How to make games?

geeman2.0 · 03-17-2006, 01:00 PM

Quote:

The games today are very complex. I doubt a single guy behind a monitor using a vim will go very far into game dev...

Doesn't Carmack code the bulk of his engines by himself?

I think that the biggest hurdle for small projects is not the coding part, but the content, i.e. artwork, 3D models, music, sound effects, story, level designs, etc...
It's this chunk of work that takes up most of the development hours.

One lone hacker can build an engine, but it takes an army of artists to make a game of any considerable depth.

thewonka · 03-17-2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mega Man X

I don't know how much I agree with the modding comments. There're a lot of successful modifications (Counter-Strike, TacticalOps) where those "modders" are making some serious money. It's also a known fact that a lot of peoples creating good levels one day or another got hired by companies as level designers.

On the top of it, it's common that big companies use an already existent engine to create their games. A lot of the games I have are powered by some heavily modified ID/Carmak's engine: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (and expansions), Jedi OutCast/Academy and one of my all time favorite shooters: Call of Duty. These games were not created by some lousy companies out there, but Lucas Arts, Activision and Electronic Arts. See, not even big guns as those started an Engine from scratch.

Still, it all depends what you wanna be. If you want to create games as a hobby, there's nothing wrong in starting a engine from scratch and/or make it open source. If you want, however, to be a designer (texture, modelling, etc) modding a game can be a good way to get in the field.

I still believe that Open Source and games don't go together. The code can get very good, but a game needs artists to create some funky eye candy for the game. If you ever met a musician or modeller, you also would know that they won't work for free...

And C as language is not very useful anymore. Except for Nintendo and their little GBA, everyone is moving to C++. Again, latest ID-Software engine (Doom 3) is written completed in C++ (previous ID engines in C).

The games today are very complex. I doubt a single guy behind a monitor using a vim will go very far into game dev... no pun intended.

True but counter strike and such wont be there for ever.. will they? it agree if you want the cash be the best you can be and try to get a job, but i think the gent wanted to know how he can make games not make levels and or mods.

tuxdev · 03-17-2006, 01:58 PM

If everybody mods, who will make the engines? I think engines are way more enjoyable to code IMO.

Lazy Foo' · 03-17-2006, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mega Man X

I don't know how much I agree with the modding comments.

The thing is just about anybody that can make an engine can mod one, but the reverse isn't true.

If you know low level design, you know high level design.

Mega Man X · 03-17-2006, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thewonka

True but counter strike and such wont be there for ever.. will they?

I hope it won't. That has to be the most hyped/overrated game/mod I've ever played. I also hate Valve and Steam and before them, I never truly thought I could actually hate something or someone so badly...</rant>

Mega Man X · 03-17-2006, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geeman2.0

Doesn't Carmack code the bulk of his engines by himself?

Not anymore. He maybe starts coding or is the lead programmer for most projects, but if you look at the credits of a few ID-software games you will see that there's also an army of programmers working together, under the same roof. Same goes to every pro game released today. It's a big team of coders, just like every other sector. John Carmack does, however, a hell lot more coding then Torvalds does though

Warg · 03-18-2006, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mega Man X

The games today are very complex. I doubt a single guy behind a monitor using a vim will go very far into game dev... no pun intended.

http://www.darklingroom.co.uk/darkfall/