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I have no programming experience at all. I've always wanting to know how to program games and have some fun with it. I started with Corona SDK because I heard it was really simple (and it was very simple), but I decided against continuing in it (I had only programmed a character to jump until I realized --> ) because I realized that when I advance in it, I am going to end up having to pay for it.
In my search for a new cross-platform sdk to learn (since I don't have time, like most people, to learn and program 15 different apps in 15 different native languages), I found Moai SDK. I was turned away from Moai since its target audience are people with prior programming experience.
Later, I found Adobe Gaming SDK. Although I doubt it is in any way as simple to pick up as Corona's Lua, if I figured if I have to learn something knew, I may as well learn something new that is as established as Adobe and their gaming SDK.
I have a few questions though...
1) What language does Adobe Gaming SDK use? (Pretty sure it is Action Script 3, but I do not know much about that either.)
2) Just how cross-platform is it? (Which devices?)
3) Where do I start!
4) Is it free?
#3 is the most important question for me since I don't have any programming experience, but I am willing to learn on my own. Honestly, I only want to learn how to program (2D) games; therefore, is there a source you can direct me to in order for me to learn from scratch and just gaming.
Any and all help is greatly appreciate!
P.S. If you have any other SDK or something that you think could suit me please help. Also, I am a cheap person, so i would prefer for resources to be free as well. Also, please check back if you answered my question because I sometimes forget a question or will have a follow question since I am a major novice.
THANKS!
1) What language does Adobe Gaming SDK use? (Pretty sure it is Action
Script 3, but I do not know much about that either.)
Yeah, it's ActionScript3. You can also code in C/C++ using CrossBridge.
2) Just how cross-platform is it? (Which devices?)
Using Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR, for short), you can make your game available to several devices running iOS, Android and Windows, as long as they have the minimum requirements to run AIR.
Your game will also run on any browser with the Flash plugin, which includes Linux, Mac and Windows.
3) Where do I start!
There are plenty of materials about game development in Flash/Actionscript3, but I would recommend you to learn about a game engine first. It will make your life easier and will help you make a game faster (which will boost your motivation).
Two famous Flash game engines are Flixel and Starling. Start by checking these GamedevTuts+ guides: how to learn Flixel and how to learn Starling (there is an article about how to learn Flash/AS3 too).
4) Is it free?
Yes, all the tools you will need are free.
As a general advice, I would recommend you to take a look at GamedevTuts+. It has several resources about game development, from simple concepts to more advanced things. You will find articles for people with no programming experience at all. It's a great place to start as a novice game developer.
As a second advice, you could also use Phaser to create your games. It's an easy to learn HTML5 game engine, it doesn't require several tools to develop with (all you need is a code editor and a web server) and your game will run on any modern browser.
I'm a newbie to web development (although I have built basic sites long ago using HTML, CSS, hacked various CMS's etc) and was wondering what language and associated framework is best to go with for a data driven web service with a dynamic UI (i.e. AJAX-ey effects) which I hope will scale at some stage in the future. I am fairly proficient in iOS development so am comfortable with Object Orientated development and the Model View Controller paradigm. Any advice and/or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Don't learn a language by learning a framework. Do basic non-framework programming in your language of choice first. THEN jump into the framework. Otherwise you're laboring under the double burden of unfamiliar language AND unfamiliar environment.
Basically, learn to drive first, THEN pimp out your ride.
If you're familiar with the Cocoa libraries, you might consider using Sproutcore which has a design that is highly informed by Cocoa. It also has the added bonus of being rather forward looking (aka: the new hotness) and is at the point of becoming a serious tool (ie: Apple uses it for mobile.me ) but still new enough that it is under active development by excited, passionate and skilled developers.
Also, as an aside to everyone advocating learning the basics. For many of us, the best way to learn something well is to have a real project and learn by building. Sproutcore seems like a good option for someone familiar with iOS development.
The easiest framework in my opinion is CodeIgniter and the docs are fantastic but this is really a subjective question.
I agree with #Marc B, first master your language, then you could start using a framework.
as a language the two obvious choices are either asp.net, or php, both have their advantages and disadvantages... you have some reading to do, a simple google search will provide you with plenty of info. there is no one size fits all in this department. look at some code examples, see what you feel comfortable about.
This question is directed to anyone out there that is just starting in hobby game development. The first thing that comes to ones mind is:
Which language/framework should I use?
