Videogame Programming

[Heatbomb21]

OK, so I've had this idea for an Xbox 360 game for a little while now, and I think it's time I start putting it into action.

However, I have absolutley no clue how to program something like that or where to even find the software to do so.

Can anyone help? I'm pretty sure I know the process of getting it to Microsoft and all that jazz, I just need to get the programming down.

[Magus]

Did you know that mid to high-quality games requires at least 6 programmers with at least few years of experience?

[AutoPlay]

Did you know that mid to high-quality games requires at least 6 programmers with at least few years of experience?

try a team of over 200 with a budget of between 1 to 5 million pounds lol.

Yeah put the idea on hold, you dont have the 2.5million it would take to get it published for xbox360.

[Magus]

Yeah put the idea on hold, you dont have the 2.5million it would take to get it published for xbox360.You have a lot of people on hand. The marketeers, the managers and other loads of commerce graduates that you have to go through first if you want to hire the following.

You then have the producer, art-board director, story-board director. Two to five conceptual artists for characters to environments and other stuff. Three to seven 3D artists for characters, environments and etc. That amount of programmers for interactions, physics, triggers and loads of other stuff. Voice actors, motion actors(if it is going to be 3D intensive), composer, musical group and many other staffs.

When you are finished with the production team, then you are off to the publishing team(which you have to go through the same commerce graduate when you first started).

Yeah. Even if you are a good programmer with years of experience, you won't be going anywhere with just you.

Even opensource and indie video games are teams of perhaps five(if simple side-scrolling game) to about thirty members(if it is a mid-quality game).


See how many guys did 1986s Super Mario Bros (http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/525243-super-mario-bros/credit)

^And this was intended to be a joke game after Donkey Kong and Marios Bros, not a serious game, and became a hit.

Oh, and this is a simple game which needed 3 programmers.

[darkwoon]

OK, so I've had this idea for an Xbox 360 game for a little while now, and I think it's time I start putting it into action.

However, I have absolutley no clue how to program something like that or where to even find the software to do so.

Can anyone help? I'm pretty sure I know the process of getting it to Microsoft and all that jazz, I just need to get the programming down.
You'd be much better off gathering people with solid experience in programming and others with significant skills in design.

Indie games are definitely possible to create for the XBox360, but that's not a task a single man with no programming experience can tackle alone in its spare time. If you really think you have a good game idea, write a design document describing it, and share it on game programming forums, and try to build a development team around it. Your other way is to go the opensource route and attempt to turn it into a community-driven project.

In both cases, you'll have to get your idea properly and thoroughly documented, and you'll have to get a solid team of various skills. Moreover, there is more, way more between "I have an idea" and "I'm typing code". Writing complex applications is a real job, and, unless you're a genius, it requires months/years of hard work only to get the basic skills needed.

[TheMatrix]

I think that to even get Microsoft to consider letting you buy a compiler, they want to be sure that it will get popular enough to make some money.
Why not start with a PC game? It's a lot easier, and if you play your cards right, no need for hard-to-get compilers.

[Commander Thor]

I think that to even get Microsoft to consider letting you buy a compiler, they want to be sure that it will get popular enough to make some money.
Why not start with a PC game? It's a lot easier, and if you play your cards right, no need for hard-to-get compilers.

I seriously LOL'd. :P

All of Microsoft's game development tools (Visual Studio Express 2008 & 2010, plus the XNA development kit (Which lets you develop games for Windows, Windows Phone & the Xbox)) are available as a free download.
The *ONLY* thing you have to pay for if you want to publish games to the Xbox or Windows Phone, is an XNA creators club membership (Or App Hub membership I believe it's called now). Which costs $99 yearly.
It's absolutely free to develop for Windows though. ;)
You're also free to develop games for the Xbox/Windows phone. You only have to pay when you're ready to publish your application/game.

[TheMatrix]

I seriously LOL'd. :P

All of Microsoft's game development tools (Visual Studio Express 2008 & 2010, plus the XNA development kit (Which lets you develop games for Windows, Windows Phone & the Xbox)) are available as a free download.
The *ONLY* thing you have to pay for if you want to publish games to the Xbox or Windows Phone, is an XNA creators club membership (Or App Hub membership I believe it's called now). Which costs $99 yearly.
It's absolutely free to develop for Windows though. ;)
You're also free to develop games for the Xbox/Windows phone. You only have to pay when you're ready to publish your application/game.
Well hey, I'm not Microsoft's biggest fan, so I wouldn't know all of that.

[Sage]

Better yet, before you try making your own game, give modification a shot. Some games, like Minecraft, are very easy to modify, have large communities for support, and are great for people of all skill levels.

[nath0]

......Before you even make a xboz game learn to programme and get a team lol

[GosuBara]

Go to a library or book store and
start practicing the simple programming
languages first. Background knowledge
of all languages can help in the future.

I started with c++ , C#, and Javascript
Fairly easy to learn I would say. Then
you can start learning xml. Good luck

[Sporadica]

listen man, people will cut you down and say "Oh you need a tean of programmers and marketers and you need millions of dollars" well one thing you can do is write everything down, put it all on paper, over the next few months or years add onto it and after a few drafts and when you're ready pitch it to the developing companies, its the same situation as making a TV show sometimes. Just gotta find someone who is willing to pay for your idea.

[Rayquaza]

Im pretty sure if it's an idea from Suggestion -> Game Disc then your "idea" may probably have already been made somewhere.

[Twilly F. Sniper]

I have video game ideas too. I'll put them into action whenever I can. Im thinking of using a Creator program and putting data I have onto CDs. Hope that'll work.

[azorne]

Its not as hard as you think, do you know Maya? If you do, you can download the CryEngine (the software they made Crysis 2 with) over here (http://mycryengine.com/).

[Silicate Wielder]

I good way to start is by starting with simple test applications then advancing to more complex applications or games as you learn more complex coding languages. Right now I'm trying to learn Java Runtime.

Personally I always like to make a test version of a game to test the concept and then I make the real deal.

I'm thinking of doing a TTGL MMO at the moment :P

why not make a few simple games, that test what you can do. I've made complete OS emulators that even emulated viruses.

Here is the complete version of one I made 2 years ago. :)

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/ironmannn/1222846

the best thing is that its only a few megabytes in size and it took 3 months to develop. this also proves that just one person can make something good.

btw the only working website on my emulator is download.com :P
and the taskbar management system is broken. if you open more than 4 programs it will start giving out errors.

[root]

Learn to program first. python is a good beginner's language although i don't really like it. Check out udacity, and look up the youtube channels thenewboston and khanacademy. They all have great python tutorials.

After that move on to more complicated stuff like C#, java, C++.

My personal favorite programming languages would be php and c++. I think there are some sites where people make games and you can post to it and have people rate them.

[Magus]

This will be locked becaus eit's a year old thread that has been bumped. I am studying Al Sweigaft books. Really good books for beginners using the python script.

[Bath]

The last post in this thread is November, please don't post in threads older than two months, and if you see it happen don't jump on the bandwagon.

:locked: