How to make a game.

[oneth]

Well... it's true that if you don't plan to work as game-programer is a waste of time to code a new engine. But if you want to, you should learn all the way, from botton (basic api's) to top (pre-build engines). All the steps are important.

Only for hobby you shouldn't go for a home-made engine, because you don't need to waste time on it, as you said. Just take one of the existing ones and use it. But if you enjoy it one day you'll find that you need to go back to the root and choose a self-made engine.

So I see two ways (as I say on my previous post):
- Hobby: take it easy.
- More than a hobby : try all the game proccess steps.

If you only want to see your art (2D or 3D) in a game, take a look at the 'huge' pack of free games who need artist. Maybe the game your are planning is alredy half-done and needs your help

About VB. VB isn't a bad language at all. But VB programming can 'degenerate' in bad habits. Also for so long was the 'dark side' of programming. Anyway VB is mostly used for 'quick' appications, mora than for big projects like a game should be. But there are exceptions...

[Nappa]

what i dont understand is when they skin models do they add a light soucer in order to paint it or what

[dave3d]

Hello there!

I'm one of the 4 swedish students (friends aswell) that are developing a game for the sole purpose of learning how to create a game. We are making it from scratch with our own OpenGL engine. This is a hobby project, but we're still serious on making it.

After 8 months we finally have our first physics demo (It'll be done tomorrow (sunday,10/4 2004) and after that we are going to start expanding it with light sources, ai, models, textures etc.
The game's name is Scripture of Saynoir, it's a rpg. We stay in touch by msn, irc and phone and the game is well organised.

If you want to support us, please visit #saynoir at quakenet (IRC)
Our website will be up next month...

[orgee]

let me drop a few cents on this:

i started programming age 13, started with qbasic, after 3 months of mastering it, i made a chrono trigger clone, i still have it on one of my disks but it will only run on a really old computer (486dx2) and you need qbasic to run it.

then i started learning pascal & C and to be honest with you, i know this might NOT be possible for some people, but i learned them pretty damn quick. C i learned in about 6 hours reading a book which i dont know where it is now called Learn C in 24 Hours but i did it quick, and same with Pascal, i learned by reading the manuals that my dad's friend gave to me.

I dont know how I did it but im putting it on the study which scientists say that young kids brains absorb things faster because they are young, although i am trying to break that limit.

so after about a year i know qbasic, pascal, c / c++ AND i learned how to do assembly language. by then ive also made my own graphics libraries using assembly language and a mix of C AND i was working on a 3D graphics Api.

These are all on DOS and I believe i still have them btw.

When i look back and find how i did all of that so quick I found that my "mode of thinking" back then had NO LIMIT. I saw I needed to make a sprite paint program in Qbasic for my Chrono Trigger clone and I made it. I needed a FAST 2d graphics library cuz i had an old computer (486 dx 2 66mhz 4mb ram) and I made it.

IT TAKES ALOT OF HARD WORK to become a good game programmer especially if youre planning on doing it all on your own. Why would I recommend doing it that way? Simple: so you can have experience in ALL ASPECTS of game development. The more you know how the whole thing works, the better you are not only as a single person team, but ALSO as part of a multi-person team.

Unfortunately back then my math wasnt good enough to continue my 3d api so I was stuck with a basic 3d api with flat shading capabilities and not even a z-buffer but rather a qsort way of rendering objects. But hey, Im happy and I know what I can do and if I wanted to do it again, I can.

YOU CAN DO IT TOO! Dont limit yourself with anything. Find inspirations like i did, and back then they were Michael Abrash and John Carmack. (oh the days of looking through his Wolf3D code..err Wolf2.5D

Inspire yourself, dont give up, work hard, and when you compile and no errors, PLAY HARDER!

[george.vas]

IMO

I don't see anything wrong from trying to create a game totally by yourself. However I think I can count one hand the number of people that are both creative and technical. Coding interest me and I am not that bad it but my passion is in 3d modeling.

Maybe I am old fashion but I think you should do one thing and do it well. I believe that someone who spends there life doing 3d modeling is a lot better than someone that models and codes, same goes the other way as well.

I am always looking for some fun side jobs so feel free to shoot me what your looking for and I will contact you back if I can help.

[[X]treme]

well... by yourself you can spend a little while making nifty 2D arcade style-java game

or you could spend 25 years making a high-quality mid-poly fully 3D rpg by yourself

I really believe, as PolyMarauder said, that you should pick one thing and do it well, and let the rest of a team focus on other areas

that way, it gets done faster and done better

win win situation for the most part

[dave3d]

I agree with [X]Treme

Organization is a very vital part of the project. One guy should be the Project Leader imo. If you don't know exactly how to manage a project, I suggest borrowing a project leader book at your library.

[orgee]

Alright, let me make some adjustments on what I said.

You guys are definitely right though. Having a team and having each individual focused on type of skill would increase development speed.

But for a project leader, or technical director, its good to have experience in all of the areas. You dont have to be really skilled with it, but you should know some of the main areas about something just so you can manage your team better and provide some assistance to a member in case of problems. But the best thing is that it just gives you an overall "eye" about what is going on as a whole.

Tips for aspiring game developers:

Take it step by step starting from the basics, start with projects like classic games (pacman, pong, etc) and as you learn more and more, advance to the next level. Remember, there is a load of information available online and on books and the amount of ways you have communication with fellow game programmers is just right there. Nothing in game programming is impossible, its all logic, rules and what not. And dont forget the creative side too, put some originality into your projects. Even a simple game pacman can be tweaked so much. Also, dont forget to download source code from other people and study them. Most of the time, the source will tell you how to contact the authors, so spend a few minutes to email them if you have questions. And last but not least, play lots of games, enjoy them, and learn from them.

[Mr_Ridd]

Ok now on to the programming aspect of it. If you know how to program in C++ you can jump right into 3D game programming. You will still need to now a lot though. Go to www.ogre3d.org. It's a completely free 3D engine. It's so easy to do things in there as well.

I got it and I managed to import a 3D model with animation in about 60 seconds flat, with very little knowledge of how the engine worked.

[chilliodude]

seeing as your all on the subject of making games what is the average poly limit for vehicle and character models(organic and inorganic) has anyone made a complete 3d game if yes i'd love to see it

[ROB]

Hello chilliodude,
The polygon count per car in Gran Turismo 4 is between 2,000-3,000.
In Half Life 2 characters will be made with up to 5,000 polygons!

[maurok]

Hello guys,
Me and another two friends are in the last year of computer engineer, and we're developing, as a graduation project, an Engine to help people who wants to make a game (more specifically a 3D RPG, such as final fantasy). it'll make the programming work A LOT easier, you'll stil need to make a little programming, but just some basic stuff for you game, the hard part will be already made.
Now we're almost finishing the engine and we'd like to make a game using it to prove that it works and help us in finding problems. after this we'll release it as an open source project on the web.
I are now trying to find some people to help us with the artistic part. we mainly need some monsters model with some animations.
if anyone wants to help us, please email me at mauro.kesselman@poli.usp.br .

Thanks
Mauro

[NiVaG]

where would be the best place to start learning these languages, or what language should i learn first?

[Ceccotti]

Good break down but the time frame is much to large. It does not and will not in most cases take that long to learn all that stuff. I would say at the max 5 years to be fairly skilled. The first time its hard later its just like learning different ways to do things.

[CommandoSR]

Originally posted by ROB
In Half Life 2 characters will be made with up to 5,000 polygons!

Alyx, that female character that fights occassionally on your side, is 8000 polygons.