Any opinions on the best development tools for this? I'm leaning towards Java, but what about Flash and Shockwave? Portability is an issue (I'd like them to be playable by as wide a range of users as possible).

Mark

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Java is the most portable of the three; it was designed with "write once, run anywhere" in mind.

I'm not familiar with programming/creating Flash or Shockwave, so I really don't know what they can/can't do.

Only thing I'd caution you on is to watch out for browser-incompatibilities. Where I work we do a lot of games for the web using various technologies and we're always face with funny issues. So you may want to search around and see where the incompatabilities are before selecting a particular technology to develop with...and whatever you do end up selecting, just keep in mind what does/doesn't work with everything out there.

All the best!

-Krylar

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http://www.unitygame.com

I found a very easy to use Java graphics package that worked great
for me and it is old enough to be compatible with the current browsers.

You can find out about it at:

http://research.compaq.com/wrl/projects/Ezd/home.html

Dan

The second is yet another variation of breakout. Since this is for a Christian site and I want the games to have themes related to Christianity or the Bible, this one is themed around Joshua and the Walls of Jericho. The "balls" are actually musical notes, and your "paddle" is a trumpet. The "bricks" are... well... bricks. It has sound effects, "powerups", multiple levels, multiball, a demo mode, etc.

As soon as I've cleaned up a few things I'll place a demo of it online for y'all to take a gander at. It plays rather well so far, on my system at least.

Only problem is: I am not an artist. Is there anyone here who's interested in drawing a few sprites and backdrops for me? All I can offer is credits in the game and a link back to your web site (although I might be able to pay a little cash too - not much though).

I need decent quality cartoon-style artwork. No 3D rendered stuff (not for this game anyway). It would involve a number of simple backdrop images (sand dunes, ruins of a city, palm trees, all that cartoony bible story background stuff), some better bricks (including a few animated ones), and a splash screen (I want a cartoon Joshua, trumpets, that kind of stuff).

The game itself will be placed on my web site (Christian.net) and be freely playable by anyone (registered user or not). Along with the game there will be a "Do you know the real story of the Battle of Jericho?" area with the biblical story as well as a simplified version for kids (I'd like some illustrations for this as well!)

My goal is to produce several games like this (themed after Bible stories and include both the full Biblical text for it as well as a children's story version). What do you think?

Mark

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Have you ever looked at the online flash-based Veggie-Tales-style Christian games that "Big Ideas" has created? They are very well done, and good clean fun too. I've mentioned this in other posts but maybe you didn't catch it. I noticed you don't have it on your links page. The address is http://bigideafun.com.

Secondly, about a month or two ago I completed a web-based Christian program that may be on interest to you. I'm not sure whether or not you'd call it a game, but it's fun. What it is is this little stickman that you control with the keyboard, and you can make him dance around on this stage. I've dubbed him "The Mighty Worshiper." If you're interested, I might be able to let you put it on your site within the next 4 weeks or so. But anyway, if you want to take a look at it, the address is http://gen3day.org/webpages/StickManWorshiper/DancingMan.html.

†Caleb†

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"True friendship is not characterized by the absence of conflict, but by the ability to resolve conflict."

[This message has been edited by imsold4christ (edited October 29, 2002).]