I have knowledge of OpenGL,SDL,C,C++ and I want to start making a 3D game. I am confused about the other stuffs I should take up before I start.
Looking for suggestions to proceed further.
by having knowledge of - do you mean you know it well?
Are you more interested in game programming or are you more interested in game creation?
I have knowledge of OpenGL,SDL,C,C++ and I want to start making a 3D game. I am confused about the other stuffs I should take up before I start.
Looking for suggestions to proceed further.
- 3D model loaders
- Physics Engine
- Game Engine
- Level designing
- References
A model loader is something like ASSIMP which lets you read 3d model formats (writing your own importer can be a nightmare). and not all engines come with level designers, some are nothing more than dll files.
Like EarthBanana asked, is your primary goal to make a game or to just have fun programming. Because while you can learn a lot from doing all the hard work programming your own engine, it does take a lot of time, and you'll most likely be reinventing the wheel. There are many existing engines that will do most of the work for you leaving you to just concentrate on the design aspects, some are more hand holding than others... it just depends on what you find to be the most fun. Here is an exhaustive list to give you something to read: http://content.gpwiki.org/index.php/Game_Engines 
Hi,
You might want to consider getting a scene graph for your next stage - a thought there.
Think in terms of workflow pipeline, which you seem to already be doing, but just to be sure.
Let's take a closer look:
I have knowledge of OpenGL,SDL,C,C++ and I want to start making a 3D game. I am confused about the other stuffs I should take up before I start.
- 3D model loaders Many game engines come with everything that you need. Plug-ins are common for outside software, too, such as for Blender or 3DS Max. Graphics engines often make you code your own loader or use a third party plug-in library. There are combinations of all of the above issues, too. The largest game engines typically have a complete workflow pipeline in place with all kinds of loaders.
- Physics Engine Bullet Physics is common for pro developers and amateurs. I recommend this one for starters, unless your game engine of choice has something different.
- Game Engine This depends much on your game concept genre, coding skills, and artist skillset. Torque 3D and UDK/Unreal Engine come to my mind first at the moment.
List of Game Engines:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines
- Level designing Similar to above issues, it's about workflow pipeline of the game engine. Many have this integrated into the game engine. The game engine has a workflow pipeline and many other things included, too.
- References Search the above issues. Good game engines have good documentation and support.
When thinking about game engines, to really give it artistic justice, you need a team. Going alone is fine as a hobby, but if you want to be a professional game developer that earns a good income, then you must have a team, speaking in general with a few exceptions out there.
by having knowledge of - do you mean you know it well?
Are you more interested in game programming or are you more interested in game creation?
Yes, I know it well.
Right now game programming is the prime focus.
How to successfully develop a game:
(1) Write up a draft game design (outline, goals, end conditions, basic interactions).
(2) Get started programming the game.
(3) Continue developing the game, learning what you need to if necessary, refining as you go along.
(4) Finish the game.
(5) PROFIT!!!!
How to not successfully develop a game:
I have knowledge of OpenGL,SDL,C,C++ and I want to start making a 3D game. I am confused about the other stuffs I should take up before I start.
The two most important things you need to do: (a) start and (b) finish. Everything else is just transition, and an awful lot of folks skip doing (a).
I quote Bregma. You need a real project to work on. Put pen and paper or open notepad or google doc, sketch some game ideas (not a complete GDD if you can resist!), run your ide of choice and start coding. Problems will come out soon, but there will be "real" problems, with actual solutions.
Develop software (and so games) is an iterative process that need a start.
Develop software (and so games) is an iterative process that need a start.
Yes, indeed, that is quite true. It's best to do a "once over" which is an early cycle in the process to cover all the basic skeletal structure of the game and then add coding flesh to that in orderly and categorized fashion. Following cycles add more flesh, including the real muscle of game scripting and the outer parts which the ender user sees such as the GUI and other artistic assets.
Highly sophisticated game developers tend to work hard on game design before coding (or before much coding) and the next stage is software architecture using flowcharts and many other kinds of documentation in potential. A basic skeleton of a game is then coded in the third stage by many people who have years of experience. The forth stage might be either heavy debugging or go to adding more player features and art assets, depending on your experience.
At this point, only fundamental implementation of these stages and their tasks is in your ability but you will advance much faster if you are mindful of them and execute them carefully. Avoid spaghetti coding or you will spend more time debugging and perhaps delays by abandoning certain sections of coding. Learn class files and other modular forms of coding. All of this basic struct should be planned as much as you are able.
Make 3-5 very simple single player games before doing anything complex such as mult-player. If your workflow pipeline is correct, then your coding will flow naturally from one game to the next, using good code made previous by you to springboard into the next project.
