I want to make a game.

[everett1911]

I want to make a game. a shoot em up, even. nothing fancy; rather basic gameplay, actually.

why? because I've never coded before. I'm a complete beginner in this area. the only thing going for me right now is that I can make my own music (thank you, madtracker), and that I don't give up too easily, so I was wondering:

-What programming language should I use/learn? The game would run as a windows (xp and above) executable and thus not be a web game.

-Is there a program to assist in 2d sprite work? (for exemple, a zoomed-in grid in which you can then make your sprites)

-Where would I pick up the sound effects?

-What else should I know?

[Zetrox2k]

Programming Language: Without a doubt, C++

Sound Effects: Google "royalty free sound effects" should give you many listings. make sure you are using royalty free effects. You've got a long way to go before you need to worry about effects.

Sprite Creation software: Why on earth would you want that? unless your making a 2d game, or pseudo 3d (ie doom, duke3d), use Photoshop. There is a freeware alternative called Gimp 2.0. There is also a powerful online editor called Splashup.

What else? For starters, if this is a one man project (may the force be with you), you will need to learn a basic 3d modelling animation package. I recommend 3d studio max if it is within your reach, otherwise theres free alternatives like blender.

Im curious how persistent you are, but getting the grasp of C++ at a useable level is an epic bitch; its a very hard language to self learn, i HIGHLY recommend some part time courses to grasp the basics..

[everett1911]

Programming Language: Without a doubt, C++

Sound Effects: Google "royalty free sound effects" should give you many listings. make sure you are using royalty free effects. You've got a long way to go before you need to worry about effects.

Sprite Creation software: Why on earth would you want that? unless your making a 2d game, or pseudo 3d (ie doom, duke3d), use Photoshop. There is a freeware alternative called Gimp 2.0. There is also a powerful online editor called Splashup.

What else? For starters, if this is a one man project (may the force be with you), you will need to learn a basic 3d modelling animation package. I recommend 3d studio max if it is within your reach, otherwise theres free alternatives like blender.

Im curious how persistent you are, but getting the grasp of C++ at a useable level is an epic bitch; its a very hard language to self learn, i HIGHLY recommend some part time courses to grasp the basics..

Of course I am making a 2d game. photoshop and gimp are too complicated for me. I just want something with a grid that will let me work on a per-pixel basis (think the website fontstruct.)

And if C++ is that complex, perhaps it's not something I should take on for my first project, eh?

[la-li-lu-le-lo]

Of course I am making a 2d game. photoshop and gimp are too complicated for me. I just want something with a grid that will let me work on a per-pixel basis (think the website fontstruct.)

And if C++ is that complex, perhaps it's not something I should take on for my first project, eh?

There's always MS Paint. You'd be surprised at what you can do with it.

Here's something I drew several years ago with MS Paint:

[Bad_Ad84]

There's always MS Paint. You'd be surprised at what you can do with it.

Here's something I drew several years ago with MS Paint:

Relative links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBC8nC7f2Rs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kpbdLC7fbU

[The Perfect K]

For what you're looking to do, I'd suggest something like C++ with SDL or perhaps allegro if you're more serious about the programming aspect. If you just want to make a game, you can produce something rather quickly using C# and the express version of XNA, which is geared more for people interested in getting a game up and running quicker.

Personally, when I program, I like to do a bunch of stuff by hand, which is why I usually stick with C++ and OpenGL (often along with SDL). Even for my 2D stuff, I like to create powerful, intricate rendering engines and that sort. I find enjoyment in exploring that side of game creation. However, that's not for everybody, and more people seem more about the grand scheme than the minute details. That is the exact audience that XNA was built for.

However, I see that you're a complete beginner. You're going to need to learn to walk before you can run. I'm not sure how fast you learn, but you're really going to need to read up on the basics of computer programming. It takes a while before you're really ready to move onto stuff like graphics. When I first began programming, I messed around with Quick Basic on my 8088 and would make text based games - even stuff like roguelikes using a character field that got updated. It took me a while to get the graphics drawing stuff down. I started by reading a Quick basic syntax manual and by looking at a few example programs I saw on BBSes at the time.

