Hey guys,

my name is Karim and I'm from Germany. I like playing Indie- and Arcade games like Super Meat Boy, World of Goo, Braid, Techno Kitten, Beat Hazard etc. and now I'm planning to develop an own game.
The problem ist that I don't have experience in developing games or something like this. Now my question is what do I need to begin?

I think I need an engine Torque 3D or Leadworks or?
Then I need a programming language, but which do I need? What is the most common?

What elese? Can you give me an introduction in (Indie) game developing and what I need?

Thank you and best regards from Germany,

Nasri

PS: I'm interested in 2D and 3D developing

Hello and welcome Karim,

There are lots of ways to make games, it can be either with a game maker or by programming one yourself.
When you want to program your own game, it's impossible too write everything yourself from scratch.
Programmers use code written by others all the time. If you write applications for windows you use libraries provided by microsoft to set up a window and use Windows specific interfaces. The same is true for games. Engines such as Torque 3D are collections of classes and methods that help you to create the game. You still need programming experience.

Please understand that learning how to program isn't easy, and even if you are an experienced programmer it will take many years to complete a decent game all by yourself.
It all depends on how much spare time you have ofcourse, if you are able to learn and practice full time it will all go much faster than if you want to do it as a hobby when you come back from a day of hard work.

There are too many programming languages to count, but there are a couple of popular languages I would consider checking out first. There is not one single 'best' language, it depends on the job and personal taste. As you become more experienced you might want to learn more additional languages so you can choose the one most suitable for the project. As soon as you learn one language the next one goes much faster, for the most part it's just the syntax that changes along with some slight changes in features. I would start checking out some beginners guides on C++, Java, C# and Python, than pick the one that suits you best. As soon as you made a choice I would recommend to buy some good books, than start practicing by programming simple applications. As soon as you are more skilled you can try to program your own version of Tetris or Pong.

Succes!

- Rob

Hi Karim,

You should work the way Vleugel told you. Before you can write a game you need to understand how it works and how to write it.

I'm using C++ for my projects by the way. If you want a good tutorial for this language:
Go to http://xoax.net/ , there are videos about Win32 & OpenGL with some good explanation how it works.
+ You can download the source code,

Writing your code without an engine is completely different then writing with an engine. But I prefer you to start without one so you can learn all basics.
When you got the basics and wrote a little game like tetris or pong you can look up for some good engines.

Some good engines are UDK engine, Torque engine. But that depends on what game you are making of course.
To start a little 2D game you should try GameMaker, very simple to use and if you got the basics you should understand everything.

vleugel: when you want to program your own game, it's impossible too write everything yourself from scratch. [/quote]
Nothing is impossible! It will only take many years to finish the game.


Good luck with learning Karim
B. Jonathan

[quote name='turbello' timestamp='1323611295' post='4892777']

vleugel: when you want to program your own game, it's impossible too write everything yourself from scratch.

Nothing is impossible! It will only take many years to finish the game.
[/quote]

You can write a game from scratch in an afternoon if you want, it all depends on the complexity of the game, the more functionality you need the more you will benefit from an engine. (For a simple pong game you could quite easily write everything (apart from the functionality allready provided by the target platform) yourself in a few hours)
[/quote]

You can split the words 'from scratch' in 2 ways.

Some people think 'starting from scratch' means : writing EVERYTHING yourself. But really "everything".
Other people think: You got the library's, platforms, compilers to write it but you need to write the entry point and stuff yourself.

If you do the first way: write the platform, compiler yourself ( so low level game programming ), it will take a very very long time to write it.
But if you already got it you can write a simple game in an afternoon yes.

[quote name='SimonForsman' timestamp='1323617711' post='4892796']
[quote name='turbello' timestamp='1323611295' post='4892777']

vleugel: when you want to program your own game, it's impossible too write everything yourself from scratch.

Nothing is impossible! It will only take many years to finish the game.
[/quote]

You can write a game from scratch in an afternoon if you want, it all depends on the complexity of the game, the more functionality you need the more you will benefit from an engine. (For a simple pong game you could quite easily write everything (apart from the functionality allready provided by the target platform) yourself in a few hours)
[/quote]

You can split the words 'from scratch' in 2 ways.

Some people think 'starting from scratch' means : writing EVERYTHING yourself. But really "everything".
Other people think: You got the library's, platforms, compilers to write it but you need to write the entry point and stuff yourself.

If you do the first way: write the platform, compiler yourself ( so low level game programming ), it will take a very very long time to write it.
But if you already got it you can write a simple game in an afternoon yes.
[/quote]

I was talking about the first. Some people dislike the fact of using code written by others. They want to write their own game engine instead of using an existing one. But even if you just use the Windows API you are already using existing code. Games made by game makers aren't 'real games' according to some, but the only reason I wouldn't use a game maker for simple games is because I just like the act of programming one, I wouldn't be "ashamed" to publish a game made by a game maker. Don't try to re-invent the wheel, if someone already programmed something useful than by all means use it.