I am completely new to programming and game creating, but I am very creative and do not mind the massive time requirements in making a game.

I am aiming to eventually create a 3d sci-fi RTS game for computer. I want to start out small though, and work my way up to a large project like that.

If anyone has suggestions on where to start, let me know, thanks.

--AntiBody --

I would advise you to start in 2D first. There are plenty of features to implement for a RTS. I myself have started couple of times to develop an RTS and always have come across something that made me quit.

Why not give a tower defense game a go? That's beginning to delve into the world of strategy without diving in the deep end :) I'm sure most of us aspire to make these sprawling 3D games but it's extremely time consuming and difficult unless you're a really experienced programmer. Even then..

But aye, that's what I recommend for 'starting small' - a simple tower defense game.

General steps I'd follow? Start with the gameplay - have static towers (that you hard-code in) at certain locations on the map. Perhaps for the enemies begin with an enemy that YOU control (with the arrow keys or such like). Test running said enemy into tower range and get the towers shooting correctly. Work on health next. Then progress onto pathing (grid-based A star is what I'd go with but something simpler may work). That's then the core foundation of your game - then you can worry about letting the player choose where their towers go, earning money from enemies, buying new towers etc. Just get the core of your game down first (forget about flash graphics or animations - keep it SIMPLE) and then you'll feel motivated to get the other bits and bobs done too.

Hope this helps!

With some great game engines out there I actually find 3D games easier to work with than 2D. Generally the game engine will give you easy functions to work with 3D, and general 3D art assets can be purchased/free around the web and I think is easier to deal with. I hate dealing with spritesheets for animation.

I think checking out something like Unity could be a good idea. Most 2D libraries won't already give you a game structure, which when starting out, can be a pain to figure out. I use Leadwerks. They support Lua which is a very easy language to learn for people new to programming. It also gives you a game structure, where you attach 1 lua file to an object that you put into the editor, that controls that object.

Leadwerks also requires almost no 3D math (vector/matrix/etc) (although you can if you like) as it's more entity based programming.

A list of game programming projects, in order... what you will learn from each and tips and links to help you along. Once you've gone through that list, you should be in pretty good shape.

A list of game programming projects, in order... what you will learn from each and tips and links to help you along. Once you've gone through that list, you should be in pretty good shape.

This is a good idea, start simple. In order to make a game there is allot of things you have to learn its easy to get overwhelmed. Until you have a good grasp of the basics I would not get into unity.

wow thanks for all the advice guys. Starting on a few small projects, little 2d tower defence games and stuff.

--edit--

I am getting a few friends together and starting a small development team for my final project, and am taking a programming class in high school.