IF comp.game THEN fun?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not a programmer. I went to school for Graphic Design. We weren't told that to make it in the industry you'd have to know HTML, Java, C++, Oracle, or any other high falutin' computer language. We were warned that programs such as Quark Xpress, Adobe, Corel, and a handful of others would be good to know. However, for me, wanting to specialize in games creation, nothing was discussed.
So here I am struggling with trying to learn something out of my field in order to get into my field. Sound strange? Not so strange as living it. When designing a computer game one of the first things you should know is a programming language. One of the best for designing games is C++. For some this is an easy language to learn. For others it's somewhat difficult, and for the rest, Talmudic is the best adjective to describe a block of code.
One of the main things to realize when beginning to create a computer game is that you aren't going to recreate StarCraft, Myst, or Doom right off the bat. Start Small! Graphics are difficult. Practice your game flow first. Start off with text adventure games, simple adventure games, and with other companies' game creation platforms. Doom level creators, StarCraft Game Editor, and a handful of others are good jumping blocks for making a games that people recognize and can play. With these editors you can create games without worrying whether or not the whole system will crash.
If you don't have access to these games then start searching the web for free programming languages. Some languages are easier to get ahold of than others. And if you can get ahold of BASIC then you've got it made in my opinion. With a good language you can create random events, menu driven games, and some limited graphics adventures. Some good web search engines will turn up scores of small games created with these simple programming languages and usually with the code used to create the game.
Start with modifying these games and from those modifications you can begin to craft your own game. Changing graphics and storyline are usually enough to call a game your own as long as you give game engine design credits to the original creator. Not only can you do this with open code that is available on the net but there are some game creator engines out there which make this whole process even easier. They give you the engine and you build from there.
Latest Articles