Best site to start on games design?

Freeman · 29 May 2006 at 21:34

I'd like to get into game design, does anyone know of a decent engine i can start on? Maybe something from the UT series?

I have a C++ kit engine and guide, but its about 9 years old so i'm looking for something more up to date.

To put it bluntly i want to design and learn about all aspects of a game, characters, surroundings, sound, lighting, etc etc.

Could anyone point me in the right direction please?

Thanks.

Rincewind · 29 May 2006 at 22:19

what sort of game, if it's FPS, then UT2004 or Half Life 2 have good devkits, if it's an RPG i'd say oblivion but i got stuck...

Freeman · 29 May 2006 at 22:23

Rincewind said:
what sort of game, if it's FPS, then UT2004 or Half Life 2 have good devkits, if it's an RPG i'd say oblivion but i got stuck...

Yeh most likely FPS at the moment, but i'm open to anything especially stuff with a decent learning curve.

Steedie · 29 May 2006 at 22:31

For a beginner have a look at the Torque Engine, its a fairly basic engine, uses c++ and has its own quite simple scripting language

Being a games programmer myself, feel free to add me to msn or email me if you wanna talk more

Email in trust and msn is there too i think

SiD the Turtle · 29 May 2006 at 22:34

http://www.gamedev.net/ is quite a library of knowledge.

bakes0310 · 29 May 2006 at 23:19

Steedie said:
For a beginner have a look at the Torque Engine, its a fairly basic engine, uses c++ and has its own quite simple scripting language

Being a games programmer myself, feel free to add me to msn or email me if you wanna talk more

Email in trust and msn is there too i think

what games have you worked on mate.

willthepirate · 29 May 2006 at 23:26

used darkbasic a little, made a space invaders rip-off

dark basic isnt too bad, has its own compiler and debugger

anything is a damn steep learning curve though

good luck man

Psyk · 30 May 2006 at 01:03

Saying you want to be a game designer is a bit general. What area do you want to focus in? I suggest you try and get involved with a mod team (although this can be almost as difficult as actually getting a job :rolleyes:

) as either a programmer, modeller or mapper. Not many people can successfully be a jack of all trades.

Freeman · 30 May 2006 at 02:49

Psyk said:
Saying you want to be a game designer is a bit general. What area do you want to focus in? I suggest you try and get involved with a mod team (although this can be almost as difficult as actually getting a job ) as either a programmer, modeller or mapper. Not many people can successfully be a jack of all trades.

Yes your right, but i'd like to start off with a little of everything, it probably sounds harder, but it will help me make my mind up on what kind of area i'd like to be in.

nintenjo · 30 May 2006 at 09:27

Psyk said:
Saying you want to be a game designer is a bit general. What area do you want to focus in? I suggest you try and get involved with a mod team (although this can be almost as difficult as actually getting a job ) as either a programmer, modeller or mapper. Not many people can successfully be a jack of all trades.

Infact being a jack of all trades is probably worse.. We have to turn away hundreds of applicants every week becuase they know littles bits of everything but arnt great in any of them. So i would serisouly try and specialise, and with next gen you can be even more specialised..

IE.. we have a new employee who mearly does multimap textures, ie all the scratches on the cars in burnout on the 360. So not the colour textures, just the worn effects for when you hit the walls.. Its very single minded work but if your good at it.. its very useful.

PinkFloyd · 30 May 2006 at 09:55

I'd personally go for Unreal Engine.
(honestly nothing to do with the fact I have been mapping for unreal 4 years)

The editor ships with the game(s) and is really easy to use. So thats level design covered.for the animaation/modelling you'l have to be using a 3d app like 3dsmax/maya. Unreal also is a great game to code for, it uses UnrealScript which is basicly C++ with a few things added. Quite easy to follow what is happening (although I'm no good at scripting)

Psyk · 30 May 2006 at 13:16

PinkFloyd said:
I'd personally go for Unreal Engine.
(honestly nothing to do with the fact I have been mapping for unreal 4 years)

The editor ships with the game(s) and is really easy to use. So thats level design covered.for the animaation/modelling you'l have to be using a 3d app like 3dsmax/maya. Unreal also is a great game to code for, it uses UnrealScript which is basicly C++ with a few things added. Quite easy to follow what is happening (although I'm no good at scripting)

That sounds like advice to follow. It'll give you a good opportunity to find out which parts you like the most. And imo UnrealScript is a good way to learn some important programming concepts if you decide to go down that route.

Freeman · 30 May 2006 at 14:07

PinkFloyd said:
I'd personally go for Unreal Engine.
(honestly nothing to do with the fact I have been mapping for unreal 4 years)

The editor ships with the game(s) and is really easy to use. So thats level design covered.for the animaation/modelling you'l have to be using a 3d app like 3dsmax/maya. Unreal also is a great game to code for, it uses UnrealScript which is basicly C++ with a few things added. Quite easy to follow what is happening (although I'm no good at scripting)

Thanks a lot, pretty much the answer i was looking for

Thanks peeps.

Lt. Manlove · 30 May 2006 at 19:46

The Source engine very good. Probably the best documentation I have ever seen.

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