Game Development 101

Let alone a development machine..

 

Yea, get a Radeon 9800pro at the very least. Their not very expensive these days:

http://www.pricewatch.com/prc.aspx?i=37&a=5307

Also, i'd recommend upgrading to 1gb of ram.

 

Upgrade the gfx card, up the ram to a gig.

And please, please, please.... make sure you have two ram sticks of equal size (ie, use two 512 meg sticks). Whatever strange combination you're using now ain't gonna cut it.

 

...and if you have started any projects and have gone far into them, make sure you back them up!!! It would suck to lose some C++ code someone has created and used for 3 years. It's happened to me!

Whoa, ProgrammingAce, I thought you were Assembler the whole time! :110:

 

I've been getting that a lot lately... i don't see the resemblance.

 

heh. you have no idea how often that has happend to me.. and I never seems to learn!
but now I'm trying to setup my own svn server with raid and other fancy stuff so that wont happen again

 

i know, i know, the graphic card is really bad, i've been wanting to upgrade for sometime, though i have to review that damm warranty to see if opening the case and putting one of those in there would void the warranty, they originally said that it would cover all upgrades, but you know how salesmen are. Im hopin to buy a new pc soon though, ive seen some nice ones for around 1200, though this machine takes alot of what throne at it, i havent defragged in 8 months, and shes due for a cleaning, im gonna see how she is after i clean her up on the xmas holidays

 

Yeah, Fab's, once he fixes the permission issue that is.

 

thanks again Hhogan

 

well im looking forward to dev'ing some more, after the holiday shopping, my new model railroad in under 2 square feet, and cleaning up my computer, no worries, all this should happen just before the xmas holidays. with luck i would like to have a simple game up by january 1 2006.

Also, what is dreamcast development like?. I've seen dreamcasts capable of reading any cd's.

also does anyone know of a good compiler(prefereby free and c++) for pocket pc or plam systems, having one would be great to utilize wasted time in class :icon_bigg

Ryan

 

Honestly, if you want to start deving, you're going to need to pick a platform and STICK WITH IT. Jumping from platform to platform isn't going to do you any good. There have been a lot of good suggestions in this thread, but you seem to either dismiss them or simply ignore them and move on to the next flavor of the month.

At this point, you shouldn't even really be thinking about console dev. Start with something simple on the PC, like creating a new level for Quake. Try your hand with a few different kinds of mods. Once you get familiar with that, and you're ready to step up to the next level, buy a copy of Torque for $100. That'll get you a full engine, ready to use.

And don't plan on having something up by Jan 1. It's not that easy.

-hl718

 

Sorry to tell you, but thats completly unrealistic. Sure, you could do that if your using an engine that comes with vtm's (and thus its easier to understand quickly), and are using pre-made assets (static meshes, textures, animations, etc.) and your only building the levels general layout, but making one from scratch just isn't going to happen.

Seriously, pick one thing to lean (modeling/programming), get the necessary software for working with it, and then pace yourself going through tutorials (paperback, online, vtm's, etc.). Treat it like school, where in you give yourself one project (keep it SIMPLE) a week and do your best on each one.

For instance (mini ultra-noob tutorial):

Wana learn max? Ok, first get the program (how you get it is up to you). Afterwords open it and notice it has four windows in it, each one representing a different viewing angle (which is named in the windows upper left hand corner). Your going to want to get comfortable switching between them, so click one on each one and notice that their border turns yellow. Now click on the perspective window, then hold down the alt key and press W. The window should now be maximized and you are looking at the three dimensional space you are going to be working in.

Now lets look over the interface. The basic max interface consists of a bar of icons on the top and left hand side of the screen, as well as others of various shapes and sizes on the right and bottom side of the screen. The general breakdown of what these sections are for is as follows:

left: These are virtualy useless (I've never used them, and I don't know anyone else who has either.
bottom: Is mostly for animation (although the XYZ axis part comes in very handy)
Top: Mostly movement tools (basic selector, movement, rotation, etc.) as well as the undo and forward buttons that are necessary in most programs for creation of just about anything.
Right: This is where the bulk of the tools are, and the ones you'll be using more so then any other.

Alright, now that we have a very basic understanding of the interface, lets make something. On the right side their are several buttons listed under 'object type', such as box, cone, sphere, suchforth. Click on the 'box' button, and then after its selected go to somewhere in your perspective window and left click and drag. A flat shap (determined by where your mouse is in relation to when you clicked) will appear. Once you like what you see left click again to go to the part where you extrude the shape upword to make it however tall you want. click again for it to become a part of the space (if you had right clicked it would have dissapeared).

Yay! you've made what looks something like a box (hopefully). But before we start doing anything else take the time to try out the other buttons arround the box one you used. Once you've seen how they work its time to get ready to manipulate the box (if you deleted it, just re-make it).

First, were going to need to know how to look at the object from all angles, which is where camera control comes in. If you'r using anything other then a mouse with a wheel or middle button on it your going to need to get one, as max relies on it entirly for movement. Here is a breakdown of general movements you'l want to know how to do:

Pan: Click and hold the middle mouse button and move the mouse arround
Fast pan: same as above, but while holding ctrl
Rotate: Click and hold the alt and middle mouse buttons
Set rotation center: Select the object you want to rotate arround, and press Z
Zoom In/Out: Hold Alt, ctrl, and the middle mouse button, pushing the mouse up to get closer, and down to get farther. Alternativly if you have a wheel you can rotate that to zoom in and out.

