I have recently bought Tricks Of The Windows Game Programming Gurus and I think that is a very good book for creating 2D games. The only tools that I use is Microsoft Visual C++ and windows paint program and they’re all that I need right now. But I am curious` what tools game development companies (like Lionhead Studios, id software, Firaxis, blizzard Entertainment etc) use? For example: What programming tools, graphics packages for 2D and 3D graphics and animation, website development tools they use? What equipment they need? (like PCs, network, sound consoles etc) What space they need for creating games? (for example a big building or just a small area) This is very useful information for me because maybe in the future create (or join) an offline or online game development company. I know that a lot of people laughing right now but in the future you never know. (I should get first that bank loan) But I think that is very useful information anyway. You don’t have to answer all the questions or you can also tell me where I can find an article for my questions. Thanks

"What programming tools, graphics packages for 2D and 3D graphics and animation,
website development tools they use?
What equipment they need? (like PCs, network, sound consoles etc)"

check out the postmortems over at www.gamasutra.com they''ve usually got these details at the end, and have a postmortem of Black and White and a few other ''big'' games, that should give you a good idea of what the pro''s use.

"What space they need for creating games? (for example a big building or just a small area) "

really depends on the company, i''ve seend companies in anything from a small office space in a shared building to a 6 person team in a big empty warehouse...

3D Studio Max, Visual C++, Photoshop, SoundForge, and Cakewalk are the most common in each of their respective fields.

Black and White by LionHead was definetly made in VC++ because when it crashes you get a little VC++6 assertion error messagebox

What programming tools,
Visual C++ for pc''s, Metrowerks & gcc for Consoles.

graphics packages for 2D and 3D graphics and animation,
Photoshop, Maya, Softimage & max.

website development tools they use?
Frontpage

What equipment they need? (like PCs, network, sound consoles etc)
Depends on the size of the company. Pc''s & network cards are a good place to start.

What space they need for creating games? (for example a big building or just a small area)
Depends on how many pepole. Games use to be created in garages

Thank you guys! Your info has been very helpful.
The postmortems at gamasutra is a great idea but I can’t
log in their website (I should contact their webmaster)
And m_w_noname they only use FrontPage?
I think that Dreamweaver is a very powerful tool that helps you
create cool and flashy websites. (BTW the new Lionhead website rocks!)



Edited by - Mephisto on March 3, 2002 10:13:28 AM

hey,
have you figured out how to get the first demo to work yet?
The dx sdk that came on the CD doesn''t have most of the files he says to include (i.e. dmusic.lib) ....what am I doing wrong with that?
Also, that may not be the problem for it not working. I heard somewhere that LPDIRECTDRAW4 needed to be LPDIRECTDRAW, it doens''t work either way. I still get:
c:\source\t3dchap01\blackbox.h(34) : error C2146: syntax error : missing '';'' before identifier ''lpdd''
c:\source\t3dchap01\blackbox.h(34) : fatal error C1004: unexpected end of file found
freakout.cpp
c:\source\t3dchap01\blackbox.h(34) : error C2146: syntax error : missing '';'' before identifier ''lpdd''
c:\source\t3dchap01\blackbox.h(34) : fatal error C1004: unexpected end of file found

Any help, guys?

The Light shine on you

The company I work for develops for the PS2, XBox, and Gamecube. Although I don''t know every tool that we use, here''s the ones I''m aware of.

Compiler: Visual C++, Codewarrior

Modeling/Animation: 3D Studio MAX, Maya, Animation Master

Music: Cakewalk, SoundForge

Equipment: Fairly high-end PCs, especially in the memory department; development kits for each of the consoles; several of each of the consoles for testing purposes.

Space: We use up a lot of space. With 80 employees, we take up two floors of a normal-sized office building. Most people have their own office (mine''s 8x12, some are a little bigger). Personally, I think we make poor use of space, though.

quote: Original post by m_w_noname
website development tools they use?
Frontpage

I don''t work for a company or nothing but i much doubt the use of frontpage for a website in most companies.