I want to know besides knowing a program(know C++) and using programs...(Got GameMaker)..wat else should i invest time in to know in order to create a successful sports games such as baseball,basketball and football?

Make sure you know all the rules. You'd be surprised how many there are (and how many are left out) of games. You should also study team AI behavior.

You should know that EA pretty much owns all the rights to use any real characters or teams for nearly all sports.

1.make the game itself and add a creative aspect that puts it in another class of playing.. (like the line of sight for the new madden game).. something like that
2.Make a full archive of plays for each team..
3.Make a mode in which u also manage the team's budgets... recruiting... ect...
4. mini games...
5. cheerleaders...
6. chearleaders...
7. and everything else u can think of to make a kik azz game... (get rid of game maker)

Quote:Original post by EmptyMinion
5. cheerleaders...
6. chearleaders...

5. brunettes
6. blondes
???

I never really thought of this, but pretty much nobody on this site seems interested in making sports games. I guess we programmer-types were never into (or good at) sports.

Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster

Quote:Original post by EmptyMinion
5. cheerleaders...
6. chearleaders...

5. brunettes
6. blondes
???

5. brunettes
6. redhead's
----------------- most blondes are not natural hair color any more.. kind of disapointing... but anyway
----------------------------- if you want to make a succesful game-------------- GET RID OF GAME MAKER!

Quote:Original post by Simian Man
I never really thought of this, but pretty much nobody on this site seems interested in making sports games. I guess we programmer-types were never into (or good at) sports.

That's because with sports games all the rules have already defined. Plus all the popular ones have games made about them already. I'd like to make a fantasy sports game though, where I as the designer get to play around with both the rules of the game and the rules of physics.

Back to the original question: I think you can get away with less resources for a decent sports game, especially if you are sticking to 2D. Taking soccer for example, all you really need in terms of art is a background of the field, a single set of animated sprites for all the players (with a bit of colour tweaking you can get different shirt, skin and hair colours) and a single sprite for the ball. You can get away without having much music, and the sound effects can be minimal too.

A tricky part is designing an intuitive interface, so the game players can easily translate that play that they see in their mind to the actions of their players on the field, as well as control an entire team instead of one avatar (assuming you are making a team sport). You will also need good A.I. for the computer teams. And of course, you need to know the rules of the sport inside and out.

Keep in mind that you can't use real players names, or the names of teams, as they will have trademark issues.