Mess with the controls until your at least moderatly comfortable before proceeding.

Part 2: Comming to a web post near you if you'd like (If your not interested I don't feel like burning away my time anymore).

 

Not if he uses Game Maker.....

 

"i originally tried to make a game using game maker, and made a simple mario clone, but to me it wasnt rewarding enough nor as powerful" From the first post in the thread.

 

If you can't come up with something creative and fun with game maker, then you're not trying hard enough.

The first step you ABSOLUTELY must do is sit down and write a proposal laying out your game's design. Start with the genre, do you want to make a platformer, shooter, racing game? Let's say you want to make a racing game. There are about a billion sites telling you how to design a platformer, everyone starts with a platformer.

Write down what type of cars you want, realistic, fantasy, modern, clasic? Now how do you want the cars to perform, realisticly, arcade? How many cars do you want the player to select from? I would recomend 2 for your first game, it will let you write a user interface that lets you select the cars, but you don't have too many to work with. How many tracks will you have? Again i recomend 2 for the same reasons. What setting do you want these tracks to be, artic, desert, fantasy, cityscape? I'd leave out the weather conditions for this game. Make sure you're writing all of your plans down.

Now we're going to start programming! Yay!

Make a square. Import it into game maker. You now have your first place holder graphic. Now you're going to make that square drive around the screen.

From here, work a little each week to make the game match your original plans. Will you start by modeling hot rods, hell no. You'll start by doing the initial design, then makeing a little square drive around a blank screen. Each hour you work on it, it'll become more and more like your design plan. If you're concerned about the "kiddy" drag and drop interface of game maker, you should know that it fully supports C++.

By Spring of next year, you should have a game that any person on this board would happpy to congradulate you on. Unfortunately game design isn't quick, it sucks i know. I use game maker to prototype games before i dump hours of my life into the final product. Want to make a top down shoot-em-up? Test out your design plans in a few days instead of weeks, you'll be glad when you find out your game acutally sucks and you have to redesign the whole first level (cough, not that i would know anything about that).

I'll grab some of my prototypes that i never finished as an example... now where can i host them...

EDIT: Ok, i dug a pair of game maker tests i made for games i've never bothered to finish. I never planned to release these, so please don't judge my design ability on them. When i say the graphics were stolen, i mean that i used libraries freely offered up on the web. I'm just trying to say that i didn't do the art myself. I am pretty embarised about both of these, so please try to remember that these were simple demos to test out mechanics.

The first is a shoot-em-up, i stole about 60% of the graphics, and the rest i made with the gimp. I suck with the gimp. Shoot the red balloons to get the blue triangles which add to your health. Control shoots. Arrows move you around. You can go into god mode by pressing "G". I don't remember if you can get out of god mode without exiting. This was a test to try to get the speed of the plane down, i don't think i got it right.

http://gamerhistory.com/demo.exe

The second is a platformer, i was playing around with the level design trying to come up with new ideas. All of these graphics were stolen except for the main character, who's design changed about a dozen times. I think the jump is too high, and the levels are too confusing. It's hard to figure out where to go next. I think space bar jumps, arrows move you around (maybe up jumps, i really don't remember). You can stand on clouds (which i discovered that most people couldn't figure out). When you touch the big sign that says "Level" you move on to the next level. When you finish the second level you go back to the first.

http://gamerhistory.com/test.exe


As a bonus treat, and because i want to be absolutely sure that no company will ever hire me in the field of game design again, this is the first game i made with game maker. The graphics are 100% mine!!!... it isn't the first game i've ever made, that's on another hard drive, i'll have to dig that up some time for you guys to play with.


http://gamerhistory.com/planeshooter.exe

 

You know, after reading this thread, I think I've been inspired to try my hand at a Quake 2 mod or level of some kind. Or should I try something newer like UT2k4 or 3? Any links to stuff or suggestions would be awesome. hl178, whats Tourque?

 

For the love of god, don't use Wild Magic.

 

Torque is a FULL 3D game engine that has evolved from Tribes 2. The team that built it, spun it off as an engine for indy game developers. It costs $100 per developer seat to license it which is *INCREDIBLY* cheap and has very flexible and fair runtime fees if you decide to sell any games using the engine. There's also a lot of support for it.

Check it out at http://www.garagegames.com/

-hl718

 

Hey guys, i just had to post right now, even though its the middle of internet tech class. I was stupid, plain old stupid for thinking about doing all these plain crazy ideas, it was my imagination running amuck again, stupid imagination. i thank you all for your contributions to this thread, and i've considered all of them. As for me switching between all these platforms and devs, i've finally decided upon one for sure. I'm able to get 3Dmax 7, and plan to use that as my primary 3d modeller, i will also be using one of the afore mentioned engines, wether it be ut2k4 or the quake series of engines.

As for gamemaker, its come along way since when i first got started with it, now there capable of full 3d, as for that game i made, it was for a friend, and i had 4 hours t make it and 20 some odd levels, i may come back to gamemaker, but for the time being, i want to try my hand at something bigger,i should have learned my lesson about timelines, but i didnt

im sorry if i annoyed anyone with my stupid posts or lack of mind set, and i've considered all of your contributions, alas, i feel this is most likely the best option

Thanks
Ryan Adams

 

Ryan,

If you want to learn 3DSmax and are considering using the Quake engine you should really look into gmax. gmax is a free version of 3DSmax that works with Quake 3 and a few other games. You can download it here: http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax.

This is both cheap and 100% legal, so you can get any support you need on the gmax forums.

-hl718