Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forums, and so I'm not quite sure of the rules or anything but I want some suggestions for a game i'm planning to make!

I'm completely new to game development or coding even, but I'm ready to learn and I've got a lot of time to spend.

I'm thinking about developing a 2.5D (Isometric) Turn based strategy, mostly focusing on a good storyline and many different types of units. Quality for an android phone or iphone. I'm not sure as to where to start at all!

I was thinking about using unity but not quite sure what kind of tools and skillset i'd require

Can anyone please guide me? Thanks.

This is a tall order, due to the type of game (2.5d turn based strategy) and wanting to make it for one of the most difficult to make for platforms (android phone or iphone).

Your options in game making tools are:

Unity (will probably be highly recommended here)

Game Maker Studio (best for 2D games)

Scirra Construct 2 (best for 2D games)

JavaScript (a language used for making mobile games)

etc.

The kind of game I recommend you start with:

Arcade

Platformer

Thanks for the reply!

I knew I was getting ahead of myself, but regardless I should start with easier projects for learning's sake.

I've done the courses for javascript on Codeacademy and learned afew things guess I'll put it to use!

I do want to make more complex games in the future though, are there any good books for learning that might help in strategy 2.5d games.

I'd actually advise against 2.5d, it's kind of a pain to wrap your head around, especially when you are just beginning and trying to learn everything else as well. (unless you're doing actual 3D, and just have a camera set an an isometric angle -- though 3d can be confusing if you don't have a strong 3d math background)

By 2.5D I was sort of referring to the angle, as in some games like final fantasy tactics and it's types of strategy games. 2D sprites and artwork and everything but just the angle of gameplay of the map from there. Is that a hard thing to learn? Any help on this is appreciated.

Sorry if I caused any confusion.

If you're really just starting out coding (and because you said you're ready to learn coding ), I'd recommend writing a text-based adventure game. I'm not kidding, it's simple but it will introduce the basic system of a game (and programming in general) such as gameloop and input handling.

Isometric? 3D? Sprites? No, do not try graphics programming yet, because you're just starting out (you don't want to confuse yourself and then end up copy-pasting someone else's code without even knowing what that code means, really). Rock-paper-scissors game are also a good starting point. Just pick a programming language of your choice. Then someday when you're ready to write 2D games, try cloning Tic-Tac-Toe, Arkanoid or Tetris.

It will be a long journey, but worth it.

But if you prefer ready-to-use game making tools (Unity, GameMaker, or maybe RPGMaker), that's also a good way to build games. You can prototype your games easier, and faster, and also they had a wealthy set of assets available. Mainly drags and drops, but still, they use scripts for more advanced features. Yep, code scripts.

I am not a fan of starting with text based games ... they deal with weird comparisons and you are likely to end up with weird switch statements or nested ifs.

Especially if you use a language (JavaScript) or even engine (Unity) that is more appropriate for graphical programs, then having to deal with rendering text gets really ugly.

IMO the better idea is doing some of the Google Code Jam challenges. You are forced to learn to think like a programmer and you will be able to apply that way of thinking to making games later.

To decide if ISO is too complex to implement or not you can look at the tutorials that are listed there:

http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?topic=22023.0

Converting Cartesian coords to ISO coords and figuring out which ISO tile the mouse is hovering over, those are not quite trivial ... but doable.

By 2.5D I was sort of referring to the angle, as in some games like final fantasy tactics and it's types of strategy games. 2D sprites and artwork and everything but just the angle of gameplay of the map from there. Is that a hard thing to learn? Any help on this is appreciated.

Sorry if I caused any confusion.

As @DareDeveloper said, the 2.5d stuff is hard as a beginner because certain calculations are just a much bigger pain than in flat 2D. It's not impossible, it's just a stumbling block that I caution against if everything is new to you. Check his links and see though, maybe with some nice tutorials/explanations it won't be so bad.

And I agree, I wouldn't recommend text games, you'll end up doing way too much text specific code, either silly amounts of string comparison and manipulation, or hunting for the perfect ascii character to represent your monster, etc.

Hi,

You need to choose a language, maybe a game engine later down the road, and make 3-5 simple single player console application type games (Not to be confused with console video games, a console application only uses the basic drivers and graphics API of your computer - the bare minimum - to display the game on the screen. Examples are Tic-Tac-Toe, Crossword Puzzle, Pong, and so forth.

After you make and finish 3-5 nicely done games, then return here for more help in going to the next level.