List of solutions:
Adobe Flash -> done
Allegro
Apocalyx
Blender Game Engine
Blitz3D
Devkit Pro
Game Maker
Gosu
IndieLib
jMonkey Engine -> done
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft XNA -> done
Multimedia Fusion / Games Factory
OGRE -> done
pygame -> done
pyglet -> done
RubygGame
SDL -> done
SFML
Torque 3D
Unity 3D
Custom -> done
Answer template:
Framework Name (Linked)
Pros:
Pro1
Pro2
...
Cons:
Con1
Con2
...
Microsoft XNA Game Studio
Pros:
Uses .NET languages; managed memory, ease of the Visual Studio environment, etc.
Good mix of high-level and low-level
Supports both 2D and 3D very well
Is proven; look at the Xbox Live Arcade, all of those games are made with XNA
Games can be easily run on a networked Xbox
Cons:
Uses .NET languages; can't use Java, C++, etc.
Not too many resources (i.e. books) out yet, though it is easy to learn and use so that may not be an issue
Windows-only. Mono (on Linux) doesn't support XNA at all.
XNA 3.0 was released less than a year after 2.0, and now we're at 3.1; frequent changes like these can hinder documentation, i.e. books get outdated quickly and many things break when upgrading a 2.0 game to a 3.0 game.
As of 2014, discontinued.
If you have the time, do it all yourself. It's worth the experience and you'll learn a lot, instead of how to work with framework X . ;^)
Pros
Full Control
Strong Learning Experience
Consistent code between game engine and program
Tends to be well-suited towards the application it is applied towards.
Supports any language/environment
Cons
High difficulty
No online documentation
Generally, less generic. Harder to apply to other games.
Harder for other people to use.
Probably buggier than more popular frameworks.
Not well-tested.
Harder to get help.
jMonkeyEngine
Pros
Uses Java; managed memory, highly supported in many mature IDE's (Eclipse, NetBeans, etc.), highly portable
Good mix and high-level and low-level
Modern 3D scenegraph
Built atop LWJGL, a very mature and well-working game library
Very lightweight; doesn't add very much overhead
Built in 3D model loading in a variety of formats.
Built in modern node-based 3D scenegraph.
Easy to use.
Open source; constantly evolving and improving.
Includes culling, collision checking, etc.
Has the option to save and read its own ultra-compact, ultra-fast binary model format.
Full list.
Cons
Uses Java, so compiles JIT and can therefore be a bit slower than C++ and other options.
Hasn't been used in many commercial apps (and therefore not as "proven").
Has no attached editor of any kind, everything must be done in pure code.
Difficult to do 2D games (for that you could try Slick).
pygame
Pros:
Easy to get started and create something visible.
Cross-platform.
Lots of open source games available to inspect the source.
Python language's pros (flexibility, dynamic typing, strings/arrays/tuples, etc.).
Cons:
Performance-wise does not scale to very large games (which hobby game development rarely is).
Mostly suited for 2D, although 3D is possible.
Difficult to distribute as closed source.
Also SDL could be inserted as pros and/or cons.
OGRE (Object-Oriented Graphics Engine)
Pros:
Tons of 3D features
Cross-platform, uses DirectX or OpenGL
Plugin architecture for even more features
Does not try to be an everything-engine, only a graphics engine (doesn't even try to handle input, as many graphics libraries tend to do)
Cons:
Uses the Singleton pattern
Very hard to do 2D or primitive rendering (individual polygons, lines, etc)
Tons of code makes the learning curve quite steep
pyglet
Pros:
Low difficulty
Cross-platform
OpenGL accelerated graphics by default
Further OpenGL graphical enhancements easy to add
Python language
Cons:
Less well-known than pygame
Game 'loop' is a bit unconventional
OpenGL knowledge required for advanced graphics and to maximise performance
SDL
Pros
SDL officially supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android
It is used by video playback software, emulators, and popular games including Valve's award winning catalog and many Humble Bundle games.
Open source
SDL is written in C, works natively with C++, and there are bindings available for several other languages, including C# and Python.
Cons
No special IDE like Unity
A bit low-level
The pros of any framework (gaming, web, etc.) is that they remove the unnecessary boilerplate code you'd have to normally write.
The cons often come up later on, once you want to go beyond the capabilities of the framework it can become very difficult. With many of the more complex frameworks, extending their functionality to make it do something it wasn't designed to will results in you having to write a lot of your own boilerplate code.
just starting in hobby game development
You should program a few games before attempting your own framework, otherwise you don't know what to put in it and how to write it. You'll end up endlessly rewriting it to "get it right", when really there are lots of good (and bad) ways of doing it, depending on what it is used for.
