I''d have to agree with possibility here. It was only after reading about the "Start here" link on the messageboards that I noticed the link on the main page.
Now that I''m used to it I really like the main page (especially the 6 recent posts section), but I remember disliking your page because of putting too much information, links, etc. on it at once.
Maybe you should put a huge START HERE IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE link on the splash screen or something.
Although there is a "start here" link on the main page. I''m sure most of the newbies won''t see it at their first visit.
Jaap Suter
____________________________
Mmmm, I''ll have to think of one.
Is this place overrun by newbies?
It''s difficult to make everything easily accessible, but given all the information that is on the site, the main page is IMO designed well. Maybe if it was in a smaller font it wouldn''t appear to be so much, but no use in killing our eyes. 
Anyways, I''ve always known the New? Start Here link to be difficult to find. We''ll try to find some other way to make it visible, but in the meantime we''ll just have to help people find it.
Kevin
Anyways, I''ve always known the New? Start Here link to be difficult to find. We''ll try to find some other way to make it visible, but in the meantime we''ll just have to help people find it. Kevin
Author
To Dire,
If you are actually reading books about programming and game design then there is no problem. So long that you try to figure things by yourself before you ask then no problem. I think it is great if we here can help people get better, but some people just do not want to use the time required to build games.
CmndrM,
You say that if we help all newbies there will be no more. Never! Total newbies will appear at a higher rate the more people that playes games. People seem to think that game programming is very easy. I am a graduate student of COmputer Science and is specializing in game development for my Master''s and people seem surprised every time I tell them this. They though that creating games was simple and not something that needed degrees.
To rivit,
As most flames that occur: please consider that you haven''t misunderstood the arguments that you flame about. If you have used 5 years designing a game then you are serious about it and no problem at all, as I said to Dire above. I think though that you should be ashamed of yourself to flame people. Flaming is childish and not something that makes a forum serious.
Jacob Marner
If you are actually reading books about programming and game design then there is no problem. So long that you try to figure things by yourself before you ask then no problem. I think it is great if we here can help people get better, but some people just do not want to use the time required to build games.
CmndrM,
You say that if we help all newbies there will be no more. Never! Total newbies will appear at a higher rate the more people that playes games. People seem to think that game programming is very easy. I am a graduate student of COmputer Science and is specializing in game development for my Master''s and people seem surprised every time I tell them this. They though that creating games was simple and not something that needed degrees.
To rivit,
As most flames that occur: please consider that you haven''t misunderstood the arguments that you flame about. If you have used 5 years designing a game then you are serious about it and no problem at all, as I said to Dire above. I think though that you should be ashamed of yourself to flame people. Flaming is childish and not something that makes a forum serious.
Jacob Marner
I think we''re dealing with a slight naming confusion here:
While the starting post talks about being swamped with "newbies", what he''s really getting at is that we''re being swamped by "wannabies".
Some of the people starting out, right here on gamedev, are intelligent, and seriously consider your answer. You can feel they want to learn.
Some other people just post daft things like "Give me the link to the plugin that they used for the Inventory in Diablo".
The difference is between "I''d like to learn", and "I''d like to have". I don''t mind learning, but I HATE people who think they are going to get everything handed to them. I know I''ve myself resorted to one-line posts along the lines of
"Read the bloody main page you weenis".
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
While the starting post talks about being swamped with "newbies", what he''s really getting at is that we''re being swamped by "wannabies".
Some of the people starting out, right here on gamedev, are intelligent, and seriously consider your answer. You can feel they want to learn.
Some other people just post daft things like "Give me the link to the plugin that they used for the Inventory in Diablo".
The difference is between "I''d like to learn", and "I''d like to have". I don''t mind learning, but I HATE people who think they are going to get everything handed to them. I know I''ve myself resorted to one-line posts along the lines of
"Read the bloody main page you weenis".
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
I think one of the main problems with a newbies forum is that legitimate questions need answering by more experienced people.
How many experienced people will sit in on the newbie forum?
But yeah, I know the whole "I don''t want to learn I want it to be done for me" attitude and it really pisses me off.
Especially when there are so many people taking the time to write tutorials in all and sundry and for these sites (Such as NeHe''s OpenGl tutorial site)
I''d say I''m still a newbie, but I know that you''ll never learn anything if you can''t be bothered to learn it yourself...
