Video Game Coding Questions

[jesterx7769]

I am looking to start coding a game and am looking for guidance as to what programs I will need to learn. What I am looking to make is a battle trading card style game so I need to know what program needs that entails. I have been looking around online but I keep coming up with 3D type game making and I know this style of game is more visual databasing than a regular video game. I understand coming from no background it may be too big to take on but I would appreciate any direction as I know some people make games which is why I am posting here.

 

Thanks

[supershot]

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/

I've always used that. Does the trick for small programs. Use the language tho and avoid the drag and drop.

[mjdgoldeneye]

Yea, as far as those sorts of game making programs go, Game Maker is really good. It has drag-and-drop stuff that will get really inexperienced people going, but it leads to really slow code and lots of bugs.

 

If you aren't familiar with programming, the Game Maker Language may be a little tricky, but it has really good support online. This wiki has all the different functions and stuff on it, I believe.

 

If you REALLY want to make something good, you'll want to learn an actual programming language like C++, C, or C# (or Java, which is what Minecraft is made it, but Java isn't great for games because it's typically slower). That's really involved, but it gives you COMPLETE control (and you can get a real job with your knowledge). I just finished my third year of college in Computer Science and I can't really say going out and writing a visual-heavy game manually would be a walk in the park...

 

Bonus: Here's a game I made in Game Maker. It's a sequel to a game I made in another one of these game-making programs called Multimedia Fusion 2 (which is what I Want to Be the Guy, the hardest game of all time, is made in... if you haven't seen IWtBtG, download it or watch a video of it... It's amazing...). MMF2 sucks, though, and I would recommend Game Maker.

 

The original version of my game was much better. It was less fancy looking, but it was set up to send stuff at you in sync with music and there were some shapes that you could purposely collect for points. I only created one song for it (Helicopter by Bloc Party), but it was synced perfectly. Also, Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter would appear and attack you... lol

[alden]

I sugest visual basic....its a good program language and i believe its what tew is based off of. I might be wrong but basic is a good and not to hard to learn language.

[mad5226]

I sugest visual basic....its a good program language and i believe its what tew is based off of. I might be wrong but basic is a good and not to hard to learn language.

 

I believe you're right, TEW was written in VB. If you're looking to pick up a language though I would suggest C#. It's more powerful than VB, makes you more marketable, and really the syntax is about the same. It's really not a hard language to pick up.

[damonster]

I believe you're right, TEW was written in VB. If you're looking to pick up a language though I would suggest C#. It's more powerful than VB, makes you more marketable, and really the syntax is about the same. It's really not a hard language to pick up.

 

or java, but java gets a little more complicated and is hard to make a gui with it if you don't know how to.

[alden]

I agree just as a usability standpoint.....c# is best...but if you just want a pick up and code type of thing i think vb is best.....Its not going to make a skyram or wow type of game but it is going to get you a good better then basic game with about a month or two of learning.