About C++, a question.

[Davaris]

I am gonna look like a total moron, but what is design document? You mean something to keep track of your decisions/goals as you go making your stuff?

Its a plan for how to make your game. Architects create detailed plans before they do anything and so to pro game makers. If you are working on your own and don't care if or when you finish, you can work without one. However if you work without one, you'll find you'll chop and change and keep adding endless features.

The bare bones would be something like a complete D&D module and even then I would only use that in an already existing engine.

Also, this thing about using Unity or whatever other engine, doesn't that involve having models, textures, art and whatever? As a poor citizen of third worldia, I don't have money for these things.
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Depends on how little cash you have. Head over to Dexsoft Games and see what you think of the prices of their model packs. You can also make your own models with software like Blender, Gimp, 3DCoat, Genetica and Filter Forge. Blender and Gimp are free, but the others cost a few hundred dollars each.

My plan was to make a freeware, 2d, with placeholders/paint art/roguelike. And maybe, just maybe, when I'm competent enough, maybe try to get a partner to deal with art, sprites, and the stuff I have no patience for, and maybe go commercial. Have I said maybe enough? Maybe.
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The golden rule is you will never get an artist to work for royalties/free. I have heard of people that have done it, but they are rarer than hens teeth.

As for making 2D games, the art is easier to do until you want animations.

Of course, even though I am learning stuff right now, I make no promises of me ever getting off my lazy ass and doing something. Ever.

Then scale it down again. If you want to design, create a complete design document for a game and look for a team. The problem with a lot of Indie game maker groups, is all they have is an idea and no plan. So instead of making games, they end up creating a boys club, that endlessly talks and argues about making a particular game. So if you have a good document you will be in front of most groups out there.

Otherwise look for a 2D RPG maker. They are dirt cheap and easy to learn and you'll find out if you have the will to finish a game, before learning a programming language.

 

[Raghar]

I am gonna look like a total moron, but what is design document? You mean something to keep track of your decisions/goals as you go making your stuff?

It's a piece of paper that has important info about project you need to look at about 1.5 years later to know about what the project is about.

I often create this about 1 year into the project as a nasty surprise. However not everyone can handle 30000 lines of code in the memory without breaking a sweet, and majority of people would get shakes only imagining the foresight required.

Images, models and stuff like that, that's somewhat unimportant at this stage. Considering there isn't a program written yet, creating art assets in advance requires significant foresight, or experience.

Can any of your friends draw well? You might tell him.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Is taking informatics studies a good way to be get programming skills

Not.

(They will not teach you about: software architecture, programming styles, unwritten programming conventions,

Isn't it taught on lectures?

Basically, I doubt they will teach you more programming skills than you'd be able to learn by self education in half year.

What sources for self education would you recommend?

 

[jagged-jimmy]

I say for someone who cannot really into programming, Java is the better choice then C++. Its already has some helper classes to draw stuff (2D) and renders them fast enough for anything you can come up with.

Of course, if your dedication is strong and you want to make a real game, then i would go for C++ from start on too.

Java just has a shitload buildin stuff already and doesn't look creepy like C++. Thats said i like C++ and C a lot. The question is not "what language i gonna use to make awesome geam?", but "which language as a tool, helps me actually get something done?" - > Without searching and relying on some third-party libs.

 

[mouser]

I'm on the side that says, "Learn the algorithms".

Read anything you can by Donald Knuth (especially semi-numerical algorithms). It doesn't matter what language you use, some things always apply.

Design Patterns by the Gang of Four is another timeless classic.

As a caveat, this is jumping into the end of a deep, deep pool, but if you learn to swim, you'll be a shark.

There is no "perfect" language - well, I suppose assembly would be the closest, but then you're tied to hardware and it would take forever to code anything

I've used Java, Python, C++, C, ColdFusion and some other stuff I don't remember any more. Any complete programming language (cross ColdFusion off the above list) will let you do what you want. Hell, there's really only three or four things you need to solve any computer problem:

- sequential code (one line is executed after the next)
- conditional branching
- top check loop (which can be simulated by conditional branching)
- recursion (I'm not positive on this one, but I think you do need for a few things, tall towers of hanoi comes to mind.

But if you want to do graphics, you've got to be able to draw a dot on the screen, and making the dot different colors is nice. That's where libraries and API's come in. Getting input from the user and having event handlers is nice too.

Object oriented programming is good. Not always the best solution, but nice. Just like polling is sometimes more efficient than generating lots of threads. Incidentally, you can do OO in any language, not just the "object oriented" ones. C for example is perfectly capable of making object oriented code.

Anyway, I'm rambling and my pizza's getting cold. Work with what you know and build what you can. Learn from that, and then build better the next time. Lather, rinse, repeat.[/list]

 

[Deneidez]

I'm on the side that says, "Learn the algorithms".

There is no "perfect" language - well, I suppose assembly would be the closest, but then you're tied to hardware and it would take forever to code anything

I would say that learn/try to understand programming paradigms first and after you understand paradigms just check and try to understand basic algorithms in paradigms you are going to use. There are way too many algorithms to just 'learn' them.

And there is a perfect language. Its the one you know how to use and is suitable for job.