Anybody have game developing advice?

[UBERTRON777]

I want to be able to make video games but I am not sure how to start. Right now I am using Game Maker 7 and it is working pretty well. I was just wondering if anyone could recommend any developer, sprite design, midi software. If anybody knows anything about making games it would be cool if you could help me out.

[lordofduct]

for free AND legal. Go get yourself Visual C# Express off of MSDN and get the XNA 2.0 refreshes, .NET Framework, and all the other stuff that those things tell you you will need to run it.

Go get an account on forums.xna.com

and start reading the tutorials

I'm on there randomly (though I haven't been lately, no internet at home right now... and I'm very busy at work). I will be on there more once I get internet (just moved to LA). The people are very helpful and the tutorials can show you a lot. Though it is ALL about building from scratch.

If you want a little more streamlined deal, you can try out Blade3D for XNA dev OR get yourself some flash. It's very nice and easy for making simple little games.

[mrgoodbytes]

+1 to coding it entirely by yourself.

start with something simple, like making a version of pong. get compfortable with working with code.

I was working on a primer on video game coding, but it will probably be of little interest to you as its aimed more at old school coding practices.

eitherway best of luck, I found it all to be alot of fun.

[NotBlaine]

I'm an art director at a software company, so I do need to prototype games every so often. That said, I'm not a programer so keep that in mind.

GameMaker is actually a pretty good entry level and for $20 it's a solid program. It's what I used until I bought a macbook and when the OSX version comes out, I'll be buying that as well.

Personally I find the wyswig nature of it allows a easier learning curve, but the scripting language gives you flexibility and the chance to get your hands dirty with the logic of the game. It's, in my opinion, like Flash only designed for games. No real 3D, which might be a turn off.

While C# is easier than a lot of languages and XNA is a good toolset, you will still have to do a lot of the heavy lifting (graphics, sound, network, controls, physics, ai) that GameMaker will help take care of for you. TorqueX is a good add on for XNA that helps with much of what you'd get from something like a GameMaker, but it's not free by a longshot.

The only other real knock against XNA is if you want to use a joystick, your choices are really limited. Most USB controllers do not work natively with XNA. A wired 360 controller is pretty much a required purchase.

If you want to be ambitious you can also check out Unity, which has a very nice web player (it's the technology behind Offroad Velociraptor Safari), but it also requires a little something out of pocket.

As far as other apps go. For me, I'm still a really big Photoshop guy. If you're not interested in dropping the $500 - GIMP is well documented as well as Paint.net (which is like MSPaint if it didn't suck.

If you ever want to dabble in 3D, I give my highest recommendation to Blender - which is powerful and free. A good combination.

Sound utilities are also tricky, you can check out Quartz Audio Master it's a pretty good audio suite for midi/wav etc.

[Daniel Primed]

I suggest gripping your balls hard and get to work learning a programming language. Simply put, if you want to be a game designer then there is almost no way around programming. Self teaching is difficult, especially if you haven't had any previous programming experience.

It depends what you why you want to make games, is this just for interest or would you like to pursue this as a career? In anycase do some research into C++. Maybe look into buying a book, Accelerated C++ is my personal recomendation.

[4ppleseed]

I’m with NotBlaine on this one and say stick to GM7. You could spend years learning to program and come out with very dull games. Or you can jump in 1/2 way with GM7 and just bash out concepts and prototypes and learn how to design games.

I think there is a move away (especially from Indie and webased games) from hardcore traditional code and a move towards great concepts and fun little games. Think fl0w, N+, Cave Story or something like The Behemoth’s games. All could be done without going anywhere near a language like C and they've reached very successful markets.

[UBERTRON777]

Thanks for all the help. My friend and I are going to make a game on Game Maker and then later try to learn how to use XNA.

[4ppleseed]

Good choice, that’s the way to do it
The online tutorials available for Game Maker 7 when you download it are poorly written and nearly put me off learning. The official book ‘game maker apprentice’ is VERY good. I suggest you get hold of a copy and make the 9 games in there first, then read thru the online tutorials, just to reinforce what you’ve already learnt.

Then hit the forum and start chatting to some people, work out what’s already been done for you, for example the GMPhysics plugin will take away a lot of the headache with physic based stuff (or atleast point you in the right direction) and then write your own game from scratch.

After all that, the transition to the XNA stuff will be a lot smoother.