Need Video Game Creation Advice (Please) Thread

I just finished a mod of mine and I now want to try something different. I want to try and see what I can do with a free game engine, I don't have any experience in this but I want to try. Could you guys give me some advice on what engine to use, I looked at unity and panda 3d before but I don't really know. I would like something that is easy to use, panda 3d was all code and very confusing so I just dropped that before when I tried it out months ago. I would love to create a third person survival horror game in the style of the old resident evil games so please help me out here.

If you're going to make something in third person you will need to learn some code, because 3D is a lot more complex than most simple engines. I used to use GameMaker to develop smaller games, but they were all quite simple and 2D. You're probably better off doing a bunch of Unity tutorials and trying that, but I'm no expert on Unity so I can't really say if it's for you or not.

Hmm, I don't really know. I'll wait until more people post before I make a decision, I wonder if UDK would be a better choice than unity because unity has some restrictions on the free version.

while being ambitious is great, you should know a one man team (I assume) would be hard pressed to create a entire 3d game, even with a easy to use engine and coding experience.

from experience, if you want to learn properly, grab unity and make a bunch of really simply 2d games like snake and break out, try to finish them as fast as possible and not polish them up, get your feet wet, then dive into 3d, I would suggest 3d versions of the 2d games you made, then move on to the project you want to do.

if you took a month out of your time and dedicated it to unity simple games and tutorials, trying to build a game from scratch without using tuts etc.. you would be well on your way in both learning C# (don't use javascript in unity, yuck!) and the unity engine which are both something you should have a pretty good grasp of before you should consider a larger project.

but that doesn't mean you can't dive right in, I just don't recommend it.

good luck!

Yea I think I'll just hold off on stuff like this for now.

BLENDERBLENDERBLENDER!!!!!!Its easy its new! and coding with python could never be quicker!
Okay okay I understand.... Good luck bro btw if your game falls hard on its face i could help out with you cuz its likely it will most games dont get too far when an inexperienced indie dev comes along.

Oops nevermind nevermind nevermind

I didnt notice.... nevermind!

Edited by: CjDev

I think the way to go for 3d games would be unity, espacially if you want something more beginner freindly (UDK is not the way to go here, atleast not from my experience).
Oh and by the way this guy made a whole series of tutorials wich actually show you how to do a survial game (it's in first-person though). Apart from getting some neat ideas on how to get around creating the game you will learn alot about UDK in the process as it's completly newb freindly and will pretty much hold your hand all the way through!
Sincerly JungleJoe/me

PS I guess you'll be needing a link :-)
Youtube.com

A really good tool to have would be to familiarize yourself with design thinking so you can integrate it into your work flow. Many of my own projects fell victim to me not going through that process, and the lack of planning simply made them fall apart eventually. Nice learning experiences, not exactly games at that stage (well, mine weren't, lol). A book I'd highly recommend for that purpose would be "The art of game design: a book of lenses" by Jesse Schell. It's not exactly cheap, but it's a very, very good book to have in your arsenal if you plan on making things on your own.

Edit: Oh and sorry I didn't have an engine to suggest, but it seems that everyone likes to skip this step when they go independent. But getting the hang of that part is something that can make or break a career, since every single process in game development involves some degree of design.

Edit edit: Aaaand getting familiarized with design thinking will also help you clarify and acknowledge technical and personal limitations, which greatly increases the odds of you creating something that can realistically be done within your own experience framework. It also creates a very nice "future experience pathway" to track along, as it'll make you realize what you need to learn to get your initial vision done.

Edited by: Genero

you can also download the free demo of Axis Game Factory's AGF PRO v01.0 - it is a stand alone toolset that is a rapid level and game creation toolset and it works with both Unity Free and Pro. You can get it from the website at www.axisgamefactory.com or go to the Unity Asset Store... if you need any addition info or support, you are welcome to contact us at tammy@heavyh2o.com - Good luck!

Unity 3D is the way to go for any small 1 or 2 man teams. You can create great 2D and 3D games in Unity and with the new pricing structure for Unity Pro it is even more affordable than ever. Learn C# and Unity. You'll go places with knowledge of both of those.