I'm a newbie here and I came across this site in desperate need of help. I am a lover of Sandbox games like: GTA, Sly Cooper, inFAMOUS, ect. You can probably guess that I would want to make one. However, RAGE from Rockstar Games isn't avaliable, and Platinum Arts Sandbox doesn't have exactly what I want. So, what I've been trying to do is make a game engine, which I've heard and know that it's incredibly difficult and time-conssuming which are things I'm willing to fight through. The only question is, where EXACTLY do I start. I picked up an article on the web and the guy talked about FMOD and SDL's and SDK's. I don't know exactly what those are, except the FMOD is an interactive sound editor. I got those components(not sure which ones of the sites he gave was even the right ones) and then the guy just lost me. So what I'm trying to get from you guys are what are some specific steps to making a sandbox game engine that I'll understand, what are SDL's and SDK's, what are some good places on the web that can guide me through this process, and if I can take parts of another game engine like PA Sandbox,(what language will I use and where can I get it(for free), how would I modify it and what will I need to change and make. Remember that this is a Sandbox game engine ONLY alomst exactly like GTA or inFAMOUS. I tried to be as specific as I could unlike some of the other game engine topics on here, so I hope you would understand what I'm trying to do here. Thank! :)

Most engines available can be used to make sandbox games; the thing that really makes a game a "sandbox" game is all the stuff. It wouldn't take teams of 200 people working on one game if one person could do it by himself easily. I recommend picking up Game Maker or a similar simple engine to understand the basics of basics of game logic and scripting, and while you're at it grab a few books like Beginning OpenGL Game Programming and Beginning C++ Through Game Programming, and then if you're still interested, move on up to Unity or Unreal DK. Like I said, using any of the above you could make a sandbox game (just look what Brian Provinciano did with an NES, back when Retro City Rampage was still Grand Theftendo), it's really just a matter of what you do with the tools. Which is a lot of work.

As for the acronyms, well, there are ways to find out.

I really wished I wouldn't advertise right now but you mention Platinum Arts so I will
There is an engine In development(not working yet) called Cube Create which is the successor to Syntensity(which still works but not in active development) which both are based on cube2 engine(same as Platinum arts) which have the awesome realtime map editing and both enhance it with scripting capabilities:
CubeCreate-lua(which is why its broken)
Syntensity-&#106avascript
So if you interested you can go on the irc channel #cubecreate on freenode or on the forums http://forum.cubecreate.com/

-End of shameless advertising-

I do recommended getting an engine and work with that then creating your own,which if you don't want to know the inner working of an engine there is no point
Also note that sandbox game is more about how you design the game rather then what engine you use,other then obvious engine limitations,which you can get around them like Postal 2 did

The irony of your reply is overwhelming. I'll throw that in the wind and move on.

@parkour: Are you just a beginner to game development specifically? Or to programming in general? (In other words, do you have any programming experience? And if so, what languages?)

So the game engines I currently have besides PA Sandbox is Blender 3D and Unity 3DBasic.Are there some tutorials about making a sandbox game from that? If so, could u please provide the link? And are there any pointers about making a SB gamecoming from you all? Thanks for the help!

Quote:Original post by jyk
@parkour: Are you just a beginner to game development specifically? Or to programming in general? (In other words, do you have any programming experience? And if so, what languages?)

I have no exsperience with programing. However I have been trying a little Java with Unity. I'm still going to pick up a few books on c++.