What game programming means to me

In my opinion game programming is all about taking the algorithms inside of engines and modifying them to create new content. By learning to understand a game engine that was already built rather than starting from scratch your greatly accelerating your potential. If everyone focused their efforts on making games modeled exactly after games that are on the market then the industry would be much larger.

Everyone would be interested in core codes given to the public that were meant to lay down the groundwork for a new game. Seminars would be conducted teaching everyone how to implement content and build gameplay.

That is not what its like now. Everyone wants you to learn everything. But there is only so much a person of average intelligence can comprehend.

I know basic syntax and how to use graphic design programs. I can't create good models or code complex games.

I wish things were different.

 

You're asking that all games just be copies of other games? That already is the case far too much anyway. It would not improve the game industry to make it even worse. My advice is to buckle down and just learn rather than complaining that it's too hard...lots of people are able to manage it. No, it's not something you can do in a week. Anything worthwhile will take time and effort.

--Eric

 

What I'm trying to say is that game code is supposed to be different than just plain changing variables after mouse overs, mouseclicks, hudclicks, collisions or after the changing of other variables.

I don't understand engine code when I look at it. It mine as well be like some friggin Chinese. But I do understand basic syntax.

Nor am I ever gonna friggin do it because I'd prefer to eat cheese poofs and smoke cigarettes. One reason is I don't know if it would work, another reason is I'm too lazy, and the third reason is no one cares.

But I care... and I want to program games!

 

Supposed to be different according to who? Game programming is programming. Regardless of whether I am adding an enhancement to an interface or network db application during my workday OR working on my little game project for an hour or two in the evenings... I am always going to be using variables, data structures and so forth.

And actually, Unity makes game programming different than it was for me in the past when all I had was a code editor (Notepad at one time). It sounds like you want some kind of point and click game maker. Have you checked out GameMaker Studio? It may be just the kind of approach for you to get started with.

Then get started and do it!

 

Fortunately you don't have to—Unity exists, it's done the hard stuff for you, and you don't see the source code. So you can just focus on your game code.

You're going to have to make a choice between those two mutually incompatible things.

--Eric

 

man just dive into it, all things worth while take effort and you dont seem to want to put any effort in. So that must mean its not a worthwhile goal to you, which makes me wounder why this post exists.

 

My point is that this type of coding is pseudo coding.

 

What type of coding is "pseudo coding"? All coding is just coding; pseudo code is made-up code, usually simplified, used for illustrative purposes. Not something you actually use.

--Eric

 

how so?

I have programed for web, servers and desktop applications, and have done game programming for unity and unreal.

Game programing is just programing yes you got a fairly large library of tools provided for you by unity, but really that is true of the .net libs in C# or all the stuff python comes with as well. Most apis and languages provide the user with a extend library to stop them from re-creating the wheel at every turn.

All of my basic and more advanced programming concepts still hold true in unity.

I don't mean to come off as arrogant but i think you really need to brush up and get some experience before tryign to have a discussion like this.

 

Well I'm usually too lazy to take those suggestions but humor me. Brush up on my code?

Would demonstrating examples of things like killing a monster and looting his items and equipping them to an inventory prove that I don't need brushing up?

Look I could probably program a whole slew of things... but that's not going to get me any closer to a real game. Real games have ways to catalogue their data. The only thing I know how to do is change variables and make checks to them.

 

All I see is OP saying:

"WAH WAH WAH. Programming is hard. Why is the learning curve to make games so steep!? WAH WAH WAH. This should be easier, make it easier for me!"

Go write games in Construct2... or better yet... RPGMaker... if you want it to be that easy. You'll quickly learn that the easier it is, the more tied into the same exact mechanics you become.

 

Then LEARN MORE!

 

Real games need a lot of things...
Gameplay elements driven by an engine.

I'm sure its about more than just rendering animation that you coded with basic functions and variables and if statements. In theory you can code everything for an MMO, that doesn't mean that it is one. It means that by definition you coded huds and animations for it. You coded it correctly so that visually it resembles a game.

But technically it is not because it can not run on a multiplayer network or provide any kind of worth to gamers for long term play because they can't create accounts and save their characters. Among other things it is missing.

I don't think its a matter of me learning more either.

 

Yeah, it's also a matter of man power.

Making a game takes TIME.

I'm making a video game right now. This is a 2 man crew. An artist and a programmer. And we have actual experience working in the professional field (my artist used to work for Activision and was a lead artist on his last project there).

And we still figure that the game we're making is going to take the 2 of us working full time for probably 12 to 15 months.

And it ain't even a god damn MMO.

You ever wonder why games, especially MMOs, have multi-million dollar budgets!? They have teams, of teams, of people. 50, 100, 200 people working on the game.

You're 1 person.

And you're saying... "we should condense what takes a butt ton of people to do, and just make it easier"

You think they don't want that? The next World of Warcraft wouldn't take so much money to make. Increasing profits.

But no. That's not how the world works. It's hard to build houses, and cars, and computers, and computer games. This stuff doesn't just HAPPEN. That's why we make money doing it. If ANYONE could do it... it'd be like working at McDonalds... and you'd only make what you'd make working at McDonalds.

You twit.

 

Yeah that's a lie... games can be made quick if you know how to make em quick.

