allright. i have some good ideas for a game, but im a total n00b. i dont know any programing language, but i wana make a game. i’m an image maker, (like textures, buttons, banners, logos, etc) i can make and run websites. and have a good sucessfull website. so i need someone to teach me the basics and help me make this game i wana make.
new, dont know anything, good ideas
DarkenedFire
#2
first off you need a simple language to learn, i recommend darkbasic, it is simple fun, and very dynamic so it can be easily used to do just about anything(also you wont get board or frustrated with it) you can download the trial version, or get the full version (for about $75.99) at this site this was my first language, and i still use it alot today, next i suggest you get maya ple and use the tutorials along with a book on character animation in maya also use the tutorials at this site. then you should go and buy maya (about $239) you can get maya and maya ple on this site then you can model your characters in maya and export them to directx files which can be used by darkbasic, so you’ll need an expoter that exports in the .x format. this exporter comes with direct x sdk 9 which can be downloaded here that is what you’ll need for the basics. so i hope this helps.
maya will be used for the modelling and texturing of 3-d charcters, and dark basic will be used to make the rules and properties of your game such emulating gravity and making the control setup also it comes with many tutorials and examples if you do need help. dark basic will also be used for the story line of your game as far as certain events being triggered by others and is all done very simply
AdamAtomic
#3
i would REALLY recommend making your first game a 2D one. You really do not need to be worrying about 3d display and presentation with all the other concerns of a first game on your head. I would shoot for something simple and arcade-y or retro-ish, just to give you a project to work on that you can actually finish while you get your feet wet. Best of luck!
Lau83
#4
In a nuttshell:
A good game starts by good design. An idea is not good enough. You’ll have to design every feature of your game on paper (or digitally) using text and schematics.
When your gamedesign is complete you can decide what technology to use for your game. For example if you defined that you will use 3D graphics in your game design, you’ll now have to choice to choose what rendering API you will use (eg. OpenGl or Direct3D) based on the platform you will be programming (Windows, Linux, etc). You will also have to decide which programming tools you’ll have to use.
When everything is decided, it’s time to form a team of programmers, graphics designers, sound designers, leveldesigners etc.
In the beginning you will propably work with the programmers, creating the technology that will drive your game, because without it, your level and gfx designers, can’t create their actual game content. In that period, those same designers can already start making sketches and designs of your models, levels, textures, animations, etc. During this phase, it’s important for the designers and programmers to communicate well with each other, because features designed by the designers need to be implemented into the technology (aka. the game engine, etc).
When the technology is done, your artist can use the tools for that technology to create all the content (levels, textures, animations, etc). The sound effects guy can create his stuff and the programmers tie all those elements together by programming the gameplay elements of your game using the engine.
When that part is done your product is reaching Alpha status. The main part of the game is finished and you start tweaking gameplay elements. Balancing different aspect of the game so the best achieveble gameplay is reached.
When the game itself is finally done, the product reaches a Beta status, meaning it will be tested for software bugs. This period of testing will usualy take a fair amount of time, because every single aspect of the game needs to be tested for bugs.
When your game is out of beta status it goes Gold. Meaning that your product is being prepared for shipment and/or deployment.
would darkbasic be the easiest tool to use for creating a 2d game? if not, what would you guys recommend?
Boone
#6
DarkBasic is ideal for creating a very simple 2D game such as Tetris, but for something like CastleVania:SOTN or DUNE2000 - you’d need C++. :lightbulb
sorry for not responding, i was in china for 2 weeks. okayyy
now
first off you need a simple language to learn, i recommend darkbasic, it is simple fun, and very dynamic so it can be easily used to do just about anything(also you wont get board or frustrated with it) you can download the trial version, or get the full version (for about $75.99) at this site this was my first language, and i still use it alot today, next i suggest you get maya ple and use the tutorials along with a book on character animation in maya also use the tutorials at this site. then you should go and buy maya (about $239) you can get maya and maya ple on this site then you can model your characters in maya and export them to directx files which can be used by darkbasic, so you’ll need an expoter that exports in the .x format. this exporter comes with direct x sdk 9 which can be downloaded here that is what you’ll need for the basics. so i hope this helps.
maya will be used for the modelling and texturing of 3-d charcters, and dark basic will be used to make the rules and properties of your game such emulating gravity and making the control setup also it comes with many tutorials and examples if you do need help. dark basic will also be used for the story line of your game as far as certain events being triggered by others and is all done very simply
allright, well, i’ve decided to make a simple 2-d game first to get the hang of things,(suggested down there) so can darkbasic do that? next, im not doing charecters in my game, the game is a secenery-basic game. ill explain it later.
i would REALLY recommend making your first game a 2D one. You really do not need to be worrying about 3d display and presentation with all the other concerns of a first game on your head. I would shoot for something simple and arcade-y or retro-ish, just to give you a project to work on that you can actually finish while you get your feet wet. Best of luck!
thats acturally a good idea, now i just need to think of a game for that. the game i want to make HAS to be 3D otherwise there would be no way to make it work.
In a nuttshell:
A good game starts by good design. An idea is not good enough. You’ll have to design every feature of your game on paper (or digitally) using text and schematics.
When your gamedesign is complete you can decide what technology to use for your game. For example if you defined that you will use 3D graphics in your game design, you’ll now have to choice to choose what rendering API you will use (eg. OpenGl or Direct3D) based on the platform you will be programming (Windows, Linux, etc). You will also have to decide which programming tools you’ll have to use.
When everything is decided, it’s time to form a team of programmers, graphics designers, sound designers, leveldesigners etc.
