[No Topic Prefix because I'm in between Python & Sharp; Can't figure out which is going to render the best results because, quite frankly, and don't tell anyone (whispers-) "I actually just became interested in learning a language."]

Naturally, like many others that decide to try their hand at game development, I got the itch while messing around between Blender and Gimp with one of my kids, and I said, "Hey, lets design a videogame." Unlike my children though, who are devout Minecrafters, I'm an FPS guy. My ambition is overly lofty, they'll be satisfied with Bubble Bash...

So, I'm going to do my own (which may never see the light of day - FPS, realistic, 3D, boundless maps to some extent, single player PC) and theirs... 2D.

This is a spare time kind of thing as I have other responsibilities, but I'd like to ask of y'all, "Where should I start? Is it abnormal to start on the part that you actually know (in my case, assets. Except I thought they were called animations, music/sounds/foleys, textures, etc...)?"

Currently, I did a screen grab on Google maps of an area where I'd like the game to start. (The sketchup trick seemed like a half-cocked solution) In GIMP, I set the screen grab as the bottom layer and am using color coded paths on other layers to mark everything like streets, Interstates, residential areas, etc etc... The plan is to import the result into Blender as a reference image where I can build the map perfectly. From there - well, it might collect dust forever unless I get a handle on C#. Something tells me Python won't exactly nail a 3D game... That's an inexperienced opinion expecting an experienced set of facts, but from the search I did for a good day or two trying to find Python games that "looked" right, I didn't find many examples. But, I see C(flavor) everywhere...

By the way, a huge thanks ahead of time for any advice that is formatted with an awesome can do attitude

Simcerely,

Cracker

And to add:

I'm a music producer/songwriter.

Anyone who can barter services and needs something done along those lines, feel free to offer. My studio isn't bankrolled by Kanye West or Quincy Jones, but I'm good at what I do.

Sorry if I belittled anyone, wasn't my intention. But that's normally not anyone's intention, merely a simple inference on the part of the reader... Like if someone says, "Hey, man, I wanna learn how to run sound for a 6 piece band with 6 monitor mixes and 4 side fills, and all wireless with a 13 mic drum kit..." Most often folks don't know what's going into a big production - games or music or whatever else... Even down to running an oil field job shop... Just as I don't know what goes into making a game, you most likely haven't ever messed with music beyond an iPod or calling sound files up in a program. But, I wouldn't be anywhere near slightly offended if someone mentioned wanting to do it in their spare time... I might laugh and say, "Get your checkbook ready, learn to eat Ramen Noodles, and make sure your back seat is good for sleeping."

The spare time I mentioned goes hand in hand with the comment about "which may never see the light of day..."

Sounds to me like you're more interested in pointing out that I'm not a game developer... Well, now 2 people on this earth know that fact... Touche.

Edit --- It's Friday man... Smile. Save the feels for Monday before you get the first pot of coffee down.

I know you aren't approaching this as a professional pursuit, but I think it might still be informative to think about it from a business perspective, in which case I'd say that you start with your biggest risks first. Assets do not sound like your biggest risk; you know you can make whatever assets you need, at any point in the project. If you spend a year making them at the very beginning of the project, and only then delve into the game engine area of work, you might end up with a year's worth of assets and nothing else to show for it. Which might be fine in the end, but it wouldn't line up with your present goal.

Instead, consider your biggest risk, which might be whether or not you can get a customizable FPS up and running, and whether or not you can give it boundless maps. Don't worry about level design, art, animations. First grab an engine such as Unity or Unreal and see if you can get the samples working. Then see if you can adapt their samples in ways that are relevant to your ideas. (For example, the engines probably already having basic jumping built in, but what if you want double jumping? Can you add that feature?) Then try to get boundless maps to work, in the simplest possible way first. Start with flat terrain, and cubes for bushes (since you know you have the skill to swap out the cubes for nicer models at any point). Then see if you can get more interesting terrain, hills and whatnot, that goes on forever.

