Any game developers here?

Cromulent

Cromulent

Cromulent

Soldato
Joined
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England
I've always wanted to make games, and it is why I taught myself programming 10 years ago, but I never actually got around to game development. I've decided that now is the time to try and make a game myself. I'd want to be a Linux only game developer and wondered if any veterans had any tips or advice? I'll likely be using C++ with either OpenGL and OpenCL or just Vulkan, which apparently can handle compute and graphics, so I don't need OpenCL in that case.
 
Thank you all for your replies I really appreciate it. I've been busy so haven't had a chance to reply. If the choice is between Unreal and Unity then I'd probably go with Unreal in that case and the fact that a new version is due out at some point seems to make it a good choice. Plus I am more familiar with C++ than C#.

I do want to be a Linux specialist when it comes to game stuff for various reasons though.
 
leezer3 said:
https://github.com/leezer3/OpenBVE

Not quite a developer in the classic sense of the word (I kinda inherited the job 10+ years ago, and it's as much an engine as a full game.....), but there you go :)

Some basic thoughts:
If you're doing anything out of the ordinary, a ready-made engine is as much of a hindrance as a help; You'll end up adding bits on and re-writing entire logic trees as you go.
Similarly, a lot of the pre-made stuff encourages 'lazy' (not quite the right term, but close enough) coding, when writing your own will perform better in the long run.
Think before you code, and properly comment anything you do :p I've lost count of the number of times I've had to re-work something implemented years ago, which a little design thought in the first place would have prevented.
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Great advice. Thank you.

I want this project to be as highly optimised for Linux as possible which I'm not sure is true of Unreal Engine or Unity. Plus I have some ideas that are not included in those engines anyway so I'm still considering building my own engine. I also want to make it open source so hopefully I'll be able to get some help from other developers.
 
mid_gen said:
I'd really consider whether you want to make a game engine, or make a game. They are both interesting undertakings in their own right, but are pretty much mutually exclusive if you're a novice, and one person.

My advice would be to use Unreal, and get some idea of the things that constitute a game engine, and knock up some prototypes of the games you want to make.

You can stick your game logic in modules that you can later shift over to a different engine or drop into your own one, if you go that route.

Just to emulate the most basic versions of the core unreal systems like animation .rendering, audio, asset handling, networking etc, will take you years of dedicated long hours.

You're really not going to lose much by trying stuff out in an existing engine...no point just assuming it won't do what you want.
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Thank you for your reply. You make a good point.

I think the difference is that I'd like to make the engine an open source project and get some people who are interested in it involved with development. The game would be an off shoot on the engine and would be done by myself.

But I'll see about prototyping ideas on Unreal to start with as you suggest. At least then I'll be able to see what is going on.
 
OK. Point made. I'll concentrate on learning the Unreal Engine in that case. Thank you all for being so honest with me. Sometimes you need someone to make you rethink your plans.
 
jsmoke said:
Did you ever get round to starting or creating your game?

I was going to try something with unity if your interested?
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Unfortunately, I've been in hospital since August so I haven't really got much useful stuff done yet. I should be out before Christmas though which I when I'm going to be concentrating on this much more.
 
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