In the beginning you will propably work with the programmers, creating the technology that will drive your game, because without it, your level and gfx designers, can’t create their actual game content. In that period, those same designers can already start making sketches and designs of your models, levels, textures, animations, etc. During this phase, it’s important for the designers and programmers to communicate well with each other, because features designed by the designers need to be implemented into the technology (aka. the game engine, etc).
When the technology is done, your artist can use the tools for that technology to create all the content (levels, textures, animations, etc). The sound effects guy can create his stuff and the programmers tie all those elements together by programming the gameplay elements of your game using the engine.
When that part is done your product is reaching Alpha status. The main part of the game is finished and you start tweaking gameplay elements. Balancing different aspect of the game so the best achieveble gameplay is reached.
When the game itself is finally done, the product reaches a Beta status, meaning it will be tested for software bugs. This period of testing will usualy take a fair amount of time, because every single aspect of the game needs to be tested for bugs.
When your game is out of beta status it goes Gold. Meaning that your product is being prepared for shipment and/or deployment.
A good game starts by good design. An idea is not good enough. You’ll have to design every feature of your game on paper (or digitally) using text and schematics.
well, ive thought of most of the game allready because it revolves around the same idea. should i post it here? because this aint your ordanary game.
When everything is decided, it’s time to form a team of programmers, graphics designers, sound designers, leveldesigners etc.
In the beginning you will propably work with the programmers, creating the technology that will drive your game, because without it, your level and gfx designers, can’t create their actual game content. In that period, those same designers can already start making sketches and designs of your models, levels, textures, animations, etc. During this phase, it’s important for the designers and programmers to communicate well with each other, because features designed by the designers need to be implemented into the technology (aka. the game engine, etc).
When the technology is done, your artist can use the tools for that technology to create all the content (levels, textures, animations, etc). The sound effects guy can create his stuff and the programmers tie all those elements together by programming the gameplay elements of your game using the engine.
When that part is done your product is reaching Alpha status. The main part of the game is finished and you start tweaking gameplay elements. Balancing different aspect of the game so the best achieveble gameplay is reached.
When the game itself is finally done, the product reaches a Beta status, meaning it will be tested for software bugs. This period of testing will usualy take a fair amount of time, because every single aspect of the game needs to be tested for bugs.
When your game is out of beta status it goes Gold. Meaning that your product is being prepared for shipment and/or deployment.
wohhhhh lets not get ahead of ourselves. this aint going to be a BIGGG project. ill probably be doing everything. and i probably wont start selling until i get all of that bank crap. but thats the earlyest. i even then will still probably just give the game out to friends and stuff. but i will eventually sell it. i can promis you that.
allright, my last concern is this. im not your ritchest person on the block here, and i use all of my money i get from christmas, birthday, etc to keep my computer up-to-date and buy the lastest games. so i dont have alot of money for programs/tools, so i get alot of cracked programs. (never games, i allways buy my games) could i get the tools cracked, and then when im ready to sell it or w/e buy the tools that i used so i dont get legal crap thrown at me?
Lau83
#8
I just gave all that info to give you some insight into game development/project managment, so you can pick out whatever you need for your own little game… But they are just some fundamental steps which will make your life a whole lot easier. Deployment in this case, probably just means zipping al the files and uploading it to a server 
But about your software (and all that legal stuff): If you use the software you’ll got to have a license for each product. If the companies find out, they will throw legal crap at you (as you put it). But luckely for you, there are many types of licenses. For example: If you are a student, you may have a chance that your school has acuired free software licences for their students.
Or just use opensource software, it will save a hell of money, but will also (sometimes) lack good documentation and/or support.
There are several free compilers, but if you decide to start programming on the windows platform, there are several free C++ compilers out there which are REALY nice!
- The MS Visual C++ 2003 toolkit, Platform SDK and DirectX SDK.
- GNU GCC Compiler for windows.
For 2D graphics editing (doing it completly legal) I would suggest Gimp.
For moddeling Wings3D or Blender.
erm.
okay, im on a windows platform
and now. erm, what do i do? im lost
i need like, a whole list of programs to get, someone and/or tutorials to teach me, first with a 2d game, then with a 3d game after.
meta87
#10
google is your friend!
I find that when starting anything new, it is best to immerse yourself in as much information about the subject that you can find. Visit a bunch of game programming forums, download all the software you can find, most have demos, and just expirement. You will get a much better grasp of things this way then if we were to just spoon-feed you exactly what you need. That is to say that we even could!
Anyway good luck with your endeavors and be sure to post specific questions that you have.
LetterRip
#11
If you go the open source route, you can use Blender for modeling, animating, level design, etc. and then use the Blender Game engine for quick prototyping and then export to Ogre or Crystal Space 3D.
Advantage of crystalspace is that the lead developer is making it integrate fairly seemlessly with Blender and it is a complete engine (display, physics, scripting, etc). The advantage of Ogre is that it is a rich display engine, and you can easily combine it with the physics engine, scripting engine, etc. of your choice - also there are projects set up that have it all prerolled (alas Ogre is not planned to my knowledge, to have compatible scripting with Blender).
If you use the Blender engine for prototyping you can purchase the blender game developer manual fairly cheaply.
LetterRip
Reaper5
#12
much like crystalized_illusion, i am new too. i want to make a design team first though. how would i go about setting up all the legal crap? im guessing id need a patent or some thing. any suggestions?
Reaper5
#14
you said you are good at makin web sites… web sites are something most developers need. if you want you could try offering your website building skills in exchange for some tutoring. im sure someone would be willing to take you under thier wing as long as you can maintain a website for them. last time i checked web designers get paid alot. you could learn what skills you need and mabye make some cash for later use. (asuming your getting paid as well as tutored.) then you could use the skills and money you gained one a game.
i know about as much as you do, i think, but this is all the advise i can think of giving you.
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