I know there is a "for beginners section"...but, I'm new, and terms are new so just a few questions. 1.) What programming language is BEST for game design? 2.) Where do I start? What codes should I learn first? Basics? What about tutorials? 3.) Where can I find a good Game Design Engine to make it a little easier to start off? I found one that claimed it was 'easy', but I can't figure it out (it's called A6...) Would appreciate it. Thanks in advance. [edited by - dzman2k2 on June 13, 2003 10:10:26 PM]

did you actually look through the "for beginners" section? it should answer the first two questions within the first three links or so...

engines are pre-made parts of programs, so you don''t have to program them from scratch (for example, a graphics engine would handle all of the 3D graphics stuff, and a physics engine would handle the game''s physics)... but it is better to answer those first two questions, and pick up some programming experience before you start playing with premade engines.

1. Game designers don''t really work within any particular programming language unless they also do programming, since the tasks are seperated on pretty much all modern teams but the smallest. It''s generally enough to have some experience programming anything at all, so that you know what a programmer does and how to make his tasks managable. The language commonly used for programming game engines is C++, but nowadays higher-level languages(Lua, Python, maybe a C-like language tailored for the game) are often being used to script the game code seperately from the engine code. For a really good understanding of what progamming *limitations* are, you can try programming games for non-cutting edge hardware like TI-BASIC on the z80-based TI graphing calculators - TI-82 thru TI-86.

As a game designer it''s best to know as many different things as possible, including programming languages, even if you only know them at a basic level. But knowing any at all will probably serve you well enough.

2. You have many, many options. First decide if what you want to do immediately is learn the programming or to jump in with a toolkit. If you learn the programming you''ll have to read the basic generalized tutorials on your language and practice the exercises to get anywhere, and from there you''ll have to either find libraries to handle the hardware needs of a game(easier, if the library works properly) or learn exactly how the hardware interface for your platform works and code your own library(harder, but total control is assured). If you use a toolkit you''ll still have to learn your way around it, but you will be able to skip almost directly to the process of putting together resources(art, sound, etc.) and game code together to finish your design.

3. I haven''t tried 3D GameStudio / A6, so I can''t comment on that. But there are PLENTY of free options as you can see here:

http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html

My experiences for the easiest programs on that list:

Megazeux (Generic 2d but text-for-graphics and with built-in quirks - also try ZZT for the minimalist game design experience. Both very good prototyping grounds.)
Game Maker (Generic, 2d graphics, very powerful with practice)
ADRIFT (Interactive Fiction)
Adventure Game Studio (Graphic Adventures)
RPG Toolkit (RPGs, I never liked it but opinions vary)
RPGmaker 95/2k/whatever (RPGs, easy to start with but design choices are quite limited, also meant for use in Japan and translated to English)

There are some others but those are my top picks.

Unless you want to really learn how to program (you sound like you dont) then look at RPG Maker. If you want to make your own game... then you''re gonna have to learn how to program. Its a long road, but there are resources to help get you started. Click on "For Beginners" at the top of the page, under resources.

I wouldn't try to prototype your game using a creation toolkit of the sort RTF listed; it requires a lot of wasted effort that can't be reused. I also would recommend against the ASCII RPG Makers for a complete game, mostly because better (and fully legal) imitations have sprung up in recent years

* ASCII the game company, not ASCII the text encoding standard.

[edited by - Sakuranbo on June 14, 2003 1:58:44 AM]