"Frameworks" can also be a pain, as they offer a partial solution to a problem. E.g. you just extend a few classes and boom, you have a game. But if your game doesn't suit the framework design you just end up fighting with it and hacking it. The "toolbox" approach tends to be a better approach as it just supplied functionality without forcing you too much into how you should use it. E.g. the standard C libraries are are toolbox and don't force you to structure your code in a certain way.
To start off with you have to ask yourself:
what sort of games you'd like to write.
what you'd like to develop for?
Web browser?
Facebook?
PC?
PC and Mac? i.e. cross platform
Console?
iPhone and iPad?
which language you'd like to use (but this may be set by the platform you chose)
The learning curve for writing games can be quite steep as you might have to learn:
how to program in a new language
how a new API works
how to do the graphics and sound
how to debug it
perhaps how to hook it into other system
Don't be put off it this sounds like a lot of work! The key to writing good games is sticking it out and having the determination to carry on and finish. Have you seen the film, Indie?
My advice:
Start simple - There is a lot to learn, if you take on too much to start with you will be scared off and think it is to hard. So...
Easy language - You'll hear lots of people ranting on the internet about how great certain languages are. Well, they all have their pros and cons. Some are easier to learn that others. E.g. Python or Lua are quite easy to learn. They are scripting languages, which are a lot more forgiving and less complicated to games together with. They don't have things like pointers, memory allocation, etc to worry about.
Python tutorial.
Lua has a tutorial (which I wrote!)
Just make a game! - You'll hear other people talking about patterns and singletons and data driven design etc. None of that matters when you start out. You aren't trying to impress anyone with your code. People will judge you on the end result not the code! Trust me, some of the best games you've played on console etc have terrible code!
Use a small, well maintained library. I'll make it easy, there are other choices, but:
if you want to choose Python (a good choice!) use pygame. Use Eclipse (for Java Dev) with PyDev. Magic and free!
if you want to use Lua (a good choice!) use Love
Look for other game examples - Pygame has tons of examples and games using it. Check the license and if you are allowed, just rip the code. Patch, splice, but put a comment about where you got the code, it is polite, and may be necessary according to the license. Don't ignore the licensing.
Look at Ludum Dare. Tons of great examples and source code to see how it is done quickly.
Then once you have made a few games consider the more complicated libraries and languages. Then you can ask more specific questions about how to solve certain problems. Have fun!
Flash
Flash is a great tool for those who have limited programming or art experience, but want to start cranking out a game.
Pros:
Symbols make graphical creation and manipulation very easy
Symbols have built-in bounding boxes; bounding boxes have built-in collision detection
Ports easily to web
Built-in layers and display architecture make displaying content simple
Lots of support, documentation, libraries
Vector art is easy to create
Cons:
Relatively slow
No method or operator overloading
Requires a purchase, either Creative Cloud or buying Flash outright
Pixel art must be ported in, which can be aggravating
I highly recommend flash if you have access to it, its one of the programs I use most often.
Pro's for XNA in my opinion are that XNA apps can run on Xbox360 in addition to PC, and you can pick your favorite language from anything supported by the .NET Framework - which is quite many.
I want to Switch from Web Designer to Front End Developer or web developer PHP, which skill should I get , Is it Easy to switch from Designer to Developer. I have two years Exp. in Web Designing. Please suggest.
Or should i stick to the Designing what is the Next BIG thing for Designer after DIV layout.
My Current Roles
Conversion PSD to HTML,
fixing Bugs in Different Browsers ,
Strong knowledge of HTML and CSS. I want to Go with the Open source Programming like PHP and MySQL
On the design side you could learn Flash or Silverlight. UX and UI design are hot right now.
On the programming side, are you good at client side programming? JavaScript AJAX etc.
#wazdesign, I didn't come from a design background like you, but I found my niche in Front-End Web Development none-the-less.
I started with Standards-based HTML and CSS and then started working back in the day on the Views and Helper functions in MVC frameworks (with a good team doing the controllers, models etc.)
Ask a competent Web Developer to give you a basic web-server architecture and process demo. Understand how data from the DB gets onto your user's pages, and all the checkpoints the data goes thru on the way.
Once you understand the principles, you can pretty much work with any technology after tooling up with the syntax.
I've listed some terms to research below that are tech-agnostic. I can't help you with the PHP side of things :)
Some books worth reading:
The Design of Everyday things - Don Norman
Don't make me think - Steve Krug
Anything by Luke Wroblewski such as Web Form Design
High Performance Websites (O'Reilly)
Some terms to research:
Interaction Design
MVC Frameworks
Templating systems
HTTP
User Interface
Some tools to use:
Firebug
YSlow for Firebug
I think you're making a good move here. To me you're showing initiative that you want to grow and learn new things. My advice would be that you learn how to program first. The problem with a programming language like PHP is mostly that it is really accessible, meaning that it's is easy to pick-up, copy and paste some code etc. PHP is notorious for it's cut & past scripting mentality but in the hands of a good programmer it is just as good a programming language as any other programming language out there.
