First off, Happy New Years. It seems I have been away for some time. Infact I forgot I even had an account (registered in 07 apparently) let alone had 14 posts. Well, it is now (almost, give it 2:20) 2010 and I found myself here by chance. I have been interested in game programming for awhile. I have had several ideas, ranging from "simple" rpg's to ludicrous MMO's (in terms of resources needed/complexity of world/design) Sadly I have not advanced very far in my coding endeavors. I had gotten myself at one point to basic 2d graphics (picture moving with keys, laser effect) but sadly took a break and never came back. It seems I am mostly an ideas person, which is a problem, since teams don't need ideas, they need skills. Well, they say its good to make new years resolutions, and one of mine is to get back into coding. I am in the process of a forming a few concept's with a friend, though it is unknown if they will go anywhere. I do wish I could make games with only grand ideas, but alas, I also wish I had millions to spend on super computers, firearms, and junkfood. Neither appears to be the case. As stated, I do have some ideas, though from the looks of it I doubt people would be interested. Plus assuming someone was, my precious thought could be snatched from me and produced without my say (oh the horror). More likely I would be honored to have my idea stolen. I do have a question though (I am sure I will have more): Do any of you know a good online course for such a thing? I got a course awhile back from the Game Institute, but it required more self motivation then I had. I am looking for a course that is a little more structured. My other hope would be, barring such a course, that there is perhaps a group of users on here that consider themselves, like me, to be novices who wish to learn more perhaps with others. Maybe like a beginner coding club? I hope this post is in the right section, I did not see an intro forum (but I could be blind). I am crossing my fingers in hope that this post was not too long to read (I get the tl;dr response far more then I would like)

May I be so bold as to say follow these steps:

- Download steam
- Buy HL2
- Download the express version of C++
- Join their moding community

yus??? o.o

There's always the CryENGINE 2..... dunno better than working from scratch ?? for novice level..... Easy way to make your concepts a reality especially if you a game designer... -.-

Source is XSI ModTool supported and so is CryENGINE!

Quote: Original post by Buttacup
May I be so bold as to say follow these steps:

- Download steam
- Buy HL2
- Download the express version of C++
- Join their moding community

yus??? o.o

There's always the CryENGINE 2..... dunno better than working from scratch ?? for novice level..... Easy way to make your concepts a reality especially if you a game designer... -.-

Source is XSI ModTool supported and so is CryENGINE!

Well, steps 1-3 are done. Though I really don't have much interest in FPS games as far as designing/coding them. I enjoy playing them, but that are not something I can see myself wanting to make.

The games I have in mind with my friend, as well as one I have on my own, are going to require more then a few people even if I had the skills, as they are both large scale projects.

I am still interested in the idea I posted back in '07 on the forums (I think I was 15 then, 18 now). However my coding skills are not up to a point were I could offer a team, even my own, much.

So I think I just have to learn more. Maybe snab a copy of 3DSmax or Maya and try my hand at 3d modeling (I did once, long ago).

Another poster on this forum posted an idea I had thought of from a long time ago, involving letting users be bosses. This and a few other ideas have come up for me, making them is the problem.

I often have trouble seeing how "doing this" will lead to "that" (a good example is not being able to see how a consol program involving loops leads to a full game (old example))

I may take a peak at Cryengine but the game I have in mind that is reasonable (not involving the EA staff) would really only need to be 2d.

But thank you for the suggestions, maybe in the future I will look into modding, though I doubt it.

Game engines are versatile entities which you can mold into the platform you require. I used HL2 engine a few years ago to do a third person game. I soloed the project in a few months time..... student project for 'Game Design'... Unreal Tournament III is a good moding engine too from what I hear. I had used UT2004 for some level stuff... There are a lot of examples out there of all three used for mods yus... o.o

clicky on Roz: New Mexico

XSI ModTool is free but has limitations.... full versions of Max, Maya or XSI are pretty expensive.