Hi, I've been beta testing games. But I really want to get into making them. I'm going to buy a macbook soon and have been reading up on coding. But would it be best if I bought a program like unity? or should I try and do it on my own? I have zero experience with coding , But I'm willing to learn.
Tough one to call. Depends on your goals I guess. Unity will probably make it easier for you to get something up on the screen, but you'll still need to program, also 3D games are more complex by nature, so while Unity lets you have a lot of stuff "for free" you're probably better of starting on a smaller scale. My advice would be to start out really small and try to learn some basic C, or Java to do some really simple stuff to begin with. This is This way you'll learn some basics while finding out if programming is something you want to do or not.
100% agree with Nick - I would start small, ambitious but realistic but focus on really polished simple ideas. Flight Control, Doodle Jump and Pop Cap are great models for this. No 3D but simple, flawlessly executed fun! Good luck to you and keep us updated of your progress!
Completely agree with the 2 posts above. Im looking at starting some app development but just haven't had the time recently. I even purchased the app development for dummies book and started reading through that. I really want to get into app development for the iphone. I started with visual basic (the good old days!) on the PC and loved programming simple programs for the PC. Im a mac convert and want to get into iPhone app development so using these forums for help and advice is a must for anyone wishing to do the same. There are so many useful posts to read and helpful people on these forums. Will keep on checking back!
I agree with every one else. I am new myself to objective c I learned c and c++ eons ago so that has helped me some with objective c I am also new to the Mac environment and that has taken some getting use to, but all in all I am glad I have taken the long route. I have learned a lot even though it has been slow. I used Programming in Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen G. Kochan to get started and I am now using Beginning Iphone Games Development which has taught me a lot even though it has a few errors in it and some of the sample code is not complete. In some areas of the book they explain things step by step and in others you have to figure it out on your own. Learn the foundation first I always say it's the slow way but it gives you more freedom in the end.
Well that was easy, Everyone agrees haha. I've got a couple books that I'm going to read and I'll have the macbook sometime next month. So thanks for the help!
Even though we're all in agreement here, I want to reinforce the sentiment that you START SMALL. And here's how you do it... Decide on a very simple game idea and write out all the features you want in it. Those features will help you solidify the game, and also help define the coding tasks you'll need. Next, CUT OUT HALF of the features. They'll go into a release down the road. Focus on the ONE thing that your game should do (as an example, doodle jump is to jump up). CUT OUT ANY FEATURE that doesn't directly support the primary thing. Put those features aside for another release. Now, you have the core engine and the primary focus of the game. You can (after doing a bunch of hello world! type stuff and getting familiar with programming) now begin your game! Yay! Once you get the core engine and very limited feature set working and bug free you can either: scrap the whole thing because the code you wrote is terrible (happens a lot) add some of the features you cut out. Good luck! But, more than luck, you'll need grim determination.
An even better option is to NOT start out with games. Some utility apps are actually easier to make, providing a smoother learning curve.
True Dat True. That's why I included "(after doing a bunch of hello world! type stuff and getting familiar with programming)" hahah. A catch-all for "Learn First, Make a Game Second". Though, when I was teaching myself programming, I did "games" first. And by "games" I mean something that was loosely based on a game idea. Simple is the most important thing, when you're learning, but especially later on when you're actually trying to make something useful.
RacingSpider - Super good advice from the harsh but true school. You sound like you've learnt from experience - Can you point us in the direction of some stuff that you have done or that you are doing? Thanks!
No don't do this. It has so many limitations you'll stop using it. Learn objC with books and don't start small, start tiny. So when you finish it you'll have this huge boost of confidence which will motivate you do something a wee bit bigger.
Campaigner and Virtual Tabletop Sure: Right now Expedition:Beyond the Walls is in the store... Expedition:Beyond the Walls Free while I work on Expedition:Beyond the Walls 2!Check it out:http://racingspidergames.com/wordpress/ Free Buy Now Watch Media DetailsFree while I work on Expedition:Beyond the Walls 2!Check it out:http://racingspidergames.com/wordpress/Hire a crew and watch them become elite!Buy provisions, weapons, horses!Roll the dice and encounter wildmen, beasts, bandit camps and more on your way to explore a legendary ruin!Land exactly on the waypoints for fitness and other bonuses!After a thousand years of hiding behind walled cities, the people of the world began venturing forth, into untamed wilds. Hire a stalwart crew, equip them with weapons and provisions and bravely strike out into the wilds in search of ancient treasure!Expedition: Beyond the Walls takes your crew of adventurers, soldiers, apothecaries and more through savage wild lands to ancient sites, guarded by traps and monstrosities.Along the route, your crew will be beset by sickness, disease, trail mishaps, beastmen, bandits and other horrors. If they survive the trip, they'll encounter the beasts and tests at the destination.Roll dice to move the crew along the route, stopping at waypoints to make recovery camps. Overshoot, and you'll lose out on bonuses.Buy equipment to aid your journey, but bring too much and be burdened by weight. If you don't bring enough, your crew may starve.*** Follow E:BTW @twitter.com/expeditionBTW for tips, hints and update news! Information Seller: Genre:Adventure, Dice Release:Jun 21, 2010 Updated:Nov 30, -0001 Version: Size:0.0 TouchArcade Rating:Unrated User Rating: (2) Your Rating:unrated Compatibility:HD Universal And, I'm doing what I stated in my post. Feature complete at every iteration. Right now, I'm adding completely new functionality. But the game plays well without it too. however, before that (before iPhone): Campaigner I killed myself by changing the feature set on the fly, as well as adding features BEFORE having a solid foundation for Campaigner: http://www.racingspidergames.com/campaignerindex_b.htm Not to mention, it's also a niche market (tabletop wargamers). And Virtual Tabletop http://racingspidergames.com/devBlog/?cat=3 The major flaw with this one is that there just isn't enough 3d troop assets available. I tried to rectify it with "paper model maker", I guess we'll see in the future. It's possible I just need to bring people to the website. So, there we have it. I've been around for a while, I'm just new to iPhone development. Oh, I also second the opinion of stay AWAY FROM GAMESALAD (for learning how to make a game - if you want to learn coding). You will learn nothing. If you learn coding FIRST, and then want to use it, that's cool, but GS is not a stepping stone into learning game programming, you'll learn the wrong things, in my opinion. (You must log in or sign up to post here.) Show Ignored Content Share This Page Tweet Your name or email address: Password: Forgot your password? Stay logged in
