Dear Beginner's Forum,

I have a game in mind for development and no idea where to start. I have no coding experience but I have a pretty clear vision for what I want.

I want to create an old-timey lawyer simulator set a couple hundred years ago. It would be pretty GUI, menu-driven, very little to no animation. Basically I'd like for it to run like Crusader Kings 2, with a sped-up clock and various notifications to deal with. I want to have lots of characters with portraits and dynamic traits affected by the events in the game.

Like I said, I'm new to coding. I have a guide to C# I've tried reading through and I think I'm grasping some of the concepts but I'm not sure how to translate that knowledge and my vision through a game engine.

Any help on getting me started in some program where I can create menus and buttons to affect values would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Kommissar,

Does the book you are referring to talk specifically about how to create menus and buttons? Does it show you how to install a development environment and start programming?

I am asking this because c# is just a language and so a book about it does not necessarily explain how to do what you want to do.

Generally speaking, if you want to learn programming, reading a book and grasping the concepts is not enough. You have to sit in front of the computer and write some programs, understand them and change them until you have learnt to the level that you need.

My advice is to google up some tutorials ( there should be many about c# ), find a ( probably free ) development environment for your computer, install it and just get started.

The way it can work is that if you do not understand a specific bit of code you may look somewhere else or ask in a forum for an explanation.

I like the idea of the Lawyer simulator by the way.

Bear in mind that it may take a while to program it, especially if you are a beginner.

Another option is that you focus on the game design and team with a programmer to build it.

Good luck ?

Thank you,

I've installed Visual Studio and I'm playing around with it. Seems like with this and Godot I can create menus and buttons but I still feel very much in the dark as to how to code the controls so they affect things.

Do you know where people go to arrange collaborations?

You can post your project under Careers->Hobby Projects but without some progress to show might be hard to get people in on the project.

If you want to learn Godot you could try making some simple games that have well defined rules and mechanics but are still GUI involved. For example you could start with tic tac toe, then move up to a simple card game, maybe checkers. It REALLY helps to get a few simple games done in the tool of choice as practice.

I personally went for the big project, then had to put it on hold and do smaller games after running in to road block after road block. When you don't know how to do something, you're more willing to think less and just try things when the project isn't your precious project. It also takes a lot less time to implement things and get results, which keeps morale high.

This is true if you use Godot or Unity or whatever else game engine.