Maybe along the way you might indulge yourself with a making a few assets to use in your experiments, to keep your motivation up, but don't go overboard. I struggle with the same issue. I'll get frustrated with something I'm having difficulties with, go off on a tangent with a part of the project that I find more satisfying, and then follow that tangent for way too long. Sooner or later, that original difficulty needs to be dealt with, or I'm never going to make real progress.

Thanks Andy. Spot on.

Assets do not sound like your biggest risk; you know you can make whatever assets you need, at any point in the project.

Sooner or later, that original difficulty needs to be dealt with, or I'm never going to make real progress.

I didn't realize I was going for the more rewarding, less challenging job first. (I did, but I didn't quite know to put it in those terms.)

First grab an engine such as Unity or Unreal and see if you can get the samples working.

I have both of them on my Desktop. Can't quite make heads nor tails of either, but that will come soon enough.

Andy, from the days of research so far and actually devoting time to learning Python, don't laugh, via CodeAcademy, I've also read and discussed with a couple programmer friends who's opinion it is that Python is good for a lot of things besides gaming. There isn't much explanation beyond that. Albeit, they're web designers, but programming web scripts to me sounds like something that is mildly if not wholly close to the same. Is that right or wrong? [Python is also proving to be a headache when trying to actually create a program rather than a script that runs from the IDLE Shell.]

Along with trying to get started learning programming, I've tried finding definitive reading that points to the general consensus on languages and it seems a tie between C++ and C# which further leads me to believe that the Python opinion isn't completely inaccurate.

But, as with everything, there has to be a start. I just don't want to start, get deep in and find out that I should have spent all my time on X programming language... Because I've put in quite a few hours taking notes and such on Python. Seems I should hit the brakes and make sure I'm travelling the right road first.

Thank you, Sir.

Just struck me as like.. "Hey I want to make this hard thing, I probably won't finish it.. but yeah I'm just gonna do this hard thing because I can, and don't tell me I can't do it or imply I shouldn't be doing it."

When I started with music I owned a cat-gut guitar that sounded like Caca, and I couldn't even play Nirvana songs... When you first started programming, you wrote a "Hello World" script that didn't work until a few tries later. Only thing is, with code, it's finite. There are no grey areas... I've made a living in the grey areas. I'm sure I can at least hobby around with "FINITE"...

And to add:

I'm a music producer/songwriter.

Anyone who can barter services and needs something done along those lines, feel free to offer. My studio isn't bankrolled by Kanye West or Quincy Jones, but I'm good at what I do.

^^^ If I can trade services (i.e. Music Scoring, Foleys, Voice Over etc.) I might be able to finish this with the help of others who need help doing something they aren't fully up-to-speed on... You know what, I hope someone asks for help with soundscapes. I've actually yet to test out my Dolby skills.

Since you're not doing this to lead up to an eventual career, and since you've already told your kids (and don't want them to sit around bored for several months or even years while you learn how to program in your free time), and because this is supposed to be a fun experience for them and for you, why not skip the boring parts and go straight for the fun stuff?

They'll get a 2D deal out of it once they go through the process of at least coming up with an idea, and maybe even sketching some characters... I know using computers isn't easy for youngsters, design at least, but computers are the backbone of this world and I'd like to get them psyched up to do more than what they are. I've even downloaded some mods for their Minecraft that use Lua and Robots, but again, I gotta learn the language first to be able to help them. (The thing with them is that I can't stand to see their bent necks, tablets in hand, and nothing productive going on besides watching Minecraft videos - it's such a waste with so much at our fingertips.)

Thanks. I do appreciate the advice. Unfortunately, the kiddos aren't yet past 10yrs old. I'll keep the FPS games to myself :) The FPS project is mainly for my enjoyment/stress (more stress I'm sure).

[oh, and one side effect of all this is that at some point I'll be able to make scripts for the websites I own and administer. Not many, but they could all benefit from scripts.]