What's Next?
Author
Well, I am almost finished reading this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/157169160X/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2/002-5487140-0658462
I am not sure what to do next. I would like to make a MMORPG sometime. What book should I read next? And should my game use directx? I have no idea what to do now! Please guide me :)
I'd recommend you start with a small game, maybe a prototype of the game in 2D would be a nice idea. This way you can find out what you would need for the game other than graphics. My Idea of a small 2D game would be a character walking around in the world talking to other characters, buying stuff and fighting monsters. You could start by doing only on of these things like a character walking in the world and then do the next like walking in the world and fighting monsters.
After your done prototyping you should have a better idea of what to do next.
After your done prototyping you should have a better idea of what to do next.
Go ahead and make a MMORPG. They're really easy. I made one last night. In assembly language. It rocks. EA are going to publish it once they let me out of the hospital. Which reminds me...nurse!
Quote:I made one last night.
Lol...lol...lol...lol
Ok RuDeDoGg, think about this.
World of Warcraft. MMORPG.
Now think about Blizzard. Where they started,
Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Diablo 2, Warcraft II, Warcraft III, Starcraft Ghost, World of Warcraft. (not sure of the order)
I'm not sure what other games they made, but look at it. "Warcraft I" came out yonks ago. As well, they have a huge team to work on there projects. You, one dude, just finished a book. Think about it.
I'm not trying to be horrible but just look at it. It tooks Blizzard 6 (or more) games before thay made WoW.
Start small, small, small. You need to know how a game works. It's not just a matter of slapping a couple of things together and then the whole world wants to play your game.
If you had come here saying, "Well I have just finished leading the team on the Doom 3 project", I think we would put more hope in you.
Guys, cool down. He said "I would like to make a MMORPG sometime". He didn't say he's going to do it tomorrow, nor he asked other people to do it for him.
My advice: As the others said, start with a small game, but at the same time don't narrow your researches on things that apply only on that game. Learn as much as you can about graphics or programming techniques. Search all over the internet for tutorials,samples and papers, and learn what you find interesting.
When you come across an advanced technique, don't say "I'm not going to use that on my small game, so I will ignore it". Learn it well,make a demo that utilizes that technique and keep the code. When you will be ready to start a bigger project, it's importand to already have some code available.
My advice: As the others said, start with a small game, but at the same time don't narrow your researches on things that apply only on that game. Learn as much as you can about graphics or programming techniques. Search all over the internet for tutorials,samples and papers, and learn what you find interesting.
When you come across an advanced technique, don't say "I'm not going to use that on my small game, so I will ignore it". Learn it well,make a demo that utilizes that technique and keep the code. When you will be ready to start a bigger project, it's importand to already have some code available.
Quote:Original post by RuDeDoGg
I am not sure what to do next.
Code, code, code...
Quote:
What book should I read next?
Well there are quite a few. I'd start some coding first.
Quote:
And should my game use directx? I have no idea what to do now!
Start with something more high-level first, like SDL. You could try to start with a simple game. Start from scratch:
- choose a game idea
- make a concept for that game (what the game should look like,
player actions etc.)
- write that concept down (for a simple game, a single sheet of paper is sufficient) - you need to do that because you will most likely not be able to finish it in one session.
- start coding
- once you have a playable version, look at the concept and see if you have all you wanted to include. Most likely you will notice some differences because you aimed too high [smile]. This is nothing bad, it happens to the pros all the time [wink].
- try to polish the game a little (controls, menus, sounds, ...)
- be happy and start over with something bigger
With just 2D SDL and some basic knowlegde you can achieve some quite impressive stuff. It is important to actually get the required skills by practising (that is: making small games and demos). Too much reading is just as bad as too little reading.
So if you haven't done Pong yet, write one. No idea how to do graphics? Make a guess-the-number game (or Mastermind, if you will).
Conclusion:
Practise a little by coding a small (text-)game. Get familiar with your IDE, the compiler, the debugger. Then use SDL to do some graphical stuff. You won't need a book at first, reading some tutorials will do.
Good luck and happy game coding,
Pat.
Since now you have some advanced concepts in OOP down, I'd recommend you move on and make Pong and then Tetris. And remember, if it works, it's perfect.
Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
>> I would like to make a MMORPG sometime
L... O... L...
I guess your dream when you started programming was to make a pong clone, right?
Quote:Original post by mikemanQuote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
>> I would like to make a MMORPG sometime
L... O... L...
I guess your dream when you started programming was to make a pong clone, right?
lolol
Try learning a graphics API like DirectX or OpenGL and start making some simple games :).
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