Hello Everybody, I have been currently (albiet slowly) working on the concept for a game called realm. If you want to read about the game design head over to the other thread i have in the creative section.

http://www.gamedev.net/topic/645186-game-design-feedback-realm/#entry5075852

Anyway i've received a bit of feedback on this game as well as talking to my friends about this game and i think i'm ready for the technical side to begin now that i have a basic concept. I am a novice programmer and I am familiar with Object oriented programming in Java, C, and C++. I have minimal scripting knowledge, mainly from modding, and simple modding at that.

I just don't know where to start with this game. What should I code first and what language should I use? I'm thinking C++ and use that to generate a Text based version of the game since it is going to be turn based and just work on the basic methods and then work on the UI and graphics.

I have been told that using a game engine such as Unity or Unreal might be useful but i'm unsure of that prospect. I have no experience with graphics but I am willing to learn to get this project off the ground. I don't know what will be easier or what will be create a better game experience so i'm open to ideas. I don't know if i should do my own Graphics coding or if i should use an engine.

Also a core point of the game is that there will be a way for players to create their own campaigns and content, Worlds, classes, races, items, skills, sound, objectives and every other mechanic that i will use, i may not use them all but whatever mechanic i use i want it to have a creator. That may be difficult but i would like to know how that can be done if i should include it in the game or have a separate dev kit.

I just don't know where to start. Once i have a great deal of base code that is actually testable i will post it and hopefully Realm will show some promise.

Everyone thank you for your contribution.

Alright that is useful thank you! I'll just try and get basic mechanics done and crudely make the graphics before i start with anything else. I'll probably use C++ as the game language. I also didn't realize how difficult it would be to allow a game to have custom stuff. I am still keeping with the idea but i will have to devote more time to it so i agree starting off with the base mechanics would be a good place to start.

Alright that is useful thank you! I'll just try and get basic mechanics done and crudely make the graphics before i start with anything else. I'll probably use C++ as the game language. I also didn't realize how difficult it would be to allow a game to have custom stuff. I am still keeping with the idea but i will have to devote more time to it so i agree starting off with the base mechanics would be a good place to start.

In some ways you will have to have custom stuff to make a large game. It's difficult to manage a large pile of data without some form of editor. Choosing an engine like Unity probably helps there, though I don't know Unity. However, there's a big difference between the types of tools animators and engineers might live with, and something meant for the player to use.

If you're big into users creating things, you might want to focus on a scripting language. Script files are easy to mod. If an item or monster is defined in a script, your users will be able to use that as the editor. A game that is run primarily through an interpreter can be very moddable by nature.

You're going to need to learn graphics eventually for 2d game programming in Java. Might as well start now.

http://www.cokeandcode.com/info/tut2d.html

http://www.zetcode.com/gfx/java2d/

http://zetcode.com/tutorials/javagamestutorial/

Good luck!

I agree making a game is hard. But it is not impossible if you put the amount of time into it. Problem solving takes time and it is hard to estimate time on that.

Also do not start doing the features you are doing right now. It will drive you crazy.

You need to at least have and understand the basic game structure(game loop, game states, gameplay) in your game. This alone is far more important to get done. Once you got this done, you have a sense of how a simple game is structured and can better structure a game that is a step up in complex than your previous one.

Alright that is useful thank you! I'll just try and get basic mechanics done and crudely make the graphics before i start with anything else. I'll probably use C++ as the game language. I also didn't realize how difficult it would be to allow a game to have custom stuff. I am still keeping with the idea but i will have to devote more time to it so i agree starting off with the base mechanics would be a good place to start.

In some ways you will have to have custom stuff to make a large game. It's difficult to manage a large pile of data without some form of editor. Choosing an engine like Unity probably helps there, though I don't know Unity. However, there's a big difference between the types of tools animators and engineers might live with, and something meant for the player to use.

If you're big into users creating things, you might want to focus on a scripting language. Script files are easy to mod. If an item or monster is defined in a script, your users will be able to use that as the editor. A game that is run primarily through an interpreter can be very moddable by nature.

I'd like the creator to be a very simple yet powerful one. Something that gives a load of freedom without the need to know scripting. Scripting would be necessary if someone wanted to make things more complicated and i would love to allow modding via scripting but i also want the tools to be usable without them.

That point aside i appreciate your comment, I'll consider scripting as a big part of it now and that will probably be the best way to do modding and content creation. I will start off with the base code first though the base code is the most important. I'll get to the generator when i get there.

You're going to need to learn graphics eventually for 2d game programming in Java. Might as well start now.

http://www.cokeandcode.com/info/tut2d.html

http://www.zetcode.com/gfx/java2d/

http://zetcode.com/tutorials/javagamestutorial/

Good luck!

I agree making a game is hard. But it is not impossible if you put the amount of time into it. Problem solving takes time and it is hard to estimate time on that.

Also do not start doing the features you are doing right now. It will drive you crazy.

You need to at least have and understand the basic game structure(game loop, game states, gameplay) in your game. This alone is far more important to get done. Once you got this done, you have a sense of how a simple game is structured and can better structure a game that is a step up in complex than your previous one.

Thank you for that advice i'll for sure not start on the complicated stuff first also i appreciate your links. It will take me a very long time to get anywhere since i'm a college student and i have to work a part time job so this is a side project but i'm confident i'll finish the project eventually. We will see what happens once i construct the first alpha code.

Thank you for that advice i'll for sure not start on the complicated stuff first also i appreciate your links. It will take me a very long time to get anywhere since i'm a college student and i have to work a part time job so this is a side project but i'm confident i'll finish the project eventually. We will see what happens once i construct the first alpha code.

no problem. what game programming really teaches you is to be consistent and time managment and project scope and testing your ability.