I have just stumbled into the whole game development thing a year or so ago, so if you can help me out thanks. I am trying to build a third person action/adventure game and have almost finished my game document. I realize that I need to create an engine, but I have no idea where to start. Since it is third person I know I will need to include many camera angles. If this interests anybody just try to lead me in the right direction for figuring my dilema out. Thanks

Geoffery,

One quick question: have you tried any game programming at all before? Not being rude, mind you but one of the biggest mistakes is tackling a huge project without any foundation to base it on. That said the basics of a game engine, in theory are pretty simple:

while (1) {
RenderScene();
UpdateAI();
GetUserInput();
}

Now, that''s greatly simplified of course but that simple loop spawns all the complexity of a game engine. I would suggest trying some simple games. Learn about how event driven programming works and become familiar with the tools and then give it a try.

Sieggy

You could also find the URL for the graphics engine list, evaluate some of the available engines, and use one to save yourself the work of having to code one. That would just leave Sieggy''s suggestion - a good one that I plan on using for dual purposes - learn game programming, and learn the graphics engine.

FYI:

graphics engine - a library written to interface between the program layer and the graphics hardware layer. The intent is to reduce the computer graphics programming overhead associated with most projects.

game engine - a library written to provide the tools required to write a computer game. A game engine usually includes IO, UI, graphics, sound, and sometimes network (multiplayer) libraries. Usually game engines leave the porgrammer enough room to write the logic, actions, data loaders/savers, custom events, and story into a game.

I might have missed something, but the above is my take on it.

Thanks, both of you. Yes, I have tried programming some games before. Thank you very much and neither of you were rude at all. Thanks again.

Geoffery, if you have no idea where to start on the engine, I can suggest all these things (if you havent already)
you should probably learn an API - such as DirectX or OpenGL (or components of both) If your engine is going to be 3D, then you might want to blast through all the math you will need to write such a beast. Apart from that, look through docs on gamedev.net and other such sites, they may help you out with some stuff. The basic loop Sieggy gave you is actually a good place to start if you want to test out some ideas and the like - but I wouldn''t write the entire game from that one start point - it would end up being a spaghetti mess. In addition, if you think you''ve nearly finished the design doc and you havent any idea where to start - then you havent finished the design doc
Thats just my opinion - I like to lay out the classes/methods/linkage before I start programming properly.

Just some friendly advice - good luck with your game.

-Mezz