I would like to design video games but need help

[ScorchTomato]

I am 20 years old and not in school I am Jason from UTAH, North United States of America.

What books, websites, others should I read, listen to, learn from to be able to design video games?

 

[vraiblonde]

What books, websites, others should I read, listen to, learn from to be able to design video games?

You should make a video game of Geek Island.

 

[somdebay]

I am 20 years old and not in school I am Jason from UTAH, North United States of America.

What books, websites, others should I read, listen to, learn from to be able to design video games?

ask people on yahoo answers, probably get a good start there...

 

[ComplxMind]

I am 20 years old and not in school I am Jason from UTAH, North United States of America.

What books, websites, others should I read, listen to, learn from to be able to design video games?

It really depends on what you personally want to create. There are many aspects of creating games. Are you going to be the software designer who writes the codes? Are you going to be the 2D / 3D design modeler (if you are creating a three-dimensional game)? And the list goes on. Depending on what you want to do determines which areas you should focus on.

 

[BS Gal]

You should make a video game of Geek Island.

Oh, yeah. Cause I want to re-live this friggin nightmare on a video game.

 

[smoothmarine187]

You should listen to me! I am smoof from Cali. Hear me roar.

 

[sweetpea]

You should listen to me! I am smoof from Cali. Hear me roar.

 

[ScorchTomato]

Even with Game Maker or without Game Maker is it possible for me to make #1: a computer game #2: a video arcade game #3: any other electronic/video games all by myself or no?

 

[Toxick]

I am 20 years old and not in school I am Jason from UTAH, North United States of America.

What books, websites, others should I read, listen to, learn from to be able to design video games?

Now what do you mean by design games, because frankly there's about a zillion things that go into makign modern games.

For instance, I'm a game programmer. I'm also a 2D artist, but that's not very useful in most of todays games. As for game programming, there's Graphics design, AI, networking - and then there's music and plot development.


If you're a programmer, my advice is Learn C# - then learn the XNA library. I am currently developing games with XNA and I'm trying desperately to learn how to design 3D models, using Blender3d.

XNA is fairly easy to learn and use if you're familiar with C#.

Blender and 3d modelling isn't easy unless you already know how to model objects in 3d.


Do you have a game in mind already?

 

[Toxick]

Even with Game Maker or without Game Maker is it possible for me to make #1: a computer game #2: a video arcade game #3: any other electronic/video games all by myself or no?

Yes.

What programming language would you use, and how competant are you?

 

[ScorchTomato]

Now what do you mean by design games, because frankly there's about a zillion things that go into makign modern games.

For instance, I'm a game programmer. I'm also a 2D artist, but that's not very useful in most of todays games. As for game programming, there's Graphics design, AI, networking - and then there's music and plot development.


If you're a programmer, my advice is Learn C# - then learn the XNA library. I am currently developing games with XNA and I'm trying desperately to learn how to design 3D models, using Blender3d.

XNA is fairly easy to learn and use if you're familiar with C#.

Blender and 3d modelling isn't easy unless you already know how to model objects in 3d.


Do you have a game in mind already?

Like do the programming, coding, animation, music, sound effects and everything needed to make a video game all by myself or is this not possible?

 

[Toxick]

Like do the programming, coding, animation, music, sound effects and everything needed to make a video game all by myself or is this not possible?

That's pretty ambitious, but it's definately possible. Especially with the XNA library which is freely available.


Also if you want to go oldschool and do a Nintendo/Atari looking side-scroller or tile-game its definitly possible.



If you have your sites set on a Halo level game, you're probably going to have to recruit some help.

For instance, I have absolutly no musical talent whatsoever, so at some point I'm going to have to get help making the music for my game.




If you have an aversion to being dependant on microsoft (Xbox360 or Windows) then you can use the platform independant Delta3d which is much harder to learn and use, but works everywhere.

 

[ScorchTomato]

That's pretty ambitious, but it's definately possible. Especially with the XNA library which is freely available.


Also if you want to go oldschool and do a Nintendo/Atari looking side-scroller or tile-game its definitly possible.



If you have your sites set on a Halo level game, you're probably going to have to recruit some help.

For instance, I have absolutly no musical talent whatsoever, so at some point I'm going to have to get help making the music for my game.

Thank you.

BTW I have a Windows XP that is about 10-18" (ten to eighteen inches) wide and 11-19" about (if I measure my computer I'll edit this post).

So if I would like to make my own Regular Nintendo Game what devices/others would I need?

What programming languages should I learn?

What software/hardware will be needed?

 

[Toxick]

BTW I have a Windows XP that is about 10-18" (ten to eighteen inches) wide and 11-19" about (if I measure my computer I'll edit this post).

I'm not sure what any of the above means...

So if I would like to make my own Regular Nintendo Game what devices/others would I need?

Most console systems, such as Nintendo or Playstation have their own API which must be licensed to use - and the licenses are EXPENSIVE. As in, tens of thousands of dollars. You'll also need an emulator to run your games before publishing them on a disk for use in a console.

Interestingly, the only free popular console API library is from the Evil Greedy Microsoft Corporation. And that is the aforementioned XNA library.

What programming languages should I learn?

What software/hardware will be needed?

