What does it take to be a game designer?

Question

You see I have been thinking it over for the last 5 years (I am still in my teens so yeah I have time) and I decided I would really love to make games. Seeing how this is the age of digital distribution it is easier for indie devs to survive in the market so I would like to ask this. The one mind breaking question that I have been asking myself of late. Which programming language should I learn? And which Game engine should I use? Obviously if I want to make a game it would require one and most probably have to be free if I ever want to sell it on Steam or Desura.

Now the type of dream game I want to make is a mix of a very story based RPG along with RTS and TBS elements in it but that would most likely only come later when I actually know how to make games. But that should give you the idea of what sort of games I would like to make and which game engine would be good for this.

Now if you have any tips on how I should get started and learn what to get into the whole game development scene I would be really greatful. I am thinking I should make something small like a Java or a flash game? (Sort of like Gnomoria if you have ever heard of it.) Although with my current knowledge it is hard to tell.

To sum it up.
* Programming language?
*Game engine?
*Tips?

Thank you very much for reading it this far.

Answer 1

If you want to make games, you want to be a game developer. If you want to direct the making of games, you want to be a game designer. To do either, you must be well-versed in game programming. You can't design something for programmers to code if you don't know how code works. If you want to dabble as a hobby, there are lots of game-making tools out there to let you make something simple. If you want to do it professionally, you need to enroll in school for CS/SD/GD. For that, you should start by learning C++.

Answer 2

I'd start with a Flash game as you mention (so you'd need to learn actionscript). It remains one of the most popular casual game development platforms as you can export to different devices (Android, iPad, iPhone, etc.) in addition to the PC web browser. And with minimum experience you can create a simple game within just a few days, then build from there.



There are lots of game engines for Flash, e.g. http://www.flashrealtime.com/flash-game-library-engine-list/. They can make life a lot easier than starting from scratch.



Starting with an RPG straight away may be a bit difficult, though you could start off with creating the basic interactivity (a character walking around a few screens, then adding objects to interact with).



There's plenty of free and open source tools out there to create Flash games, if you want to try it out without having to buy Flash CS6.

Answer 3

Why don't you try using Unity3d. It's pretty cool. BurgZergArcade makes some good tutorials, Link in my "Source". He uses C#. But I also recommend you learn C++.(I recommend having some C# experinece under belt before trying the BurgZergAcracde Tutorials otherwise may find yourself just copying and pasting and if you get a compiler error you wont now how to fix it so i recommend starting with scratch) Check it out.



Probably should start smaller and use MIT Scratch

Answer 4

I would recommand doing some small projects such as make a flash game or mod for a game and watch tutorials on game programming (theres heaps on youtube) . after that move on to bigger projects like make a game from the start .



programming language to learn: c++ , java , actionscript



game engine: unreal 3 , unity, make your own

Answer 5

ideas