Hello! My name is Koz, and I'm a bit new to the Radioactive community. I am currently learning, on my own time, various types of code. I would like to know your personal opinions on what I should learn. I recently fully learned the basics and some tricks of HTML5 and CSS3, and currently looking into PHP (Which I will bring up in a moment). I want to expand into the game development branch of code, so I'd like to know where I should start, and get a valuable response from an experienced webmaster and game developer (Or really anyone who knows about this.).
So, I also really need a place to learn PHP where it won't hold your hand, where I learned that the hard way and hardly learned anything. I want a general rundown on syntax and phrases to know so I can get into it my own way, the hard way. I actually was taught by my (current) teacher, but since we are on a break now (I'm still in school), I can't really get his advice. I want to learn, but I can't find the right source.
Any who, looking into the future, I would have more or less mastered web development so I could then move on to server-type code like MySQL and such. But, I wish to expand into game development. I know of things such as blender, unity, and other things many people use, but I don't want to make shoddy games to be featured on a site like kongegate or armor games, I want to make an actual game, like Mount & Blade, or Saints Row, A real game that people enjoy and love to this day.
So, as I said many times, any tips, tricks, experiences, or advice to give, please reply! Thank you!
Welcome man :-) Yea PHP / SQL are great for web stuff, but for game development you're going to want to learn C++ and for rendering HLSL which is a "C/C++ like language" used to write GPU code.
I taught myself from 100s of books in my collection, online tutorials, etc. and back when I started many years ago, none of the tech today was around [ ie: $20 a month unreal/crytek licenses ], Unity engine, etc. So my only option was a 7 figure license or to write my own tech.
I would recommend becoming a member of the GameDev.net [ www.GameDev.net ] community - everything you'll ever want to know about game development has been brought up there heh. I'd also recommend learning C/C++ as your main programming languages, once you have a firm knowledge of that - learn you can move on to the "game specific" APIs like DirectX/Havok/Raknet/etc ... btw your PHP/SQL skills are great tools for website stuff, and tracking your user stats... but C/C++ is a whole different beast - you have to manage your own memory, 'n' stuff :-o
Sorry for the rambling 5AM post ;-) I guess my advice would be to get a good book on C/C++ and work your way through the exercises until you have a good working knowledge - then to move onto game specific stuff. All the books your local university will use to teach you how to program a computer, you can just buy at the local bookstore for $50.
- Dan
LUA it's a pretty decent language, very intuitive and user friendly. Many games with mod support allows the community to use LUA to mod the game. It's not like if I were a programmer, but I've used LUA and I can tell you that you can create almost everything you can imagine.
C++ and LUA can be an incredible combination to create a game, and make it Modder-friendly, I think that with those 2 languages you would have enough to make advanced scripting, and therefore not only basic games. If you already have knowledge about HTML5, CSS3 and recently PHP, you care pretty much able to create web pages and other stuff, so that's great, and MySQL would be a perfect addition.
(Instead of LUA, Python is also pretty good, though it is more complex imho, and you can always learn java too, flash could be another option but flash is no longer being used as before (because of html5), though there are a lot of web pages that still use it).
So to sum up if you really want to create games you're going to need to learn C++ and similars (such as HLSL), then Python or LUA would be very welcome too.
For web if you already have HTML5 and CSS3 knowledge that's great, but you know, if you want to really master this and have a vast knowledge, PHP and MySQL are the perfect additions. Don't worry much about flash as its not longer being used as before (html5 is superior), but you know, more knowledge is always welcome and many web sites still use it.
"Instead of making a game you hope many people will like, it's sometimes better to create a game you know a few people will love"
''My intention is not to create something that won't be hated; it's to create something that will be passionately loved''