Game Creation - Where to start?

Question

Ever since I was a kid I've always dreamed of one day creating a game, not for commercial success or anything of that nature - but to simply have it in front of me and go "wow, there she be"
I remember always playing some great classic, and while I enjoyed them - I'd always find myself wishing "what if they did this, or had that, or..."

Then I started getting involved with music, I ended up traveling overseas due to my father's work. Still on the move, I graduated high school. Went to college and already am in my junior year. Became even MORE involved with my music - where game BGM become a major influence for some of the pieces I've written. It came to the point where I did nothing but write music and create artwork for my dream game I still had lingering in the back of my head. Now I'm in my 20's and I still haven't made much progress with this idea, other than have a whole library of music and a backdrop of artwork to pull from.

But I've no clue where to start. People say to start learning a language. I understand that, but I don't understand how that goes about into creating the actual game? At least with music I understand the process more - You go through the process of actually writing and creating the music, afterward you track and record, from there you mix, and from there you master the cd. But theres never really been no realy explanation as to what's involved with game development. People just outright say - learn a language, and get back with us. I can't really say I appreciate that sorta advice tbh - I like knowing what I have in store for me down the road other than "learn a language"

Learning a language I would think, would be a learning experience even over a lifetime - just as how mixing and mastering music can be a lifetime trade, always learning new things - techniques - etc.

So when i do finally learn a language, what do I do with it?
Do I use the language, to then build a game engine?
Does that engine then use what's in store, for example layers in sprites, music, sound fx, backgrounds?
Are scripts then entered to this engine?
Do those lists of scripts then packaged to create that one level?
Are your levels then packaged together as an executable file?

Where is all this information??? I understand some of those answers may be right in there in a text while learning a language.

Answer 1

Basically, to make a game, one way would be:



1) Create the design/idea of the game

2) Find/create graphics and sounds/music

3) Find (or build) a game engine -- a game engine has to be able to render the graphics and play the sounds/music

4) With the game engine, program the actual game

5) Test/debug/finalize the game

6) Deploy the game

7) Fix bugs found at release, patch game as needed



Steps 1, 2, and 3 are relatively straight-forward. Step 4 is the hardest part, basically. You have to program the game yourself, and that's why you must learn a programming language. Basically, you have to program in the game's behavior -- how should it interact with the user. On the simplest level, the game can have keyboard/mouse input. So if it runs at 60 frames per second, then each 1/60th of a second, the game receives keyboard/mouse input, and decides what to display on the screen. This repeats 60 times a second, until the user exits the game.



Thus, knowing how to program is a must. Also, computer programming also involves a lot of math, and logic. Consider a basic space invader game -- if enemy bullets are spheres, given the (x,y) coordinate of the center of enemy bullets (along with the bullet's radius), and given your ship's size and (x,y) coordinates, how do you determine if the bullet has collided with your ship? How do you get objects (such as a satellite) to orbit another object? (Simplest way is to use parametric equations.)



Basically, game developemnt requires computer programming as a prerequisite. However, using game design to learn computer programming usually isn't advised, because programming is difficult enough as it stands. Best to start from the basics. That's why most people recommend learning how to program first, even though you won't start by learning how to make games.



Once you really learn computer programming, you will be able to program computer games. I find it best not to think of "computer programming" and "game development" as separate entities. It's much better to think of "game development" as a specific form of programming.

Answer 2

umm, you could do all that with the engine which you enlisted, but it doesn't necessarily have to be like that.

You're the boss, you could create a game from scratch, or you could pick up a game engine and then work with it to create your game based off that engine, or you could create a program which creates games.

There are no limits nor any specified ways of creating anything via programming.

It's all up to you.

Answer 3

Start learning and using PYTHON its a language which is very easy and high level programming .....it is very easy to learn and in few days you can make your own games...