Making Video Games

Raelian1

It's obvious that some people here likes playing video games. But are there people on this forum that like making video games. I'm currently learning how to make video games for the PC. Eventually I'm going to learn how to make games for console systems.

cobra2x

i wiss you luck. after 4 years i built a race game and the results are this www.go2x.go.ro . I have a long way to the nfs mw but what to do. i hope i'll make it to the way or at least to make my pocket money for else it was all in waine.

logos1

good luck.. seriously.

2 of the hardest aspects of making games are doing the actual graphics portion, and writing the algorithms for the computer.
graphics takes a lot of tedious work.. but it's fairly straight forward. the latter on the otherhand can become very difficult as the number of paths increase. especially when you want random behavior.

if you're not familiar with binary trees, minimum spanning trees, shortest path, or graph theory i suggest you either take a class or get a book on intro to algorithms.

YAYitsAndrew

You'll need a LOT more than data structures to make a game Some other stuff you'll need is good object oriented design skills, project management skills, and advanced topics like AI and networking if your game calls for those.

Don't even try until programming is second nature. That way you can spend your time on the architecture, which can be the hardest part. Building a game is like racing in the tour de france. You don't learn how to ride a bike while you're on the tour.

Art IS rough, especially if you can't do it yourself. Build the game using your own art, but make it replaceable that way you can show your game to the artist and say "look it's done, make it pretty". No artist is going to work for you if you start an email with "I'm creating a game making team..."

Chris Graham

Good luck! I used to write games myself (a few years back now) and it's tough going. YAYitsAndrew ('Andrew' I assume ) is bang on - you need to be a good programmer first. Too many people equate writing games as a general extension to playing them and being clever - maybe back in the 80's but not now.
Try something really simple first, and then build more complex stuff. Whatever you do, don't fly in with the intent to create something comparable to something created in the last 10 years, unless you have another 15 years to finish it! PacMan is a realistic difficult initial project.

Don't let me put you off though. If you like to learn, making computers 'come alive' can be very fulfilling indeed! I'll never forget when I wrote a virtual-world-based game and with AI and first saw the AI work. It's like creating life, it gives a real buzz.

kn00tcn

for a year or 2 now, i've had random urges to 'learn' directx or opengl (& do something interactive)...... but i get turned away by how hard it is... never fear though, taking a made game engine & adjusting it to fit your game sounds more promising (for me at least)

faster results, easier for help, & good tools are already made (like unrealed or sourcesdk)

making a mod for an unreal/quake/source game might also be good practice

(i'm aware of how old the thread is)