Begginer's Game Design

#1

Hi!

My friend and I have been thinking up game concepts and ideas for a while now. We have a pretty solid set of ideas we want to try out. But, we don’t know what to use, or where to start. I have Unreal Tournament 2004 which includes the Unreal Engine, but we don’t know very much about it. What I’m asking is if someone can give us some ideas of what programs to use and where to start off in making a game. As a side note, this is obviously our first game (wow, bet you weren’t expecting that) and we don’t plan on making a huge game (not even the size of an average mod) so if you could limit the tools and expirience needed for that it would be much apreciated.

Thanks, Cheese Dude.

#2

Here’s a good place to get started: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/start_here/

I’m assumming that when you say you “have” Unreal Tournament 2004 you mean that you have the game and not that you licensed the engine from Epic. You can mod the game by substituting data files like skins, models, and such. You cannot build a new game from scratch. Taking the mod approach is the right one for a newcomer. Good luck. That link above should help a lot.

#3

Thanks a bunch!:thumbsup:

#4

unreal engine is a great startoff engine :slight_smile: especially with all the extra help available at www.3dbuzz.com

The hl2 source engine is also a great choice, and comes with hl2 when u get it from www.steampowered.com

You will need a program to code in:
For unreal engine:
UnrealEd(comes with it) or get a text editor and use the compiler

For the Source Engine:
a c++ compiler like Microsoft Visual C++ or Dev-cpp(www.bloodshed.net)

You’ll also want a modelling program:
A good free one that works seamlessly with the source engine is XSI Mod Tool which you can get at www.softimage.com you can also try gmax(free version of 3dsmax) from www.discreet.com XSI Mod Tool has nice animation software also built in.

For texturing:
Photoshop of course :wink: (www.adobe.com)

checkout 3dbuzz.com for ut2004 modding tutorials and i can help you out with other stuff if you have any question :thumbsup:

Good luck ! :smiley:

#5

ut2004 is probably the easiest engine to start out with as a whole. watching all the VTMs on 3dbuzz will bring you a LONG way and will get you into scripting which i find to be the easiest in UT (with uscript). you might want to look into the doom 3 engine as well… but you probably wont find as many tutorials to look through than with other engines… although 3dbuzz also has a few doom 3 VTMs. HL2 is great as well… it has a massive growing community…

a lot depends on what kind of game you are planning on making. if you plan on having a fast paced game with lots of vehicles and baddies, ut might be a good choice. looking for a darker more atmospheric game… doom 3 might be better.

#6

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