Check out my shadows page
and send me some feedback
How many experienced people will sit in on the newbie forum?
But yeah, I know the whole "I don''t want to learn I want it to be done for me" attitude and it really pisses me off.
Especially when there are so many people taking the time to write tutorials in all and sundry and for these sites (Such as NeHe''s OpenGl tutorial site)
I''d say I''m still a newbie, but I know that you''ll never learn anything if you can''t be bothered to learn it yourself...
Check out my shadows page
and send me some feedback
I am completely astonished at everybody''s veiw at the newbie issue. The fact of the matter is that game development is starting to really boom and naturally there are going to be a hell lotta newbies and some serious and others not so serious , and we should help those who are serious about this things , i mean books will teach u how to program , but a book wont tell u if ur fit for game design.
You''re fit for it if you don''t ask stupid questions like, ''Please tell me how to make a game.''
Note that I am not referring to anyone here, for some really good laughs go over to Planterhalflife''s Wavelength. Then proceed to the coding forum.
For the unitiated, Wavelength is a mod development site for Valve''s Half-Life, a really cool game.
Such posts as ''How do I code a mod?'' are more than frequent there.
Just goes to show, now that people have rope, they just start hanging ''emselves with it.
The_Minister
1C3-D3M0N Interactive
Note that I am not referring to anyone here, for some really good laughs go over to Planterhalflife''s Wavelength. Then proceed to the coding forum.
For the unitiated, Wavelength is a mod development site for Valve''s Half-Life, a really cool game.
Such posts as ''How do I code a mod?'' are more than frequent there.
Just goes to show, now that people have rope, they just start hanging ''emselves with it.
The_Minister
1C3-D3M0N Interactive
Hey, two weeks ago i was initiate in the forums.I only knew how to program with BitBlt and that was all.But then i started searcing the web for info,i visited the Microsoft''s DirectX section which has VB tutorials as well and in a week''s time i transfered my game engine from BitBlt to DirectX 7.What i want to say is that it is not bad to be a newbie.It is bad to expect everything to happen like a miracle.
Just search a little.The web is full of info
Voodoo4
Just search a little.The web is full of info
Voodoo4
It seems more like this place is overrun by people who complain about newbies.
lntakitopi@aol.com | http://geocities.com/guanajam/
lntakitopi@aol.com | http://geocities.com/guanajam/
quote:Original post by TechDoctor
I am completely astonished at everybody''s veiw at the newbie issue. The fact of the matter is that game development is starting to really boom and naturally there are going to be a hell lotta newbies and some serious and others not so serious , and we should help those who are serious about this things , i mean books will teach u how to program , but a book wont tell u if ur fit for game design.
I totally, 100% disagree. The game business has been around for 20 years, and if you were into it, you would know most of the questions wasted on the forums.
I saw a post earlier up the line about "newbies" really translating into "wannbies". I agree that this is probably the most likely situation.
Newbies usually take the time to ask questions about things they have searched around the net for. Wannabies just jump in and say, yo, check out my site will all my kool images (that I ripped from other sites) and my game idea. No idea, no clue, no help.... tempers flare "Why waste my time?"....
I think the problem is basically, " I think I can, so I don''t need all the BS before I start" syndrome. The link at the top for New? Start here only applies to those who think they are not "above" everyone else and can take the time to read and understand the concepts of, hell, just programming, before starting with questions like:
"How do I get my ultra cool warrior loaded in from a 3ds file?" "What do you mean I actually have to code something, there isn''t some code lying around?" "Read an article, I don''t understand them"....
Point being, newbies aren''t really an issue, it is all the hacks who don''t have a clue in the first place.
How do you get around this in an open forum?? You don''t.
Although I have seen some ingenious ways of doing it, like having the users, rate the other users. And, yes, there are ways to make sure that it do4esn''t turn into a "slug feast" of people ganging up on others.You could also rate the topics? That might sway people from actually reading them. Again, just additional stuff to help speed up the time spent looking through six messages of "Why VB is the next killer programming language for games"....
Honestly, I consider myself a newbie after 12 years of programming and 3 in the games industry. I read an article a day, and I still find stuff that I never knew how to do, or different approaches to things. So I have to admit, "newbie" isn''t the nasty word.
I do hope we can all come up with some really good ideas to keep pushing this board along the lines it has been going. It really is an invaluble resource in the game community.
Ok, I blew enough smoke....
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