Random comments inline.
Martin
Dune Shepherd wrote:
> Okay so I'm sure lots of these posts get posted, but I'm unable to
> find any (I'm a horrible searcher and cannot find a book that teaches
> you how to search since when I search for such, I can't find it, a
> horrible 22 I say)
Hmm, doing a simple search on some book site like Amazon would be
considered pretty easy to do - given the slight learning curve for
learning to search and the steep one for learning what you're asking
about.........
> I see alot of stuff about silly c++ tutorials and simple stuff, fine
> and dandy for people who don't know all that I suppose, but I'd really
> like to know in essence how to create a full game.
Depends on the game - most are going to have a pretty steep learning
curve if you plan on going at it via actual programming in something
like C++ or C#. Microsoft has a web site dedicated to doing that, their
Visual studio Express: XNA Game Studio Express
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/
Or you could learn to make stuff in Flash, which is going to be mostly
2D stuff.
There are other (bit easier) routes to go - such as Game Maker or Game
Factory;
http://www.gamemaker.nl/
- Game Maker
http://www.clickteam.com/eng/tgf2.php
- Game Factory (ps; this app costs
$)
Both are pretty good entry level applications (there still is a learning
curve) - and will teach you a lot about game play design.
> Is there a basic
> terminology book somewhere? I know a little bit of visual and java
> etc. but I can pick up just about any language rather quickly, I'm not
> looking to learn in a day, 5 years is perfectly fine, however I'd like
> a good idea of direction
There are books galore and just about every university/college/community
college is offering cl***** on the subject. There are even summer camps
for kids to learn to do this kind of stuff.
Amazon carries books that cover the two packages I mentioned above;
"Make Amazing Games in Minutes" by Jason Darby (comes with a demo of TGF2)
and
The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners by Jacob
Habgood and Mark Overmars (comes with the full Game Maker software)
both books cover basic game design pretty well.
> How, for example, was Oblivion of Morrowing (Elder Scrolls by
> Bethesda) created? I know programming, but most languages do not
> provide a built in graphics thingy. Obviously such games are not a
> very large compilation of jpegs. Wikipedia is no help.
What you might want to do - instead of creating a game from scratch, you
might want to start off by learning to mod an already existing game.
I suggest looking at this book;
"Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design" by Jason Busby,
Zak Parrish, and Joel VanEenwyk
Which covers modding the game Unreal Tournament 2004. Keep in mind that
what you learn from doing something like this is also applicable to
creating content for a game of your own. Think of it as a stepping stone
to getting where you are trying to get.
> Any help appreciated, critisize if you must but I'll probably just
> ignore you. And if I'm completely lost in asking this question here,
> perhaps help on pointing me in the right direction? Much obliged.
>
Since you are mainly looking at 3D, you might want to also look at the
3D software groups. If you can afford the software there is 3D Studio
Max and Lightwave and Maya, if you are wanting to do this for free take
a look at Blender 3D - it's open source.
http://www.blender.org/
3D World magazine this month listed Blender as the most popular (which
isn't the same as most used) animation package.
Personally, I use a low-end package called Carrara and also Poser & DAZ
Studio.
DAZ Studio is a freebie (cuz then they can later sell you content for it)
http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/software/studio/-/
and speaking of magazines, you might want to pop into one of the big
chain bookstores around where you live (if there are any). Take a look
for any of the UK graphics magazines (which are im****ted into the US
also). Look for;
3D World
ImagineFX (my favorite)
Computer Arts
and others (these are the three main ones I try to buy) these magazines
are pricey around $15USD, but they come with cover CD/DVDs that usually
have content well worth the money - lots of time there are free licenses
of older software versions.
You might also want to look at the ones for Photoshop too.
Martin
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