Developing games, mac or pc?

mediamatt · 16 Nov 2015 at 14:24

Hi,

My son, who is homeschooled, is wanting to learn programming. He is about to learn python (a free course so thought why not). He loves gaming and has shown interest in developing games. My questions is, what do game developers use? Pc or mac? I would prefer him to use mac as we are on mac but if pc is the dominant platform to code on then I would do that.

Any help appreciated

Matt

jsmoke · 16 Nov 2015 at 16:57

PC/Windows is more popular. You can download an engine like Unity or Unreal to make games, plenty of scripting code to be written in them, writing games is pretty complicated, what type of games, 2D/3D, PC, mobile, web etc?

DodgeeRascal · 16 Nov 2015 at 17:39

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/begin-programming

this might be of interest to you. i've not done the course, just had it favourited for a while.

Iron-man · 16 Nov 2015 at 18:45

DodgeeRascal said:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/begin-programming

this might be of interest to you. i've not done the course, just had it favourited for a while.

Quite an interesting link there, I don't know nothing about programming etc but seems like maybe worth a look

mid_gen · 16 Nov 2015 at 19:06

If he's really serious and gets into it for a career path then he wants to be working in C++ and Visual Studio. It can be a bit daunting for beginners, but if he can crack on with UnrealEngine and learn C++ he'll be well set.

If he's just testing the waters and he has a Mac already then he can see how he gets on in Unity which has pretty reasonable OSX editor support now.

Game programming is *hard* though....I'd suggest getting a solid grounding in OO coding before diving into games as it could easily put him off going in at the deep end.

Chaos · 16 Nov 2015 at 20:44

If hes using Python get him to check out these free books -

https://inventwithpython.com/

They use python and pygame which will work on either OS.

Scotty123 · 16 Nov 2015 at 23:03

Well it's only dominant as people like to use directX and what it brings (direct3D etc). You can code games for mac and they will work on windows and linux too if using cross-platform libraries, e.g. openGL for graphics.

Python has an openGL library - PyOpenGL. C++ is the choice for games due to its speed, but for a start python and the needed libraries would be okay.

Although graphics isn't for the faint-hearted, even 2D. There's some maths, e.g. vectors and matrices involved, although there's things out there that make it easier. Above poster says pygame being an example of that I think (I had a quick google of it to see what it did).

From a learning point of view however, I think it is better to skip Unity/UE and learn what is going on behind the scenes. Sure they are nice, but it's good to have an appreciation and understanding instead of black-boxing it. Helps in the long run too when someone does move to a pre-made engine.

Also thank you above poster for that link, those books look interesting. I've started python recently for a new job and wouldn't mind a read of those to see the game stuff as a curiosity

.

mid_gen · 17 Nov 2015 at 07:32

Scotty123 said:
Well it's only dominant as people like to use directX and what it brings (direct3D etc). You can code games for mac and they will work on windows and linux too if using cross-platform libraries, e.g. openGL for graphics.

Windows/VS C++ is the industry standard for AAA game development, not just for Windows/DirectX development, PS4/XB1 as well. You'll need C++ and good VS debugging skills if you're going that route career-wise.

I agree learning what is going on under the hood is important....but if this is his first exposure to programming, going into the guts of a 3D engine is going to be way over his head.

I would do a basic Python course first just to get into the swing of coding easily.....then tick off the most critical part of coding, data structures and algorithms, C++ is good for learning this as it doesn't hide any of the complexity, write some string containers, linked lists, b-trees and stuff.

Then take a look at a game engine, I would recommend UnrealEngine as you'll be working in the de facto industry standard language (C++), and you get full access to the entire source code. Tinker with it, make some prototypes, try out blueprints, have fun.

mediamatt · 17 Nov 2015 at 08:41

Thanks a lot for all the advice. He is nearly 11 now but very bright and very interested in technology and coding. I'm going to build him a pc and he can learn python first. Then if he wants to he can go the c++ route.

I might even have a go myself

Matt

Biz.Kid09 · 18 Nov 2015 at 23:22

Currently doing Python myself on CodeAcademy, really nice site and I feel that I am learning!

Learning along side him will be great! I would definitely go for it!

hargi · 19 Nov 2015 at 08:14

I'm guessing you know this already, but if he's brand new to programming spend a week on scratch from MIT . You could knock up a quick game in that fast and introduce some basic concepts.

Tax Evader · 19 Nov 2015 at 18:57

Sorry, would love to help but I can only approach this from an 80s point of view