So, to avoid becoming a cut & paste PHP programmer learn how to program first. Learn about variables, functions, control statements, algorithms, Object Oriented programming, the technology of the web etc. I would recommend that you pick a book and start learning the basics first before diving in the deep end. This way you will lay a good foundation for yourself and you can avoid becoming a cut & paste programmer.
Good luck!
I moved from "Web Designer" to "User Experience / User Interface Designer" to "Application Architect". Each role built on the next fairly well and no direct programming knowledge was necessarily required, though I think my lack of programming skills as an Architect is not the norm.
I realize you asked about moving into a Developer role, but I thought I'd offer this as an alternative. The market for User Experience people seems to be strong right now, and it's likely that you already have many of the skills required - developing wireframes, designing application workflow, information architecture, etc.
Designer to developer
I've thought a lot about this and wrote an article about the designers mutating into developers for PerlBuzz that covers a lot of the necessary ground (albeit from a Perl the point of view).
The main issues are:
understand why separating: programming code, visual markup, and data is a good thing
learn a bit about MVC, frameworks and HTML templates
learn enough Unix (at least permissions and paths) to get by and understand the command line
try (say) a simple Ruby framework like Sinatra or Ramaze. Camping is great for learning MVC (everything in one small file) but lacks a definitive version at the moment
alternatively, spend a day getting the Python framework Django up and running - it's pretty hot at the moment, Python is a good first language, spares you the SQL, is under very active development, and the extensive documentation is all online
play with JQuery or another Javascript library for client-side goodness
PHP is fine when written well and good for learning how to construct HTML templates, and Symfony seems like a sound framework, but avoid starting off by hacking (say) WordPress or Joomla. You'll only learn... well, how to hack WordPress or Joomla, whereas the real leap is in learning to program.
Some basic requirement:
Need to have strong aptitude
Understand the basics of programming in any language. (C/C++ will be good option to start)
For web development, you should be good in html and javascript along with the backend (PHP, ASP.NET etc.)
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I've got a young nephew who aspires to grow up to be a game programmer and i'd like to introduce him to the world of open-source as well as get him a sweet gift.
Anything like that out there?
Well, this is a tricky question because we don't know the level your nephew is at, nevermind the fact that it's difficult to produce a very nice showy game without a lot more work than a beginner might put forth.
X Game Station
Nevertheless, André LaMothe's X Game Station is meant to be exactly the system you're asking for - a beginner's guide and system on how to develop complex programs with interactive elements and gameplay on resource limited hardware. Which is pretty much what a game designer is called on to do.
GP32
The GP32 was also meant to fill this gap, but with a much more powerful processor. The successor was never released, and the company went bankrupt shortly after, but you may still be able to find one on ebay or within the communities that developed around the original machine.
Google Android
You might also consider looking toward the Google Android platform. Cell phone gaming is now and will be one of the biggest platforms in the future. The android isn't set up perfectly for gaming, but it's a good first approximation, isn't horribly expensive and includes a robust development toolset for a high-end mobile processor. Several big name game development companies have already pledged support for this platform, so it will also look good on a resume.
But a cheap computer and a VGA graphics book is surprisingly fun as a kid...
-Adam
There are a number of Open Source platforms out their for game development, if you go to here there are a large number of game engines and development platforms. For a beginner with little programming experience I would suggest a game engine like Game Maker or RPG Maker, which are drag and drop game engines. Both of these are free open source game engines. The other problem with these two game engines is that they are limited to 2D games only, even though Game Maker allows you to make and FPS that is like Doom style graphics.
For a more intermediate or beginning programmer I would honestly suggest Torque, which has both a 2D and 3D game engine. This engine is licensed as open source, but you still have to pay for the compiled version from their site. I have had much success with Torque in the past, especially Torque Game Builder (2D Game Engine). It is very simple to pickup and begin making good looking/functional games. In fact, a number of XBOX live games have been built using Torque game engines, like Marble Blast.
Another open source game engine I have heard good things about, but have not had a chance to try, is Multiverse. Multiverse is actually aimed at MMOG creation. The nice thing about Multiverse is that it provides for the creation of a 3D game environment, but also allows for the integration of Flash content into the game world.
For a more advanced programmer I would suggest looking into the SDL, OpenGL, and OpenAL. These are not game engines but graphics and sound libraries for game programmers. These are completely open source and are free to use. Most game technologies will have some implementation of one or all of these libraries in their software.
