I'm absolutely not sure where this should go, as there's no hardware-related forum here, so this goes here as I'm a beginner in game-making. Anyway, I'm thinking of buying a new computer, specifically for the purpose of making games. Does anyone have any suggestions for the specific specs/configuration that would be better suited for a PC on which I will program my games? I'm currently working on the game all by myself(well, I have a friend making 3D models and textures for me), so...all the testing will be done by my friend(and maybe a few other non-programmers friends) and me. Again, if you didn't get the question, here: what are the specs for a PC for making 3D commercial quality games? Thanks in advance.

Commercial quality? I test on maybe 30-40 different configurations at work and those are only the 'main' ones. Then again that is commercial quality and testing to make sure things work on all different system configurations.

As a developer the only thing you really have to care about is being able to support the features that you want to use, which comes down to which shader model is supported on the card.

Well, ok, maybe not COMMERCIAL quality, but definetely something better than your average PacMan or Zelda style games.....better than games like Diablo even...

Any system with a video card capable of pixel shader 2.0 + and you are good to go for pretty much anything. If you can though I would recommend getting a shader 3.0 card because it has so many more nicer features than 2.0.

OK....and, um, any other specific things if I want to make the graphics part using OpenGL? like, what videocard is better?

thanks

Doesn't matter at all considering if you are making a game it should run on as many cards as possible. Historically nVidia has had a lot better OpenGL support with their drivers though.

Hmmm, you’re a n00b and your trying to make a game that can meet and surpass the features and assets of diablo. I am not trying to be condescending. I just think you’re under estimating the complexity of a game. Games our insanely complex and 3D games or massively complex and our not to be taking lightly.

I assume you just one programmer trying to make a cool game. It's possible but, your going to have set your sites a little more realistically. Start with something simple like pong then move on from there. Get yourself some good books and learn about the industry. I recommend you pick up Game Coding Complete, Second Edition. It's a great book that will give you a good understanding as to what it takes to make a game.

Take it a step at a time before you run out and create Doom 4. :-P

-Frank

Quote:Original post by FrankCashio
Hmmm, you’re a n00b and your trying to make a game that can meet and surpass the features and assets of diablo. I am not trying to be condescending. I just think you’re under estimating the complexity of a game. Games our insanely complex and 3D games or massively complex and our not to be taking lightly.

I assume you just one programmer trying to make a cool game. It's possible but, your going to have set your sites a little more realistically. Start with something simple like pong then move on from there. Get yourself some good books and learn about the industry. I recommend you pick up Game Coding Complete, Second Edition. It's a great book that will give you a good understanding as to what it takes to make a game.

Take it a step at a time before you run out and create Doom 4. :-P

-Frank

just because I never posted anything on thsi forum doesnt mewan im a noob...and just because i sound a little noobish, it doesnt mean im a noob too...i've been trying different things with DDraw7 for quite some time, then went onto D3D8, didnt quite like it, decided to use OGL, and..got stuck...im using a really crappy/old comp with a really crappy/old videocard..good enough for DDraw games, maybe even some D3D, but, well...not quite what i want....and yeah, i know its *really* hard to make good games that can compete with things like Lineage, Diablo, Doom, etc., especially if you're making them by yourself alone...but i do think i can do this, maybe a bit slow, but it will get done....my first game that I actually liked was a clone of SpaceInvaders...made for a school project (made with VB6 by the way), but I expanded it and it's a wuite cool game now...if only i could find the latest set of sources/binaries i have, i might attach it here...the one i could find for now was just a basic not-so-cool-or-fun prototype-ish thing.

And the books about the gaming industry, well...im definetely gonna buy wuite a few books soon, but...i have a tendency to go against what most people think a standard by now.....i do things my own way usually....hopefully this one(the game)will work out...

Just go with the best you can afford. You don't need to spend a lot on a compiler because Microsoft has been giving stuff away free now and you can always use the great MinGW (GCC for Windows).

Just think about the usual things you would need to play games, like processor, RAM, and video card. Development machines naturally take much more of a beating because you use them so much, not to mention you are working on such a low level with the graphics hardware (and sound, input).

[Edited by - Boder on July 2, 2005 3:41:19 PM]

Quote:Original post by Boder
This would be a good development setup:

Athlon 64 X2 4000
2 GB DDR RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
500 GB Hard Drive
24 inch Flat Screen monitor
Windows XP Professional
Visual Studio .NET 2003

whilst its funny for you to make those kinds of suggestions, i dont think im gonna go for quite that much....and im not gonna do it in .Net...just plain old VC++6