WHAT HO!!

News & General Discussion
1

Hello everyone!

My name is Sam and I’ve recently have started my journey to becoming the worlds greatest video game designer that ever lived! MUAHAHA!

…But seriously. i have been doing a lot of research on Unity and I have found it to be a pretty robust and flexible design tool. I think it has a lot of potential and power to create some pretty amazing projects.

Some of my questions are

  1. Where should is start? I have some experience with GameMaker and GML (GM native language) and I’m currently going to school for computer programming (starting with Java right now) is there any better ways to start or at least other languages I should work on at the time being? I’ve heard the MOST popular game languages are the C’s (C, C++ and C#)

  2. Some suggestions to learning things like the code and all that. I like to think of myself as someone that was able to pick up game design nuances and subtleties quite well but I do struggle with following through with a finished product due to inexperience with coding/art. What are some things I could do to make it easier or at least more understandable instead of just dumping a bunch of stuff I’ve never worked with before on my head.

  3. I live in Salt Lake right now and there are plenty of cool groups to join here as is but are there any others? Like world wide or online ones?

That’s about it for now. Thanks for the time to read and I hope to be a big part of the community :smile:

2

Hi there

I suggest that you use c# its the most solid and reusable to learn. Borrow a book at the library.

Start with making sometihng simple in order to learn how to code and do the basics, I suggest that you make a pong game and watch the video “juice it or loose it” on the internet on how to make a simpel game like arkaniod cool and fun with effects.

For groups I suggest that you check out Gamedev which might the biggest WWW community. Also consider attenting gamejams, you’ll meet likeminded people there, the “train jam” from chicago to san francisco is one where people from all over the world attends and you will meet alot of cool peope to learn from.

Cheers!

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  1. C# is a lot like Java, so the stuff you are learning in Java translates nicely into C#. And most importantly, Unity uses it.

  2. Prototype like a mofo. Just make stuff, it’s the best way to learn. Some of the best advice I ever got from someone in the industry was “learning how to finish things is a way more valuable skill to an employer than any single basic skill”. So while prototyping is a good way to learn the basic skills, the best learning of all is eventually taking one (or more) of those prototypes, and turning it into a game. And in that respect, start small. big ambitious designs are for when you have a sizable team.

  3. I always hear about IDGA. I’ve never actually done any group stuff myself besides doing the Global Game Jam one year (which was an absolute blast). Also, additional advice, do a Global Game Jam at least once in your life, it’s effing awesome. And it will teach you how to work really fast, and force you to finish something.

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Ah yes, the good old International Developers Game Association :wink:

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C# is easy to figure out. Any issues are generally easy to find answers to on Google with the right keywords. Fundamentals are typically extremely easy to find multiple sources of good information on. MSDN is particularly informative.

The new-ish Unity Learn tutorials on C# are actually fantastic as well, I’d suggest checking them out soon. Beyond that its all about the API / Scripting Reference and googling stuff.

For local groups, they’re generally always on Meetup.

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Goes to show how little I know about them