Hello. Im looking for some good books/urls about game design. What do i need to think about, how do i get the whole idea on the paper and so on... Got any? /Henrik

I just bought "Object-Oriented Programming in C++" by Robert Lafore and it is really well done. I'm about a quater of the way through it. It goes step by step on how to achieve OOP Very useful in games. It also serves as a good reference. I've actually refined a bunch of old stuff I did in the past.

[EDIT] Any other experianced recommendations?

- Rob Loach
Current Project: Upgrade to .NET and DirectX 9

"Do or do not. There is no try."
- Yoda

[edited by - Rob Loach on April 30, 2003 11:06:41 PM]

Somewhere I actually have a "skeleton" or "bare bones" game design document written by Chris Taylor (the acclaimed designer of Total Annihlation and Dungeon Siege). I''ll have to fish that up and post it, I know a lot of us (including me) would find that useful.

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Brian Lacy
ForeverDream Studios

Comments? Questions? Curious?
brian@foreverdreamstudios.com

"I create. Therefore I am."

While it may not be the best way to learn about game design, looking at the source code for a game can be a good way to see how a game was put together. However, it requires that you understand some programming concepts.

When I first started posting on this forum, I knew very little about programming, and had just started learning. I've always been more of a freewilled creative sort that wasn't good at rigorous and precise "formulas" to do things. So in the beginning I was afraid of learning how to program. However, at the same time, I realized that games require both imagination and structured thought. You can have great ideas, but those ideas have to be expressed in terms that computer languages can express. It's like how some spoken languages simply don't have words to convey an idea (for example, the Pueblo indians have no word in their vocabulary to express the concept of "persuasion", "coerce", or "manipulate"). Without understanding how computers express concepts, all of your ideas may be for naught.

Or worse, when you try to convey your idea to the programmers, their perspective or understanding of your idea may be different. So when they start coding away at your ideas, you may not realize that what they are doing isn't exactly what you intended. I therefore highly recommend that game designers at least be familiar with Object Oriented Programming concepts if not a language itself. At least this way a designer can best express his ideas in a pre precise and concise manner. So on that note, I'd recommend learning UML which is fairly easy to help you understand how software is built.

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin


[edited by - dauntless on May 1, 2003 7:27:51 PM]