Getting into game development Thread

I have about a year's experience in C / C++. I'm pretty comfortable with classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and most subjects that people learn before those. But I've never touched graphics before. So where I am now, I am considering what would be best to sharpen my current skills while getting introduced to game development.

So far the only game project I've worked on was a tic-tac-toe text program a few months back. I am considering working with XNA because the code that I saw in tutorials seemed pretty simple and I was getting the general logic of it, but I am intimidated by dealing with graphics (both because I don't know how to make art of any kind and because I've just never been introduced to it). But I am also considering working on a text-based RPG, this is something I could actually start on now without going through a load of tutorials, I guess the only downside is there are probably very few people interested in text-based games that would bother testing it or giving feedback, but I suppose it would be great practice for me. Another possibility would be modding, something like HL2 (which I believe is in C++).

What would be a good place to start?

If your willing to work with C# in unity I am looking for help developing a couple games, as of right now I am in a two man team, Me the scripter and the modeler, I'm still learning as I go so if you need help I should be able to help.

I think unity is definitly worth a look for you, lots of good tutorials to start.

Unity or UDK would be good if you're interested in gameplay. If you're interested in something like graphics, it may be an idea to pick up a text book covering basic OpenGL / DirectX in the language of your choice.

I would go with unity3d because you can knock a simple game up in a weekend.

If you want to get into graphics programming, I would suggest searching google for some tutorials for OpenGL and DirectX to start. IIRC, the DirectX SDK also has a lot of examples to work through, some covering basic techniques, others for more advanced stuff. Regarding art for a game, you could make some art resources yourself using GIMP for sprites and textures and Blender for 3D models (there are a lot of tutorials available to get you started), or team up with an artist.

what is your end goal?

I think the first thing you should do is decide what you really want to do. Whether it is being a programmer, gameplay scripter, or technical designer because the scope of each job is quite different. A programmer primarily works within the backend setting up systems for designers to use. They make the game run efficiently and give level builders tools they can use to make the game. Gameplay scripting essentially just uses those systems either through a scripting language or visual scripts like Kismet. A technical designer is similar but is more about testing and prototyping game mechanics. Figure out what you want to be first either.

Don't use XNA. It's not being used or developed by Microsoft anymore. I agree with the above posts; Check out Unity or UDK. Unity would be good because you can get into C# or JS and is a good gateway into becoming a gameplay programmer/scripter. The engine is really good for prototyping so you can really quickly come up with a cool mechanic and test out how fun it is. You need good portfolio pieces before a company will even talk to you and Unity is a good way to show off your ideas, your mechanics, and your code.

UDK is ok. It will make your portfolio pretty but it is much harder to use. You have to write in unrealscript which has ZERO application outside of UDK. Also, with the release of UE4 they are deprecating the language so in a year or two it will be useless because no one is going to be writing in it anymore. That being said, you get a ton of different things with UDK: weapons, particle systems, prefabs and meshes, animations, basically everything from unreal tournament. You will be able to do a lot with those things but they will still look like UDK assets.

Good luck!

PM Sent

XNA is perfectly fine. It's not abandoned. It lives on as Monogame and supports more platforms now than it ever did when it was just XNA.

It's also very programmer friendly and abstracts away enough of the graphics complexity from you that it should go very smooth.

Edited by: ShinobiNFC