Even though XNA is not open source, it is also a good place to start for more advanced programmers. Not only does it allow for the creation of XBOX games, but you can also develop for the PC and Zune also.
Another thing you may want to suggest to your nephew is to modify existing games he owns. Most PC games and many console games allow for game modification of some form or another (level design, rescripting, etc). Some of the more popular game engines that I have seen mods for are the Source Engine and Unreal Engine. There are a number of tutorials at MODDB and 3DBuzz (which also has great tutorials on other aspects of game programming and design).
In addition to what I have listed, I have also heard good things about Ogre3D and Havok (a physics engine used in many many games). He can also go to such sites as IGDA, Gamasutra, GameDev,Game Career Guie, 3D Buzz for additional information on game development.
Hope this information helps.
I saw a question earlier about programming on a Nintendo DS. That sounds like it might be what you're looking for.
Also, I recently read about the BUG which looks like a really cool platform for building any number of handheld devices.
You might be interested in the XGameStation. It's a hardware console designed to teach programming a game console. It was created by Andre LaMothe who has written several books on game programming.
http://devmaster.net/devdb/engines/sylphis-3d#general-overview looks pretty nice, c/c++ oriented, GPL license, and Free.
I'd third the Nintendo DS recommendation - grab a R4 "homebrew" cartridge and you're pretty much set.
Another idea is one of the independent handhelds - something like the GP32, though there's certainly newer devices on the market.
I believe this is somewhat like Basketball, start from close to the basket and work your way out and you'll be hitting 3's with practice.
In my opinion, game programming is 3pt, without learning to shoot the basketball properly, you will probably cheat and start slinging it or just chucking the ball at the backboard hoping it's going to go in.
If you have a youngster without the ability to shoot a mid-range basket properly, do you think he will be able to motivate himself to keep trying, rather then trying something closer to the goal and working himself outside when he is confident?
If your nephew is serious about learning programming, get him a python book or vb.net/c# book. Maybe he will become more interested in application development because of these languages (it was the case with me, I'm 14). :)
Edit: This is assuming he doesn't have much programming experience.
well, this is not completely open source (the editor isn't, the engine is), but I recommend RPG Maker VX (if he likes role playing games):
http://tkool.jp/products/rpgvx/eng/index.html
I have used this (and the earlier versions) for some time. It is nice because there is a great editor and event system which can teach basic programming concepts without writing any code. Once your nephew wants to write some real code, there is an entire API (RGSS2) written in ruby that they he is free to manipulate and extend. This API makes up most of the game engine, hiding only low level implementation stuff.
There are other programs out there like GameMaker, but RPG Maker is the most user friendly, while still providing a way to get at the more advanced stuff.
EDIT: I forgot to mention one of the best parts; there is a large and active community around RPG Maker. There are many forums completely dedicated to the program where people will be happy to help on even the most basic tasks, not to mention the great resources that are avilable.
Well programming on the NintendoDS is possible, however you'll be breaking and stretching quite a few laws there.
However, I should say that I learned most of what I did about hardware doing stuff just like that while I was back in school. I learned a LOT from doing that sort of stuff ;)
But I wouldn't recommend it to youngsters or newcomers because you'll be totally out of support (lots of frustration), might break your game console, and unless you already know about programming the learning curve is WAY to high.
Might I recommend starting out with flash or PC games before console programming?
Edit: When I mean breaking/stretching laws, I don't mean writing code for your hardware, that's up to you. But it is illegal to buy pirate memory cards and card writers (that infringe on patent laws). Also funding hardware piracy will unlikely be something to proud of.
Edit:#Mike F did you read my post? I said, I HAVE done this while I was a student, and I learned a lot. But it's still piracy, and yes I did my fair share of piracy when I was a poor student, but it's not something I'd want to teach someone just getting into programming. Would you?
Besides there are plenty of perfectly great ways to learn game programming without needing to hack stuff like RPGMaker, XNA, etc...
#Mike F: Once more just for the sake of it NDS flash-roms are produced through patent piracy(/infringement), not software piracy, as in it is illegal to produce such hardware because it goes against patent laws. And the companies that make such flash rom hardware are piracy companies that traffic their goods in the grey market, Its as simple as that. I'm not talking about "software piracy" at all here. Thats why I mentioned twice already that anyone is free to run whatever software on their hardware, be homebrew or whatever.
Ars Technica just came out w/ an article about open-source gaming consoles. They are hand-helds, so I don't know if that's an issue but they seem to be pretty nice, with lots of features to tinker with.