Hello friends,
I've decided to join the huge community of game developers, but I'm completely lost on where to start.
I am a web developer and I already have some skills on PHP(OOP), MySQL, JS, etc.
I would like to develop games for android, (question #1), am I required to learn Java to develop a game from scratch?
Can I use my knowledge from PHP/MySQL to develop the serverside handles(question #2)?
I have designed my first game(on paper), it is a Zombie Survival like with RPG elements, should I go with MMO or single-player(question #3), is there any other game type that i should invest(question #4)?
Is there any cheap marketplace for me to buy royalties-free 2d/3d sprites/models to my games(question #5)?
Where can I find indie partners to team up with me(question #6)?
More questions to come!
Thank you my friends.
Best regards!
Andrey
1 - It depends, if you want to use only Android stuff you'll have to learn the Android API, which uses Java. But that's not the only solution, you can write almost everything in C++ and use de NDK to put it all inside an Android APK. You can use Unity or other engines that can build an Android APK, and most of them don't use Java (Unity supports C#, UnityScript or Boo, there are some HTML5 engines that support JavaScript, etc). As you can see, you have a lot of options, maybe an HTML5 engine would be better for you since you already have experience in JS.
2 - Yes, you can do a server in any language and then from the client make http requests. If you use an HTML5 engine you'll probably be doing some AJAX requests just like in a web page.
3 and 4 - If you have no experience you shouldn't start with something so complex. Most people start with simple games like a TicTacToe, Pong or other old games, you'll find it's hard to make even the simplest game if you have no experience, and you'll be surprised of how many things you learn from each of them. Making an MMO should be far from your first projects, it involves so many problems that you can get frustrated to early because of the complexity (server/client sincronization, persistent world, concurrency, and more). You should progress in steps, start with a the most basic game mechanic that you already know (Tetris maybe?) and make it. Also, start with single player, then local multiplayer and then online multiplayer.
5 - Sorry, no idea.
6 - There's a Classifieds section here, take a look there. Anyway, if you just make it as a hobby and you're learning it's harder to find people interested in teaming up with you, I'd try asking some friends that also want to learn.
