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Completely New To Game Design

Started by
8 comments, last by Tom Sloper 13 years, 3 months ago
Hi, am glad to have found somwhere that seems helpful and friendly to enlighten myself on this topic :)

As the title says, i am completely new to game design. I have had a mess around on the unreal development kit and followed a few of the tutorials on it.

Just wondering if theres any useful pointers i could get on starting out e.g good software to use, is there any specific areas i should concentrate on to start with etc...

Some of my inspiration has just been from playing a few games in particular like Modern Warfare 2, World of Warcraft (altho i dont know if i should be ashamed of that or not? :unsure:)

Any pointers would be very much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone in advance!
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There's a difference between "game design" and "game programming." Questions about game design belong in the Game Design forum. What is it you want to ask exactly? Your question isn't clear.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

I am looking for advice more than anything, thanks for the reply
I am asking from a beginners point of view so that's why I posted it here ( just to let you know)
OK, what kind of advice are you looking for? Your question is really much too vague. What is it you want to know exactly? "Good software to use" to accomplish what exactly?

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

A really vague question. If you are looking to get serious in design. You are going to have to learn programming pretty much my best advice. And from there we need more details :blink:
Are you looking for a career or a hobby?
There's all sorts of software and types of software used for game development.

The most crucial "meat" of the game is coded using a programming language.
This can be done with very basic software (text editors).

Many games utilize graphics, which can be created with "painting" software
or modeling software (or even procedurally -- again a text editor).

We could go on and on with the types of software used (for sound, music, website, etc.).
But the start is always: learn programming (unless you can hire this).

A different (more casual) route is to mod games or use one of those point-n-click game makers (often
pre-stocked with graphic & sound assets you can use). Note that taking this route places severe limits
and constraints on your game design.
Thanks again for the replies, sorry for being so vague.
I'd like to do it as a career in the long run but I don't really know where to start, iv done some very basic level design using udk but that's about it. I'd say I'm not looking at being in the area that does the music, sound etc.
I'm at the beginner stage that I dont even know what programming is as such ( In the games industry) how it's used, what it can achieve.
So any information really on where to start e.g programming / a piece of software you guys would consider ideal for a beginner / a language that you might consider to be best to learn with.
I have plenty of time to learn, its just knowing where to start.

Thanks again!
I think getting into Game Design is a very competative field to have a career in. No matter what you have to know about every aspect of how a video game is made, from programming, to art, art style, music/soundtrack, level design, general gameplay. I don't know much about Game Design.

I've seen people advise you have to have some experience in the different elements that make a game. Even if you're not planning on doing programming as a career you still have to know a bit about several languages.
Here are some books I've seen several people recommend (i'm not recommending them, because I don't know much about design, I'm just making the OP aware of them):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1932111972/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
http://www.amazon.com/dp/047068867X/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
[size="4"]-- [size="4"]Stuart, [size="2"]Currently: Messing with LibGDX (Java)
aspiring video game programmer. (follow @mastrgamr)
Programming on and off since 2008 in C++, and C# (XNA).
Attending college as a Computer Science major.

Thanks again for the replies, sorry for being so vague.
any information really on where to start e.g programming / a piece of software you guys would consider ideal for a beginner / a language that you might consider to be best to learn with.
I have plenty of time to learn, its just knowing where to start.

Read http://archive.gamedev.net/reference/start_here/ and http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson15.htm and http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson56.htm

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com


I think getting into Game Design is ... I don't know much about Game Design.

But he didn't ask about Game Design. He asked about programming.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

This topic is closed to new replies.

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