Hi, I'm Dave. I'm new, like the student who shows up in art class and has never picked up a pencil to so much as doodle new. I am strange. I have a lot of ideas that I can visualize and no way of actually creating them which is why I am here. I am not here to be the next Fortnite, nor do I plan on making money from this platform. I am trying to discover something new about myself. Also I have this crazy idea of designing games as a working concept for Engineering principles at play to teach myself and others how engineers brains work. I am not an engineer its just a concept. I'd like to use the video game medium as a learning experience and a way to make ideas come to life. Now considering nothing in this world is new, I was curious if this type of thing had ever been done before? Maybe a point of reference, since I have none. Anyway, thank you for your time.

Hi, Dave. You posted your beginner question in an advanced forum, so I've moved it to the beginners forum. You didn't say what you want to teach yourself. Making games is not just programming, it's also art and sound and writing and design, and more. Assuming you want to learn how to make games by yourself, you should start with tutorials for easy tools. A thing most people start with is GameMaker from Yoyo Games. https://www.yoyogames.com/get​ - there are tutorials, and that's where I recommend you start.

There is C++ and OpenGL to learn – OpenGL is literally a drawing API for rendering triangle meshes, line meshes, and point clouds. They call them shaders, because you use them to shade the graphics pixel by pixel. I am not a beginner, but more like intermediate in skill. It's better than pencils IMHO, although the learning curve's a pain.

If you have any specific questions about C++ and OpenGL, this is the place to ask.

CyberWulf56 said:

… I have this crazy idea of designing games as a working concept for Engineering principles at play to teach myself and others how engineers brains work.

Hi Dave! What would you like those games to look like, and what do you mean by designing them as working concepts for Engineering principles? Which engineering principles will you be involving, and what kind of gameplay do you envision being based on it?

@supervga Well, I've seen a lot of games with a similar concept like bridge builder and minecraft, but I'd like to work on a game that is fun but teaches about engineering the way a class would and every boss level would be like a test that combines all that you learned the past few levels.

That's my grand scheme project however. I'm hoping to work on some smaller games as stepping stones for that. I have a few ideas for what I wanna make and was looking for resources on where to start. However, you guys have given me some great ideas so thank you. I have my start line, now I just need to run the race.

CyberWulf56 said:

@supervga Well, I've seen a lot of games with a similar concept like bridge builder and minecraft, but I'd like to work on a game that is fun but teaches about engineering the way a class would and every boss level would be like a test that combines all that you learned the past few levels.

That's my grand scheme project however. I'm hoping to work on some smaller games as stepping stones for that. I have a few ideas for what I wanna make and was looking for resources on where to start. However, you guys have given me some great ideas so thank you. I have my start line, now I just need to run the race.

Ahh - so construction in particular! How about making a tile-based builder of sorts? It could be turn-based, and you'd be able to apply any mechanics resembling the ones you want to flesh out? You could always go real time and off the (tile)grid later.

Yeah that might work. Like a Competition style where the tutorial teaches you how to build and then each level pits you against the computer for who can make the device the fastest. Bonus points for a better design,