Tailor-Made Video Games 2.0

By Eric Eliason

The purpose of this book is to show how someone could specify a video game more or less and have the computer create the rest. The code is much shorter, but you can specify a game more with more code.

Anyone can take this book and think of as many creative video games as they want!

Humans and hard physics and chemistry are not explicitly covered.

The components necessary to make all video games are map, motion, appearance and related, lighting, attributes, abilities, inventory, intelligence of objects, pausing and saving, complexity and difficulty. When specifying the game, four categories map/motion, image, niche and difficulty spell out M.I.N.D.

We cover 0-D to 3-D and beyond.

I think we cover about 99.99% of generic copies of board and video games herein. You can specify as much or little as wanted. In exploring to cover all video games I found many interesting innovative ideas.

If a young person reads this book, they can look forward to this technology when they are older. If a teenager reads this book, they can look up the concepts and get current and future technology. If an adult reads it, they might see that with enough programming the sky is the limit on what they can achieve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667854731

Book preview

0-D

0-D comes first, in which there is no map and no actions.  1-D, 2-D, or 3-D Images can be placed on the screen that change their appearance based on attributes, abilities and items but there is no movement and there is no actual location.  The image changing appearance may look like location/movement. 

Appearance

Let us explain how we can still have 1-D, 2-D and 3-D images and animation without dimensional motion.  Sound is always 0-dimensional so think of images and animation as sound.  There are patterns of the pixels on the screen but the computer simply does not register them in different locations.  What the image on the screen can do can be very complex but fortunately without dimensions we will not explore that complexity in 0-D.  Until we have maps and motion there is no way to connect one image to another in time or causality.

Images can be text, instructive, and informational.  Sound can as well.

Templates can help the computer make the game relevant and there could be a template library like Wikipedia.  Eventually, a computer can go on the Internet and do this itself.

Without templates, objects can be created by simple geometric curves in 2-D or 3-D looping together for instance.

The American Psychological Association still officially stands against violent video games.  Scientific research has demonstrated an association between violent video game use and both increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive affect, aggressive cognitions and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy, and moral engagement; There are some who claim that it is harmless but they are still the minority.  Be it resolved that I would advise against using templates that involved violence.

Here is how randomness will work in our book, getting a little ahead of ourselves.

To get the same map, pieces and structure in the same place once for each game and differently for different games, use fractals and pseudo-random number generation.  For instance, a computer can go from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, not by looking at the time but by using each time as a number whenever it needs a new one.  For instance, 2:45:16 would be 24,516.  Take the square root of the number, 156.5758602 and up all the first ten digits to get 45.  The last digit of the sum, 5, is your random number from 1 to 10.  This can be used to create a map with the factors involved but variance wherever it doesn’t matter.  This is pseudo-random number generation and the thing that it produces can be produced again.

Random number generation can be based on looking at the time each time.  Since you don’t know that time (it is to the fraction of a second), you don’t know and cannot reproduce the value.

A computer could simply start animating what it sees as simple through what it sees as complicated, skipping steps randomly along the way.  With a random seed it could repeat the animation.  Greater numbers of simple shapes can be combined and disconnected.  Templates could be applied to the lava lamp.

An image can morph into another and things can happen based on what’s revealed at a point.

Images and Math

You could have a computer make up a mathematical interface with given properties and then go backwards in steps formulaically so that each time it is possible to go from the step before to the next one.  In other words, you can build table bases for being able to solve the problem in n passes and pass the problems on to the users.

With things like dice and cards, mathematical combinations can change factors.  Simple combinations are straights and of-a-kinds.  With randomness, there can be normal random, random distribution and heat waves like the stock market where the value is how fast it is rising minus variance squared over two.  You can do many card games.

Objects can be paired up in a sequence and matched by type, causing an effect that depends on the types.

Lighting

In the 0th dimension, lighting is not different than appearance and so we just leave the light on and let the objects appear, animate and sound as they may.

Attributes and clocks

We will want to get a little ahead of ourselves here.  All these attributes can affect each other. There can be multiple of each.  Attributes can emerge from vulnerable positions with a function to specify how to make it better or penalties can occur when the situation is too easy.  An attribute can be mathematically requested of the user or applied to any factor.  These attributes can be big or small and can have fractional components.  Attributes can apply to any object.  Some attributes can be changed permanently or semi-permanently.

The attributes can be based on random dice as well as explicit factors.

Game score.

Clock – the clock can have so many increments.  They can drop with a time interval or option.  It can cause a factor when it reaches a low or a high.  It can count either way based on a factor.  It can be paused.  The clock moves at a rate or according to events.  There are different factors at different levels of the clock.

