Grade 11 Computer Science Summative... some help needed

[Grogrog]

For my grade 11 summative assignment (30% of the mark) I am wanting to make a game, preferably a shoot 'em up style game (those scrolling space shooter games). My problem is I am kinda having trouble starting... I am not sure if I should make it in Turing (which is kinda limited... even though I am not the greatest at it) or Visual Basic, which I assume is a lot better... but we haven't been tought... pretty much any VB yet. Like, we just know the basics of object setup.

I was wondering if anybody could give me any advice? Maybe some tutorials or tips on how and where to start... Anything is welcome...

Thanks. ^-^'

[[Gandalf]]

You'd be best off using Turing, since you will get a lot more response from everyone when asking questions. You also have the Turing Walkthrough as reference. Besides, Turing is easily capable of creating such a game.

Normally I'd recommend you learn a different language and make it in that, it would be a lot more fun and how shall I say it... productive maybe? Anyway, you can do that on your own time when you don't have 30% of your mark depending on it.

Good luck! Feel free to ask any questions in [Turing Help].

[Cervantes]

I agree. Go with Turing. Much as I dislike it, I prefer it over VB.

Learning a new language is always good, but Gandalf makes a good point that you don't want to have to be wrestling with too much at once given the bad things that can happen if you bomb this. Also, given that you're in grade 11 and that you said "I am not the greatest at it [Turing]", there's probably a lot more things to learn about in Turing, things that will help you learn new languages later on.

code:

turing.votes++

[Bobrobyn]

Turing is quite capable of making such a game -- I don't know about VB. Just try not to set your standards too high -- a shoot 'em up (depending on what type you're making) can take a while. You probably will have some work to do at home, esspecially if this is your first time making a game. I'd suggest getting the game working, and worry about special effects and add-ons (like explosions, GUI, ect.) afterwords. They don't take long to do, but if your game doesn't work, then there REALLY isn't a lot of point in having the add-ons. This might seem a little obvious, but I've seen people at my school make a really nice looking game, but it DIDN'T work most of the time. That's no good

[codemage]

Set your initial sights pretty low. Then you can add more stuff once the basics are working.

-=-=EXTRAS=-=-
sound effects
background music
high score list
load / save game
better graphics
more levels / enemies / powerups, etc.
improved single player ai / multiplayer
mulitplayer networking

There are so many things you can add on that will impress your teacher. Many of these are very easy.

[AzureFire]

hehe, I'm doing the same thing for my final. I've made quite a few shooters with Turing thanks to this site
Lemme know if you need any help with it. my msn is glasseater_54@