Read the forum rules, no such things here !

This post has been edited by yordan: Mar 16 2006, 10:00 AM

I'd say it's the other way around... C++ has all that C has and more (like classes for Object Oriented programming) and if you know how to move your way around you can avoid a WHOLE lot of pointers, which for some reason I fail to understand makes some programmers get all scared up.



Indeed, it is pointless to start making a game if you are not absolutely sure what you want to do. If you don't think up thoroughly, you'll just end up giving up in the middle. No need to get through every little detail, though. Work out the basic game mechanics, find a suitable (i.e. plausible and feasible) setting for the game story (if any) and basically figure out what puts it all together.



If making a game for fun, I'd say all you actually need to know is how much time you're WILLING to invest in the creation process and the language you will use (ask yourself questions like: "Can I do it with this?", "Am I fluent in this language?" or "Should I lose a few more weeks to learn this language because it fits the job better?"). Requirement analysis can't be done effectively without crippling the game before you even started coding. Unless you know the limitations of platforms you are expecting it to work and the limitations of the language itself.



Definitely!



You can ignore the 4th step if working for fun!

www.gamingw.net is the best source for amateur game design. I personally suggest RPGmaker. It's the most versetile and fairly easy. You never have to write a line of code. You just have to know what goes with what (click interface) and they have lots of recources. Gamingw.net doesn't have a very friendly staff, but their recources are wonderful.

Read 1 or 2 C++ Books. Then familarize yourself with java and php. SHould be easy after you learn C++. Don't bother with Visual basic. Some don't even consider it a programming langauge. If yoiu're serious about creating a game, don't depend on VB otherwise VB is the way to go!

i havent fully read all the other posts, but for game programming i advise you to start in a simple language, and forget about making engines, there are engines already on the market for indi(independent) game makers, and those are the rule of the market, like torque, blitz, darkbasic, and some others,

go see darkbasic.com, its really great and you can have a fps made in no time with fps creator, or you can learn to programm in a basic style with very fast results, since theyre engine is BASIC language with inbued directx 9 commands, great community by the way, look for an user called "supremacy", haha, really, very good way to start is at those guys site, and offcourse, at gamedev.net, theres also some indigameforums.com or something like it,

cheers
darkbasic.com or thegamecreators.com

so ive read the posts and im sure you want make a game the ways theyre telling you to, you must start small, go from 2d to 3d and start with a procedural language, dont go diving right trough c++, youll get really confused,

and in realation to some vb comments ive seen like


i strongly disagree, vb is very powerfull, sometimes even faster then some c++ compilers ! and very easy to code to, and the ones that dont consider vb a programming language are not worth listen, also, there are powerfulls engines that easaly wrap around vb6, i remenber playing a lot in vb6 with one great engine, truevision3d.com , i thinks this was it, very powerfull and fast!

theres always preferences and divergencies in programming languages, and game making is a flammy matter, ive been there, you really want a good advice ? go learn c#, its the future.

Problem with VB and other "Visual *" languages (probably except C++, but Microsoft still tries to make it's own standard, so meh): no portability.

VB has it's own other issues, sure, but that's the main one.

And to see how powerful C++ really is, in little less than 2 weeks and using a 2D graphical library (knowing NOTHING about the lib previously), I made it half way into an online remake of Bomberman (missing the "online" part heh). So yeah, I'd recommend it. Gotta finish that project anytime soon, but meh, college, exams, you name it...

you couldnt be more wrong......

This post has been edited by mustra: Jun 19 2006, 11:18 PM

Could be right, could be wrong.
I'm pretty sure it's wrong most of the times.
The only way to be sure, is to write down two programs doing the same thing (let's say calculating the tenth decimal of pi) one version in vb and one version in C, compile both, run both, and see which one goes faster.

Obviously supposing the quality (and thus efficiency) of the code is equal in both languages.

Nevertheless, it's is the way to go and check it out. I guess VB has lower performance on larger projects though.

I can honestly see myself almost 10 years ago in the original thread starter. and you're really not going to like my advice, but its the truth none the less.

you arent going to be able to do game programming now. you cannot just decide you want to do it and think you will pick it up, and majority of the aspects behind it you wont even be able to comprehend right now. That comes with time. something that doesnt make sense to you now, further down the road will be easier to undersatnd. so my advice for you is:

take about 10 steps back.

do as the previous posts here have said and learn C/C++.
then learn it some more
then eat sleep and breath it a while longer, heh

Don't use some "game maker program" as they are all give horrible outcome, and you cant have any real satisfaction in anything that you make with them, cuz you didnt didnt make it yourself.

and most importantly, start with the basics......after you've been learning C for a while, go ahead and make a game, but go back to the very beginning. meaning, make a small pong game. and once you start this, and realize how difficult it is for you (at your level of experience) to even make 2 moving lines and a ball that bounces accross the screen in 2d, then maybe you'll have more understanding on the complexity behind what you are wanting to do, and can move forward from there if you choose to xD


Hope this helped