The game can have different counts on the clock and the different counts can take different speed or options.

Sometimes if they are at some level only certain deductions reduce them and this goes for all the attributes.

Each count of the clock can change an attribute by a formulaic amount that is also an attribute and you might even accelerate.  For instance, poisoning.

Life 0 or 1 or 2 or ∞ - this can tell if you lose or how many lives you have left or you could have infinity lives to try.  A variable can also indicate winning.

Various currencies to buy items.

HP (various problems) – HP can have a max, an adjustable max, a min, an adjustable min and move according to factors. Other attributes can as well.

MP (various classes of spells/abilities).  Spells we should point out ahead of time can be used for motion and abilities.  All of of them can affect each other and other attributes. The same thing is true for any subset of spells.  In each subset a spell changes MP according to a formula of all the factors.

Magical Defense (various classes of spells) – can be random, mitigates/exacerbates spell effect.

Attack power (classes of attack) – affects factors involving how other attributes are to change.

Defense power (classes of defense) – fights factors involving how other attributes are to change.

Frequency of attack – how many attacks, can be randomized, per turn or time

Frequency of defending – related in the same way as attack power and defense power

Turn-getter – affects how often and in which order attacks or moves for instance are made.

Frequency of connecting – factors affect whether nothing happens to factors

Abnormalities like critical hits – times when a normal formula is interrupted for another factor.

Abnormalities – specific numbers and what they do.

Invisibility – factors influence whether object can directly see you… artificial intelligence can guess where you are after you disappear or where you come from when you appear.

Whether attributes are visible – factors can influence that.

Experience – a factor that changes the other factors at different values.

Carrying capacity – how much of each thing may be held or equipped at a time.

There might be a way to have different objects have less weight or to change their weight.

A particular attribute set that comes to be can mean birth or death for an object. The game can start or start over or go to a save point or change all the factors by a function. The object can change into something else.

A simple example is death at 0 HP.

You must have abilities before you can create another type of video game.

Different images may result from all combinations of attributes but we still can’t relate them geometrically until we either have motion (which includes relative position) or templates.

Abilities affect attributes but we can have the attributes messing with each other through non-circular references that impact animation.  For instance, the complexity of the image can relate to HP.

We can have a game where you select one attribute and then it causes a chain reaction where you try to get a desired result.

You can select from which level you want to play.  Levels can pop up or get popped out of by any factor.

Abilities and 1 object

Abilities let one change condition (s) based on their condition(s).

An action might be undoable.

Abilities may be unknown or known; randomized or not.  Some abilities might cause an object to vary randomly as well as in a numerical direction.  With abilities and just 1 object, we can have different abilities.  For each ability it can be simple like how many times we can use them or how often.  The cost may change for each one.  It can be a simple or complicated function. An ability can be available when vulnerable, like if there are a lot of objects next to you, or penalties can occur when the situation is too easy.  Abilities can apply to any object. Abilities can affect any of the factors we’ve listed.

A specific combination of successful abilities can mean birth or death for an object.  Ability change may be the result of any number and how many times it has been that number.  You can even do a Turing machine.  The game can start or start over or go to a save point or change all the factors by a function.  The object can change into something else. Morphing can change objects with the help of an algebraic table.  It could cause greater value or lesser value.

Abilities can be allowed based on the complexity of an image.

There can be multiple human-controlled objects.  0 makes a movie.  Peril could make it good.

Abilities can be combined.

Abilities can be triggered by typing and typing a command might do an ability.

Abilities and 1 object and attributes and clocks

For instance, you might have an ability that temporarily modifies your HP or max HP for a while.  It could be random or a function.  You could substitute one attribute for another.

Abilities can be allowed in precarious situations and lost in easy ones.  This can include life and death.

A player may have a pathway open up or close down with a clock or some other formula.

An ability may allow you to change any of your attributes, permanently, semi-permanently or temporarily according to any formula, simple or not.  For instance, healing HP or using less MP.  An ability might let you pause the clock for instance.  An ability can apply any function to any attribute or to the clock.  An ability might let you poison or un-poison an attribute so that it goes down with time or turn or not.

There can be multiple clocks, or multiple of the same type of attribute.

We can have an RPG where you adjust your values after each fight and you just have fight after fight until you win.  You need abilities to fight.  The RPG uses attributes for each character.

You might try to beat an RPG in minimal turns.

Abilities and 1 object and camera, flashlights and lighting

The lighting is irrelevant as it is just the picture.  If you want camouflage or darkness you just program it into the appearance because there is no relative position.

Abilities and 1 object and appearance

Any pixel or sprite can change appearance or move based on ability to show things.  However, we cannot program in motion at this point of the program.  We can only use the computer’s ability and