Had some interest so here's a thread for all things game dev. I don't know how to start this thread so whether you're just making games for yourself or you're getting Notch money, this is for everyone interested in game development. Even if you're not actively developing anything feel free to join in if you have some thoughts/criticism etc.

Thanks a lot for making this and all your posts in the other thread.

I'm just starting to get into coding. I'd love to make an app and waaaaaay down the line would like to get into vr.

Definitely in on this. I have some coding and web server background. Kinda a windows guy frownieface. Into help with other people's projects if they want ideas, just to get more experience and learn other stuff myself.

Sometimes I work a little on the game idea I have, but rarely get farther than working on the stat engine design and get distracted by other things. Quickest way I could explain my game idea is a mmo, moba, jrpg mix. The player's character has a persistent home city that tends to 'creep' out to provide tension. The play format is like a ~30 minute moba game. The perspective is jrpg first person perspective from the player's character.

I'm into game dev mostly because I love programming but never know what to program other than games. I love managing and creating something big in code from scratch. Art is and will always be my downfall, but I toughed it out once, and for my next game, I'm going to try to do a lot of development with ASCII art while I figure out core gameplay/coding stuff.

I've been very curious about the Rust language recently, and I'm playing around with using it for a big open world RPG kind of game. I really love the language, but if I ever decide it's just too new of a language to be good for game dev, I'll switch over to C++. I want this project to take advantage of the performance of a low level language, so I'm ditching the C#/Java stuff for now.

I'm focusing on python now but looking at other languages and courses for them. It seems like rust is an improvement over C in every way and I don't really see a reason not to learn it instead right now.

Many reasons depending on your goals. Off the top of my head:

* Steep learning curve - there are a lot of rules to the language that are different from other languages
* It's extremely new (in the grand scheme of things) - this means tools, engines, etc. are going to be shaky, poorly documented, and potentially non-existent. This could be a killer for something complex like game dev
* Zero/small transfer to "real" skills - you're probably not looking for a job using Rust and probably not benefiting from Rust knowledge at your current job. Improving in C, C++, Python, and potentially other languages could be hugely helpful on the other hand
* Opportunity cost: resources are always finite. Maybe your time is best spent elsewhere? This is related to the last bullet and a bit of a meta point

Still, obviously depending on goals, there are many reasons FOR trying it out as well (otherwise I wouldn't be doing it myself). I think it's a fascinating language with a ton of potential. The idea of an extremely safe and extremely fast language with all the convenient features of modern languages (functional things, pattern matching, I like things being expressions like let/if statements and stuff) seems absolutely perfect to me. And there's clearly enough development of the language to get things done if you're willing to work for it. As evidenced by /r/rust_gamedev.

That all makes a lot of sense, thanks for the input.

We've got countless awesome resources out there now, to help bridge any gap in dev knowledge-- from flash-based simple creators, to fully fledged suites like Unity and Unreal.

For me, though, I find the biggest obstacle to be the creative drive overall. This is, of course, not exclusive to game development. Although, I do think it's a bit unique in that your interrupt a lot of you progress by stepping aside to learn new systems/languages during development. So my question for all of you devs and wannabes is how to you keep on the grind?

I think we can all agree that the first 10% of a project is always easy as pie. The real work begins when the idea is no longer new, and you keep hitting hurdle after hurdle. So, how do you stay disciplined?

i have a few years of coding background but am a little out of practice. Going to be focusing on C#/Unity for a bit. If anyone would want to collaborate or have help with bug fixing let me know. Would probably be a little bit before I could meaningfully help.

If you have some sort of recording suite I can do music somewhat decently as well. ^_^

I got lazy and now I prototype almost everything with Playmaker.

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/368

whatthejish, I'm not disciplined at all and throw away the majority of my work before finishing it.

So lets back up guys. Who has a project idea, has started that idea, and what is the current state of the work (language and progresswise)?

My idea is in white board. The idea is the same as above. I have started to design the rules/stat engine in a few different languages but never spend more than about a couple hours on this step. Mostly because I am not committed to any language/design framework yet. Any one else? If they are farther along than me I will maybe help!

May I suggest something? Why don't you just start a random project with minimal rules? Starting with a big project will only bring failure. Also get whatever MOBA and MMO ideas out of your head.

I'll throw you a challenge: You have one week to make 1 super mario clone level in C#, without the use of Unity. Post your results in this thread in 1 week and 1 day. After that we look at your game and then throw a second game jam challenge.

Yeah, after watching a billion Extra Credits videos on starting game design, limiting your scope early seems like a hugely important deal.

I don’t think that Udemy unity course covers multiplayer games till the end.

Yeah mmo, moba or anything like that is a bad idea for a first game. Get your feet wet making smaller things.

Game jams are a great suggestion. They give you a time limit and a theme so it keeps your scope down and makes you get **** done.

Anyone working on a jrpg? My idea is basically an online jrpg. Some thing in the turn based genre would be a great place for me to start, if anyone needs any help.

There's a very in depth documentary about Atari and early game development on youtube called Once Upon Atari. Def worth watching.

Anyone any experience with source sdk?
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/...K_Installation