is crap. Much faster to build something using SGDK, and more Quality!

Yes, it's undeniable that SGDK gives you the ability to write better games, but it does require some reasonable amount of technical knowledge that not everyone has.

On the other hand a more specialized, if more limited, tool, like GINCS, makes it easier for non-programmers to write simple games, as long as they stay within the limitations of the platform; a Twine-to-GINCS tool would make things even easier, without too many additional limitations.

But, I know I may be nitpicking, but are you saying that making a visual novel on SGDK would actually take less time to program than making the same visual novel on GINCS? Just for fun, I challenge you to do that...

In GINCS there are commands. And for making game there, you need to write code, in same meaning like in SGDK, just another syntax.
All you have to do to make novel in SGDK it's make few functons:
show text, show selection, show image. Then, you can do different scenes and text, by simple calls like
clear();
showimage(qwe);
showtext("Hello world");
// I don't khow how you will implement selection...

But main advantage of this approach: you not restricted anywhere:
1) Use compression method what you want, just implement it
2) Use random events TOO (which is buthurt for GINCS users)
3) U can even show some sprites with little SGDK code.
And so on.
I don't want to prove anything to anyone.
Better tool requires more skills, or effort.
But before developing with GINCS you anyway need to learn its syntax and system.

Check thread in SGDK section "strugling with bitmap", here is how you can show bitmap animation after some days from scratch.

Every package can do with improvements over time. Programmers learn, and (hopefully) share, and everything improves. I'm sure an overhaul of GINCS would really improve it. Just remember when the last work on GINCS was done.. it's been quite some time.

In GINCS there are commands. And for making game there, you need to write code, in same meaning like in SGDK, just another syntax.

Yes, it's a DSL (Domain Specific Language); as such, it allows people to program in a more declarative way, with a simpler syntax, but can also be quite limiting in comparison with a general purpose language.

All you have to do to make novel in SGDK it's make few functons:
show text, show selection, show image.
(...)
Better tool requires more skills, or effort.
(...)
Check thread in SGDK section "strugling with bitmap", here is how you can show bitmap animation after some days from scratch.

That's exactly the point: with a domain-specific language, one wouldn't have to implement that. Of course, as we already seem to agree, there's a price for that: one loses flexibility.
On the other side, of course, nothing prevents the user of a general-purpose programming language from using a premade library for similar effects; it would just have a slightly steeper learning curve.

I don't want to prove anything to anyone.

Sorry, that was supposed to be a joke.

Every package can do with improvements over time. Programmers learn, and (hopefully) share, and everything improves. I'm sure an overhaul of GINCS would really improve it. Just remember when the last work on GINCS was done.. it's been quite some time.

Yes, I'm planning something about these lines:
- First, I'll fork twee2sam, and adapt it to generate code for 3DSchuminator's version of GINCS; that part should be easy;
- Later, I may either convert the Sozobon C source code of the original GINCS to SGDK, so that it can be further enhanced, or modify twee2gincs to be able to generate C code from Twine projects, I'm still not sure which.