Hello there!

I'm new around here and I was directed to this forum to write my first post.

I'm kinda looking for help, you see.

I'm a student, on my second (and last year) of app development, on my first year I did mostly Java (NetBeans) and some C#(MS Visual Studio), as well as mark-up languages (XML, XPath, XQuery...). And this year I'm doing a bit of C, mostly threads and processes as well as developing for Android (Eclipse, and moving to Android Studio).

Java the most I've done is interfaces that connect to databases and work with them, such as using "result sets" or calling database functions or procedures. In C#, similar but without functions and procedures.

So far so good, right?

Well the thing is I want to get into game development and I have an idea or two, but although I know a bit about programming I've never made a game, so I'm not sure where to start. And that's why I'm here!

I'd like to start with something like a Grand Strategy game, but anything that gets me into knowing how a game works inside would be fine.

So, can anyone help me as to where start?

Thank you for your time~

EDIT: Since threads are not supposed to go off topic I think it would be wise if I updated this thread as I make progress or have doubts on my first steps into making a game, before I get into more complicated stuff.

Welcome!

Have you read the FAQ on the right? I know its easy to miss, but its got lots of valuable information for people just getting started.

I have two recommendations for you:
1) keep your first games SUPER simple. For a complete beginner, making a game like pong would be quite challenging but also a good introduction to making games. To accomplish that task, you have to understand the game loop, how to handle user input, how to display scores, how to trigger victory and loss conditions, how to write AI and where that fits in, how to move things on the screen in real time, etc. You can even accomplish this with a black background and white rectangles, no need for graphics yet.

2) The best resource for getting started is a solid book on beginning game programming. I recommend something on C# with XNA (ignore that its deprecated). Sure, books cost money, but who cares? You get super high quality content which has been vetted and compiled into a coherent series of chapters. Its rare to get that by reading online articles. If you really resist buying a good book, the second best starting place is probably over on Riemers XNA tutorials. He also publishes a book, which is probably better than his online articles.

Again, start super simple and buy a book. Every great project has humble beginnings. The first step is always to get something to show up on the screen. Good luck!

Since you have already learned the basics of the language, I suggest jumping in and making a simple clone-game (Tetris), and then making a small custom game using one of your game ideas. Alternatively, making a basic "prototype" of your game idea, with the bare minimum of features and without much focus on graphics, with the intention that after three months you'll scrap it and rebuild it from scratch even better with more features and more polish using what you've already learned.

Well first off thanks for the replies!

Yeah I read the FAQ

So far I've gathered this...

1. Make a clone game to get to know the basics of how a game works (Game loop and such)

2. Stay away from graphics (Already had this in mind but it's nice to have a confirmation )

3. C# is good for starting to program games

4. XNA is good still (Works well with point 3)

5. After the clone, make a game prototype of the kind of game I want to make

About game vs game engine, for some reason this sounds really like when you write something, but later decide to write a class for it. Wouldn't I have to know how to make a game before I make an engine for it? Kinda takes me to point 1, then point 5, and later scrap the prototype and writing an engine to rebuild the game.

Did I get it right?

Well first off thanks for the replies!

Yeah I read the FAQ

So far I've gathered this...

1. Make a clone game to get to know the basics of how a game works (Game loop and such)

2. Stay away from graphics (Already had this in mind but it's nice to have a confirmation )

3. C# is good for starting to program games

4. XNA is good still (Works well with point 3)

5. After the clone, make a game prototype of the kind of game I want to make

About game vs game engine, for some reason this sounds really like when you write something, but later decide to write a class for it. Wouldn't I have to know how to make a game before I make an engine for it? Kinda takes me to point 1, then point 5, and later scrap the prototype and writing an engine to rebuild the game.

Did I get it right?

1. Yes.

2. At least in the beginning.

3. It's your choice — altough it's recommended to use C++ over C#.

4. For a game, these kind of libraries it's your choice.

5. Yeah, making a simple game before making a game engine helps a lot to get the basics.

Through the learning process, deciding if you want to keep making games or engines is just a question of how much are you comfortable with it. You'd need a good background of all modules that make a game engine (graphics, sound, physics, etc.).

That was my first game:

...after 1 year I did that:

...after 1.5 years I did that:

...and now I'm working in my 3D next-gen game engine — just to tell how much we can make progress as we go .

Alright, I set up XNA and got Visual Studio 2010 up and running, and could create a new XNA project, it even makes a graphic window with a blue background.

I guess I'll go ahead and read the autogenerated code and check out how to get an imagine into the screen and move it

i suggest following a book or tutorials, i think xna is super easy i mean basically you need to know 2 3 more things to play all your game on screen, rest is just optional/advanced

if i may i suggest james silva book "building XNA games" i read when i already was making things on xna and offered much more on many aspect of building a game, also many stuff that are needed even in advanced enviroment, like an editor, a quite complex 2d animation etc it was relly powerful, even more if you plan on a 2d game like a platform or something

Just followed this tutorial-ish from microsoft: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb203893.aspx#ID4EBF

It's interesting, teaches you how to draw your graphics on screen and makes the graphics bounce, I'm gonna make the program respond to user input and move around. I guess the next step would be to add walls or something and detect collision but I get the feeling that will be much harder haha.

EDIT: Actually nevermind that, I'll try to make a ball move and bounce off the character sprite, like pong, as suggested before :D

I guess the next step would be to add walls or something and detect collision but I get the feeling that will be much harder haha.