[Segafreak_NL]

I like Adobe Fireworks for sprites. Perhaps start with something relatively easy like Flash Actionscript 3.0.

[Golan Trevize]

Unfortunately you'll get nowhere unless you learn the basics of computer programming first and those are a long way from the point where you can make something that resembles a video game.

[everett1911]

Unfortunately you'll get nowhere unless you learn the basics of computer programming first and those are a long way from the point where you can make something that resembles a video game.

oh. the funny bit is, back in 2004, I got a book about c++ with a cd with a free program to start making c++ programs, but the book was so baddly written and the program on the cd had nothing to do with what they were showing in the book, I gave up after a week.

[graciano1337]

Make a game on a graphing calculator.

[Hawanja]

I'll make you some sprites for free. My price is my name must be in the credits, and you must actually finish the game.

[everett1911]

I'll make you some sprites for free. My price is my name must be in the credits, and you must actually finish the game.

I'll keep that in mind, though I'll most likely do the sprites by myself. gotta practice!

[K0baltic]

I use App Game Kit. /www.appgamekit.com/ It is cheap. Easy to use. Updated all the time. It uses BASIC programming language which is easy to learn. It also supports C++ when you get use to programming. Tons of examples and code.

[everett1911]

wow, basic is still in use today? o:

...ouch, 60 bucks. that's pretty expensive for me

[K0baltic]

I paid 110 they just did a price drop. Well worth a shot.

[MottZilla]

I got started programming with BlitzBasic 2D a long long time ago. It's a nice BASIC language that uses DirectX. You have alot of functions and capability at your disposal with Blitzbasic, including networking functions which I actually did use to make an online playable card game.

I also would recommend C++ with Allegro for your projects. It's quick to get things up and running with Allegro. It can handle a 2D game for you just fine. SDL though tends to be available on more platforms though, but Allegro is around for PC DOS, Windows, and Linux. I just wish Allegro was available on Playstation 2, that would be neat.

[la-li-lu-le-lo]

I got started programming with BlitzBasic 2D a long long time ago. It's a nice BASIC language that uses DirectX. You have alot of functions and capability at your disposal with Blitzbasic, including networking functions which I actually did use to make an online playable card game.

I was gonna suggest something like that. My friend had that program when he was like 13 and knew zero programming, and he made some pretty impressive stuff with it - though no complete games.

[everett1911]

I also would recommend C++ with Allegro for your projects. It's quick to get things up and running with Allegro. It can handle a 2D game for you just fine. SDL though tends to be available on more platforms though, but Allegro is around for PC DOS, Windows, and Linux. I just wish Allegro was available on Playstation 2, that would be neat.

What's the difference between allegro and sdl, otherwise?

[MottZilla]

What's the difference between allegro and sdl, otherwise?

It's hard to really explain. All I can say is I prefer allegro. One difference I seem to recall is Allegro behaves more like linear executed code and SDL behaves more like Windows programming where you have Events and have to return at the end. In other words, Allegro is less of a hassle.

And I disgree, jump right into trying to write games, but not one big game. Try writing parts of games. For example the very first game to try to make is Pong. It has very simple rules but you will be handling input, graphics, collision, and can add sound and music. You can get the hang of those important basics. I think you learn by doing. Just remember don't try to tackle a huge project right away. Use smaller ones to learn concepts you'll need for bigger games.

[everett1911]

It's hard to really explain. All I can say is I prefer allegro. One difference I seem to recall is Allegro behaves more like linear executed code and SDL behaves more like Windows programming where you have Events and have to return at the end. In other words, Allegro is less of a hassle.

And I disgree, jump right into trying to write games, but not one big game. Try writing parts of games. For example the very first game to try to make is Pong. It has very simple rules but you will be handling input, graphics, collision, and can add sound and music. You can get the hang of those important basics. I think you learn by doing. Just remember don't try to tackle a huge project right away. Use smaller ones to learn concepts you'll need for bigger games.

That's kinda why I wanna make a basic shoot em up, but now that you mention it, a pong clone would be great practice