Developing Desktop Games - Where to Start?

[Losdivinos]

So I have a pretty good understanding of developing browser based games, but I wanna do something new. I would love to create games for desktop. I haven't really read much about it, but I am more than sure, that lots of you guys know something about this. How would I go about learning to develop games like this? Which languages does it require me to know? What do I need to start and where can I start learning? My goal is to develop a survival game in the style of The Forest and The Stomping Land. I just need to know which direction to go.

[vitinho444]

Well It's fairly simple.

First you need to ask yourself what kind of game I'm looking for to create, You have answered already, The Forest.
Well I would say for that, use Unity 3D engine.

You have to learn C# or Javascript (Since you know browser games you may choose Javascript as it's easier for you) and then just some basic principles on 3D game development.

Unity3D has a huge community and tutorials for all sorts of games, I believe there are even playlists on youtube for Survival Game Creation for Unity, so you need to search on google for that and i bet you will find it.
@EDIT
I forgot to mention, Unity has a Asset Store, full of 3d models, scripts, systems, textures, all sorts of assets you can use in your game, some payed some free. Also Unity Technologies (The Unity company) has available some sample projects, and completed games as an example of the power of Unity, so you might check them out first to see how it works.
My recommendation if you are choosing Unity is to get some playlist on youtube that teaches you from the basics to developing a basic game, but that's just they way i like to learn, i like people to teach from scratch to something playable, teaching every single detail in between.

If you were going to 2D game dev, I either would recommend using C++ and a graphics/audio Lib such as SDL, Allegro or SMFL, or go with already built engines such as Game Maker, Unity3D (It has 2D game dev tools now) or Construct 2 (never tried, but heard some good things).


Good luck with your journey

[Losdivinos]

Thanks man, that was exactly the type of answer I needed. I will be taking a look at the Unity engine soon. I guess this engine is used in a lot of well known and popular games? How does this engine differentiate itself from let's say Cry Engine? Efficiency-wise? Graphics-wise? Memory-wise? Programming-wise?

Already found a tutorial series on Youtube, so that is awesome!

[vitinho444]

Ok first off, yes Unity is used in a variety of well-known and popular games, but small games though.
Unity is the best engine, imho, for beginners in 3d Game development. It's 100% user friendly, and it's community helps a lot, they also have a Unity Answers website, where you can post your questions and tons of people can help you out, I never posted one, but I'm a frequent user since many of my problems were other people's.

About comparison, You can't just compare Unity to Cry Engine. Cry Engine is a proprietary engine and Unity is free and has a pro-license.
I used Cry Engine once, Didn't know what I was doing though, but I think it gives 100-0 to Unity in terms of performance, graphics and overall development, or else Crysis would be using Unity right?

But don't take this as a negative hit for Unity, Unity is not meant to compete with Cry Engine or Frostbite. I think a better comparison is Unity vs UDK, they are compared a lot by people and why? Because they are more or less at the same level, they are both free, with some restraining ofc, and they are both great, but I would still say UDK beats Unity lets say 3-1.

I've been using Unity for 2-3 years now, and I must say I like it very much, the only downside is that your game won't look top quality graphics with the Unity Free... but UDK is 100% free, every single power of UDK is free, but you have to pay royalties to them if your game makes more than 100k i guess. But like i said, Unity is user friendly, more than UDK imo.

To complete, Unity is your choice if you want to have a nice looking game, well built, deploy it for Mac, PC, Web browser, Linux, Android, iOS, PS3, Xbox 360 with a single button and it's definitely the place to start on desktop game development.
I hope my review on it gives you a good insight on what it is and what it can accomplish for you.

Just as a side note here's my ratings on what I've used on Unity:

Keyframe Animation - 6/10
Lighting (Free) - 4/10
Particles (Free) - 6/10
Scripting - 10/10 - You can pretty much code whatever you want, however you want.
Level Design - 8/10


To complete #2: Now that I made my review on Unity, I think if you want to create a High Graphic Quality game you need either to buy Unity Pro, or go UDK from the bottom. (I've tried learning UDK, but I just love Unity for its simplicity and UDK is much different).

I would love to hear some other opinions though

@EDIT
I mentioned Cry engine being proprietary not in the meaning as you can't use it, but I think it suits on the proprietary list of engines since it's a SUPER AAAAAAA Engine.

[Losdivinos]

Can't thank you enough for all of the help man! I will for sure stick with this tutorial series and Unity until I feel it doesn't satisfy the needs I have. I am full-on motivated and just now I have got vacation, so I have some time to dedicate into this. But again man, really appreciate your quality answers!

[vitinho444]

Glad i can help with my opinion, but please note that this is my opinion, there may be other people with the same opinion ofc, but this is mine
I would like you to try Unity, watch those tutorials, create something with it and then come back to this thread and say what you think about it

Good luck, and motivation is all you need!

[Losdivinos]

Glad i can help with my opinion, but please note that this is my opinion, there may be other people with the same opinion ofc, but this is mine
I would like you to try Unity, watch those tutorials, create something with it and then come back to this thread and say what you think about it

Good luck, and motivation is all you need!

I certainly will! Thanks man, appreciated!

[Script47]

I would suggest Java, although some might say it might be a bad option as it is slow and quite a resource hog, but you will be opening yourself to a wider fan base i.e Windows/Linux/Mac users and not just Windows users. I myself have recently (about a month) got back in to learning Java. I have tried it before but this is the first time I have gone in too as much detail as I have. I tried C++ and found that to be incredibly hard - probably because I tried it with no proper programming background whereas Java this time I have quite a bit of previous PHP/JS knowledge which has aided me with the basic concepts such as keyboard events and mouse events which are a big part in most desktop games. Also make sure you help yourself by using the correct tools for each language meaning for C++/C# make sure you use Visual Studio IDE and for Java you use IntlliJ IDEA as it makes development and testing a whole lot easier.

[Xaos]

Without turning this thread into a C# v Java thread entirely, I'd still recommend C#. C# and Javascript are what language Unity uses, and Unity is probably the best game engine for beginners. If you were going pure Android based, I'd say Java, but that's really the only nod I'll give it. They are very similar, so if you learn one you can learn the other, but in your case I think it'd be better to learn C#. I do agree C++ is probably too difficult for someone with very little experience.


Also keep in mind with Unity, you can export to various platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, etc. all using C#. There is also Mono for non-game stuff.

Take a look at these threads:
http://indie-resource.com/forums/viewto ... =28&t=7431
http://indie-resource.com/forums/viewto ... =71&t=6885

[Script47]

Without turning this thread into a C# v Java thread entirely, I'd still recommend C#. C# and Javascript are what language Unity uses, and Unity is probably the best game engine for beginners. If you were going pure Android based, I'd say Java, but that's really the only nod I'll give it. They are very similar, so if you learn one you can learn the other, but in your case I think it'd be better to learn C#. I do agree C++ is probably too difficult for someone with very little experience.


Also keep in mind with Unity, you can export to various platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, etc. all using C#. There is also Mono for non-game stuff.

Take a look at these threads:
http://indie-resource.com/forums/viewto ... =28&t=7431
http://indie-resource.com/forums/viewto ... =71&t=6885

I'm not going to turn it in to that don't worry, I haven't use C# that much to claim Java is better so I'm not going to say that, I'm merely going off my personal experiences. I have tried C# and I liked it, very clean language and development is very easy with Visual Studio, so which ever you choose just make sure you use all the tools possible to make life easier.