Well what kind of experience do you have? I heard if you have no programming experience or anything to that sort that modding is a good place to start, but I could be wrong. It really depends on what you what to do, if you just want to change an existing game then do modding, if you would like to create your own game understand that you will not be making awesome games right away you have a lot of learning to do before you step into the world of game developing.

Quote:Original post by Ashder
though counter strike is a Half-Life mod xD...

anyways , it have been converted into a game (when Source and 1.6 were Realeased)...

Im really a noob at programming , im just starting with C# basic things... so it can be said im "training" xD...

maybe i'll buy some 3D Engine Making books xD...

thanks for answering.

PD: CS 1.6 is programmed in C++ , and i use C#, is that a real problem ?

If you're truly just starting out you might consider setting your sights lower and just implementing a good map for starters. A good map is going to require a good deal of scripting and familiarization with the engine as is.

Each engine has it's own dictionary and feel and it's very important that you're passably fluent in this before you try to alter it in any substantial way.

Once you've learned how to communicate with the engine so that it behaves as you like you may find that your ideas will develop in a stronger, more pertinent way.

As for using C#. Once you hit a certain level of competency with developing code the language itself is somewhat immaterial. If you feel you have a mastery of C# then coding in C++ is going to be easy. You need to learn the syntax and garbage collecting.

Even if you find some type of middleware that allows you to use C# on a C++ engine I'd reccomend against it as the tutorials you use to learn will likely be in C++. If the language becomes an issue you need to either take the time to properly learn C++ or look for a less ambitious project until your level of mastery increases to the point that language becomes an non-issue.(IMHO)

I've done level-design for almost 9 years in my spare time, and although it involved little programming (I did modify some game-code at some point in time, nothing much though), I learned a lot about game-development in that period. I gained some first-hand experience with many aspects, ranging from 'low-level' skills such as working with editors and modeling tools, to 'high-level' skills such as level-design (putting it all together into a fun, playable level) and project management.

Technically speaking, I didn't create 'new games', but I did learn a lot of things that have proven to be very useful now that I am making new games.

A large part (majority -- often 90%) of commercial game development IS 'modding' -- creating data/scripts for the existing game engine. The intricate 'guts' of the engine is seperated from the creation of the game assets and game mechanics and storyline stuff (with most required engine features long previously planned out/developed and usually minimal changes to add frequently used (or discovered ommissions of) functionality which is called/used by the 'mod' data.

Only a tiny fraction of the people who work in the game industry actually write/design the game engine. Most developers do the development and testing of the higher level 'mod' stuff.