Theres nothing that can change my mind about that either. Its not like I can ever win this discussion. Alls I have to say is that what people say and what the truth is is sometimes very different.

 

Sure.

And they won't be an MMO if you make them quick.

I can slap together a little iPhone app in a day.

Not all games are equal...

What's your point?

 

And you must be trolling now.

Yeah... that's our point. If you know how to make them, it isn't as hard. So why don't you go LEARN HOW TO MAKE THEM.

 

Basically my point is that the industry sucks. There should be websites dedicated to helping people come together on specific projects. In an effort to help get more content made quicker.

 

And look I'm by no means a perfect person. I lash out I get angry when people don't see things my way. I get kicked out of forums, and no one understands me.

I really do know how to code, I really do know how to animate.

Theres just a big difference between 1. simple functions variables and if statements and 2. a game engine.

 

The sites should have specific goals. Like hiring a programmer to lay the groundwork for the engine, or artists to do the modeling and texturing and materials, or content developers to implement and expand the gameplay.

 

Unity... it's a game engine. So you don't have to write it.

Unity Forums. It's a community where one can go to meet others and collaborate.

And Unity isn't the ONLY engine, or community.

 

So go start one!

Here's the problem though.

Who is going to spend the money to "hire a programmer"??? Who is going to pay these artists and content developers?

 

Like I said.

I have a 2 mean crew here. We wanted to make a videogame. So we honed our skills, we saved our money, we quit our jobs, and we're making a game!

Please, check out our website.

www.jupiterlighthousestudio.com

 

And don't let anyone tell you that it takes a million years to program an MMO. The world is full of lies. Perhaps if we weren't so capitalist media driven zombies we would have real games in our society but we don't. MMO's have maybe 10 classes of characters (and yes I'm talking about things like warrior paladin and rogue). Imagine an MMO where players were forced to level to 1000 and there were about fifty different classes like bard or cook or mechanic or soldier or drug dealer, etc

 

Look the point of this thread is to talk about how hypothetically the industry could be different. Not for me to blurt out ideas about an MMO.

Basically I think that games are more expandable then you think they are. Blizzard dictates that it takes them a long time and a large team to make their games because it makes it seem more noteworthy. In all realisticness they could drop a new expansion every day.

 

You obviously don't know what goes into making an MMO.

I didn't say millions of years.

But it takes time, resources, man power, skill... a LOT of stuff. And usually, in this society, we trade money for those resources, time, man power, and skill.

If you want to have an argument about how our society is structured wrong. Well... you kind of started the conversation from the wrong direction. And really, if you want to CHANGE that... video game industry probably ain't the best place to start. Our capitalist society is kind of bigger than this niche of the entire market place.

 

You can make a game as quick as you can create content.

And I'm only one man, and I know the stigma is that MMO's take a long time to make. What I'm trying to say is that it is indeed a stigma. Content can be created at the drop of a hat.

 

O.O

And you think it takes only a day to make the content required in an MMO expansion pack?

How long do you think it takes to make a model? How long do you think it takes to animate a model? How long do you think these things take!?

I'm done.

You're insane.

Tootles.

 

I consider myself above average at some things and pretty average at everything else. Typically, I'm a good problem solver and I have to force myself to work hard at my craft which is game development. I would suggest you follow the learn tutorials (link at top of page) and immerse yourself in the resources there. The learn team has done a great job at easing people in and I'm sure you would find it useful.

Game development isn't something everyone's entitled to be great at without some effort put in, pretty much like music. If you want to be good at guitar, then you'd better start practising.

 

Don't kid yourself; everybody understands you just fine. You just flat-out admitted that you're too lazy to learn to make games...nothing much to misunderstand. You want the rewards without having to put any effort in. That's certainly human and pretty common, but you could decide to do something about it rather than wasting time complaining on forums.

You're going to have to make up your mind about that, one way or another. You can't have both.

Yes, and you're not helping matters much. If you want some truth, here it is: making games will never, ever be easy. Let's take your complaint to its logical conclusion and pretend that Unity has a "make MMO" button. Yay, now everybody can make a cookie-cutter MMO by clicking a button. Guess what, you just obliterated the value of those cookie-cutter MMOs. By virtue of taking no effort, they are now worthless. In order to make something interesting that people want to play (since they will tire of the cookie-cutter MMOs almost immediately), you'll have to spend time and effort doing extra work in order to stand out. And, of course, other people quickly get the same idea, so now you have to spend even more time and effort competing against them. The bar just gets raised...look at what one person can do with Unity now compared to what one person could do, say, 20 years ago.

--Eric

 

So you said you get angry when people don't see your point of view, but you won't even consider the point of view of industry professionals, since there are at least 3 of them who posted on this thread all telling you more or less the same thing. Than you devalue their work by saying it all can be done at the drop of a hat.

You also mention that you can make systems like inventory or looting etc, but that gets you no closer to a game? Well yes it does since a game is a collection of systems and mechanics.

Might be time to lay this one down, since the discussion is obviously going no where.

 

Have you people never encountered an internet troll before? Why give this guy the time of day, he's not listening to anybody and he's getting you caught up in a pointless debate that is just wasting you time.

 

Well if he carries on he'll get banned and have to waste other people's time instead, on another forum. Hopefully he's interested in learning to make games instead though.