The answer to these questions are very dependant on what you want to do - if you take my advice and go the C#/XNA path, then you should learn C#. The software you will need is C# and the XNA library. The only hardware you would need is your PC, and if you really get into it you'll need an XBox-360 with a Silver LIVE membership, which isnt' that expensive.

If you want to make PC games, or if you want to go with Nintendo or Sony, then you'll need to learn C or C++. Learning these languages is no small feat in itself - but after you master the language you'll have to master either Direct X or OpenGL ... or a library such as OpenSceneGraph or Delta 3d.

You will also have to learn a physics engine. The only free one that I know of is OpenDynamicsEngine which is a physics engine and a collision response engine.



Seriously, if I were you, I'd cut my teeth on C#/XNA and then worry about the other stuff as you go along.

There are a million websites where you can learn C# and XNA.


Both the C# IDE and .NET framework are freely avaiable from Microsofts website, as is XNA.

 

[ComplxMind]

Now what do you mean by design games, because frankly there's about a zillion things that go into makign modern games.

For instance, I'm a game programmer. I'm also a 2D artist, but that's not very useful in most of todays games. As for game programming, there's Graphics design, AI, networking - and then there's music and plot development.


If you're a programmer, my advice is Learn C# - then learn the XNA library. I am currently developing games with XNA and I'm trying desperately to learn how to design 3D models, using Blender3d.

XNA is fairly easy to learn and use if you're familiar with C#.

Blender and 3d modelling isn't easy unless you already know how to model objects in 3d.


Do you have a game in mind already?

If you are looking at learning 3D modeling, I recommend something other than Blender. Though I have to admit that the latest versions are alot better and has alot more capability than the earlier versions, the one problem is that nobody that I know of in 3D modeling professionally uses Blender. Most use C4D, Strata, and Alias. If you really want to get into 3D aspects of modeling, you need to become more familiar with the programs that others use. But like it has been mentioned before, it really depends on what you want to create and to what aspects. I can honestly say that if you want to go 3D in your games, best of luck. Modeling is one thing, but animations are another. And based on what you said you wanted to do...all of it...see you in the next millineum.

 

[Toxick]

Though I have to admit that the latest versions are alot better and has alot more capability than the earlier versions, the one problem is that nobody that I know of in 3D modeling professionally uses Blender.

I beg to differ. I'm a member of a couple of 3d Modelling forums, which are populated with professional modellers - some of whom have made models which would knock your socks off. And there are two problems with your above statement.

First and foremost, a lot of these professionals recommend learning blender. Not once have any of them said, 'don't bother with Blender'.

Secondly Blender - as well as Maya, ZBrush, Cinema4D, StudioMax, Maxon, MultiGen.... whatever - are simply tools. It doesn't matter which platform you learn how to model on, but once you learn how to create models, design textures, formulate materials, and work with shaders, changing which platform you work with is a simply matter of learning new shortcuts, and keystrokes.

Besides, Blender can export to almost any modern 3D graphics format, including Alias, C4d, RenderMan and even Cal3d.

Most use C4D, Strata, and Alias. If you really want to get into 3D aspects of modeling, you need to become more familiar with the programs that others use.

Once you reach the professional level this may be true, but these packages cost up to a thousand bucks - (The full Strata Suite costs like $1,800). That's an unnecessary expense for someone in the learning phase, IMO.

I would recommend to anyone to learn modelling itself first, on something free like Blender3D, and then learn the packages as the opportunities present themselves.

Modeling is one thing, but animations are another.

Amen to that. I once thought that adding animations would be a simple matter of creating a skeleton and attaching meshes to it - but it's a whole new can of worms, based on what I've seen so far. Rigging doesn't appear to be a trivial thing to learn and apply.

And that's before learning to animate creatures so they look natural.

And based on what you said you wanted to do...all of it...see you in the next millineum.

Oh come on now. Using some of the tools available today its quite possible to put together a decent game by yourself - with XBox Live you can even distribute them with a small amount of success.


But you are right - if you're going to get into this professionally, you should specialize in only one or two things and formulate a team.

I focus on scenegraph programming (of which I'm already a proven senior level professional) and I'm trying to learn how to model on a professional level (of which I'm semi-competent.. maybe less ).

 

[pingrr]

Just go out and get XNA express by Microsoft. It cost 100 bucks a year but will allow you to make your own games that you can play on the xbox 360.

 

[ComplxMind]

Let me just say that Toxick was correct about the software. If you can get the basics down in 3D modeling, the rest works itself out as you change software. A hypernurb is a hypernurb, no matter what program you use. haha. I stand corrected. I too once used Blender back in 1999-2000 timeframe to start learning about 3D. And in actuallity, I recommend it because of the costs that Toxick mentioned. No need to spend thousands of dollars only to figure out that it wasn't the best decision and it isn't for you, or you'd rather have someone more experienced to do it.

 

[PrepH4U]

Thank you.

BTW I have a Windows XP that is about 10-18" (ten to eighteen inches) wide and 11-19" about (if I measure my computer I'll edit this post).
So if I would like to make my own Regular Nintendo Game what devices/others would I need?

What programming languages should I learn?

What software/hardware will be needed?

Do you mean that is the size of the screen/monitor?