New to GDNet and in need of some advice.
and what the game is about, and what each level is about. Now I need to know where to go from here.
That depends on where it is you realistically think you will wind up. I used to write down dreams, too. And I write down game ideas. But you think we already know what it is you plan to do with your game idea. We don't. What is it you want to do with your game idea? That will inform your question, "where to go from here."
Also, just some advice about game ideas in general. Try to keep them simple. It is easy to underestimate how much work a game takes. There may be some idea you are set on but if you hold onto it when you should let it go it could end up killing the entire project because it never gets done. Having dreams about games is pretty cool, but I wouldn't put any more weight in ideas you have in a dream than you would have awake. There are lots of people who have game ideas. Odds are you aren't the first person who had ideas like yours. It is not because you aren't creative. You aren't stealing these ideas. To you, it is an orignal idea. The world is just a big place with a lot of creative people in it. You may find that some of the ideas already have been done in a game. You may find that the idea is really cool, it just takes way too much work or just isn't plausible.
Making a game takes lots of time, it takes lots of work. If you are new to this you will probably be spending a lot of time learning before you can actually make your ideas a reality. Don't let all of that discourage you though. Just enjoy the journey. If you enjoy making games then seeing the final product isn't the only thing that fuels you.
If you really don't want to learn how to make games and just want your game to become a reality then your best bet earn a lot of money and save it away. Then when you have a substantial budget you can hire some people to make the game for you. You will have a hard time finding somebody who would be willing to make your game for free.
As HappyCoder mentioned, GameMaker might be a good choice, since your a beginner. But I personally don't like using someone else's software to make a game, I don't like how I'm limited to what they give to me. If you are also like this, then I advice you to start with a simple programming language, something like Vb.Net.
Vb.Net is a simple, programming language made for ease and speed(Not how fast your application is, but how fast you can make it). It might not be the best programming language out there, but you can do a lot with it. Now, don't expect to make the next world of warcraft over night! I used Vb.Net for 2 years before moving on to C#, even though they're quite similar.
You might want a place to start. Youtube and Google are your friends. You can search Vb.Net tutorials for simple stuff such as Picture Viewer, Text Editor, Progress Bar, Messageboxes.. Or search for a series of tutorials that go in order.
First of all, you need to install Visual Studio, or Visual Basic .Net Express 2010. Don't let the 2010 make you think its old and useless, I use Visual C# Express 2010, and it works just great! It's only about 120mb if I remember correctly.
Here is a tutorial:
Before you can even start making your game, it can take lots of work to get used to the language, so that you would no longer need to use tutorials to do what you need. But of course, you can always ask questions on forums, as we all do, but, always do research before you ask.
As I mentioned before, Vb.Net is a programming language made for ease and speed, so it may not be the best language for making games. That's why I moved onto C#(and C++ currently), after using Vb.Net a lot. I tried to make games with Vb.Net, but nothing was very.. efficient.. I tried to make the game with pictureboxes, with gdi+, with timers that update slowly(i had little control over this)... But this wasn't a bad thing, I learned a lot. Anyways enough about me.
Basically, If you want full control of how your game will be, you will either hire a team, or learn programming. Otherwise, you can use engines such as GameMaker.
Good luck with your game idea, I hope you can make it. But remember, don't get uninspired if you can't make what you want quickly, just keep trying. Have fun!
~WeNeedFocus
