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Topic: So, Sphere is a thing, yeah? (Read 75788 times) previous topic - next topic
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So, Sphere is a thing, yeah?

Hello. I've been looking into game making for a while. I've looked into just about everything. The various RPG Makers, Game Maker, Unity, Unreal Engine, etc. etc.. Today I randomly stumbled upon a website that was simply a list of game engines. Sphere was mentioned for making RPGs. It said it has existed since 1997. I find that quite odd. You see, I've been an avid user of the internet since that very year (I'm 30). And a hardcore PC gamer. And looked in on various game creation tools over the years and I've never heard of Sphere. Either that, or I completely forgot about it.

I gotta say, the website is...lacking in information. It basically says nothing about what Sphere is. I mean, I can google. I found this this which gave a bit of a description. And the sourceforge, and a couple other pages. Almost nothing on youtube, either. I'm not sure if you guys prefer to be small and inclusive, or what. Perhaps you dislike newcomers. I don't know. Just all a bit odd. However, I'm here (and in IRC, idling with 4 other idlers). I'm kinda interested in possibly tinkering with Sphere (or the other newer versions).

At this point, I've almost settled on using Game Maker (especially after I learned Hotline Miami was made with it). I've watched some tutorials and learned a lot about it. Its scripting is decent enough and sorta-kinda easy to learn. But if Sphere is easier or simpler or just...works, I might use it. I mean, I'm interested in making an RPG, after all. I'm also kind of a weirdo and like the idea of using an engine that has managed to somehow evade my notice for 18 whole years.

I'm currently skimming through the wiki.

Re: So, Sphere is a thing, yeah?

Reply #1 –
Welcome!

We're open to newcomers, we just don't get that many! We used to have many more users in past times, and there are more lurkers on this site than it would first appear. If you started posting info on a new project, I'm sure a lot of old faces would show up to comment.

The site is a bit lacking, true. The wiki used to be quite a bit more informative, but we lost all our pages due to a problem with our server, and given how few users are around it's been very slow getting them restored.

Re: So, Sphere is a thing, yeah?

Reply #2 –
I would definitely recommend Sphere over Game Maker, as it uses a real programming language (JavaScript; GM uses some proprietary scripting language) and, if you use my minisphere engine, you even get a full development platform, with a debugger and everything. :)

True the site's a bit bare, but the engine does include full API documentation.

Re: So, Sphere is a thing, yeah?

Reply #3 –
Hi Kyosho welcome to the forums.
Why not try http://kefkasrevenge.tengudev.com/ it has a full game and shows off lots of things. (not sure if it works beyond Windows XP, but should work on wine at least)
The lastest thing is minisphere, it compiles under windows and linux.

Sphere has been around and some users were torn between verge and sphere or did both.
Before js.node, you could run javascript tests on it, without having to install a websphere or other large framework (of course, you could compile a spidermonkey, but Sphere also provided IO, opening files, saving logs, etc)

Re: So, Sphere is a thing, yeah?

Reply #4 –
Hello Kyosho, welcome!

I actually agree with the slight obtuseness. The wiki definitely has some good introductory pages, but in the end, like http://wiki.spheredev.org/Sphere and http://wiki.spheredev.org/Getting_started, but in the end, the front page really isn't telling you much of anything. This has a lot to do with the fact that we lost a lot of data in the past, ended up making this new site, and I guess it's become very focused at people who are already members. Add to that the fact that the original Sphere engine is old and doesn't run so well, and only fairly recently has it seen a pretty complete revival/modernization in the form of minisphere.

In the end, the tiny userbase has something to do with it too, and the games of the people who are here tend to be not too far-reaching. Only thing that could fix that is, well, having more users who create complete games and spread them around, I guess. :)

The userbase is small, but skilled. We know about all of Sphere's quirks, so never be afraid to ask if you're ever stuck at any point!

Re: So, Sphere is a thing, yeah?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: DaVince – on

The userbase is small, but skilled. We know about all of Sphere's quirks, so never be afraid to ask if you're ever stuck at any point!


Some of us more than others, having had to reverse engineer much of the old engine... ;)