Hey
It has always been a wish of mine to learn some game design since a young age but due to many factors I was led down the other areas of programming. I finally have some time to dedicate to learning some basic stuff and then hopefully move on from there if things allow it, I am adept at a few things I believe are useful and would love to be able to put them to use in this field as well - below are the skills I have learnt.
- C# - Expertise
- Pascal - Expertise
- SQL - Expertise
- C++ - Moderate
- Java - Moderate
- Photoshop - Basic
Whenever I go about learning something I always try to gain a actual understanding of what is going on and why things are being done, for example I used to work with someone (on a good monthly) who did not understand the usefulness of pointers and only used them to meet the industry standard, I try to avoid situations like that like a cat from water. I have looked at some basic stuff around the web and am struggling to find anything that goes into the sort of things and only really guides which tell you to write down stuff line by line, because of this I am posting here.
My first goal is to create 2D game in which you can move around a character around a field with basic obstacles and then work on from this to make some what of a simplified Minecraft, something a long the lines of a popular DS game a few years back, the name escapes me. The reason I post here is to hopefully meet people that have a similar view as me and are hopefully open to giving me advice in how to achieve this - I do not want the basic 'go and and learn C++' and come back as mentioned above I already know most of the code I can imagine I will need.
I will put a list below of the sort of stuff I want to know -
- Is C++ the best way to go?
- I was thinking of starting with OpenGL, is this a good start? Is there something else I should be using?
- What programs do I need? Or make things much easier?
- Do you know of any guides/tutorials/series that cover the stuff I want to know?
- Do you know of any guides/tutorials/series that involve 2D games like the one I plan to make?
I would be very grateful if anyone could answer any of the questions above in any sort of detail, it really will help me.
The final thing I would like from someone with a moderate understanding on game design is a way to contact them maybe a few times a week with basic questions or troubleshooting as I find someone to turn to is something invaluable for learning, I know this would be a lot to ask from most people and only help me if you have time and really do not mind, please.
Thanks, and I look forward to any replies people may have