Creating a game

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Hi,
I want to learn how to make a game I started to look what language to learn and how to do it.
I want to create a 3D game. I know that to create a 3D game like GTA IV is impossible for 1 person, so I'm not talking about a game like GTA IV, but still something good that in the future I will be able to write games like GTA IV. I prefer to learn language that can be single player and online game.
What you recommend to learn?
I read that the best options are XNA/DirectX and C++/C#?
What is the most recommend?

Posted 20-Apr-12 1:24am

nitzan1

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Ed Nutting 20-Apr-12 7:46am

From personal experience I would recommend C# and XNA because they are the easiest to learn and work with plus C# will do a lot of the memory handling for you which is often a problem when programming a game. Furthermore, XNA will allow you to program one thing for both Windows, XBox, Widnows Phone and Zune without much code change for each. Finally, it allows you to interact easily with the Windows Live online gaming system, if your doing a serious online game. Else there are plenty of networking libraries available for C# to allow online gaming, including my own one here on CP and CodePlex: http://networkinglibrary.codeplex.com/

Hope this helps,
Ed

nitzan1 20-Apr-12 8:16am

Thanks it helps a lot.
I know C# pretty well so it will much easier to learn it on C# then C++ although I know more then basic of C.
I guess I will start reading and looking for book on XNA.
What I need for XNA? Is there any special add-ons or something for Visual Studio or another program?

Ed Nutting 20-Apr-12 8:24am

Glad I could help. You will need to get your hands on the XNA Framework and Development Kit called XNA Game Studio (latest version is 4.0). I cannot provide you with a download page because it depends on exactly what you want - you can get it combined with other things such as the Windows Phone development extensions stuff. All of it integrates nicely with VS 2010 with the need for add-ons etc :) In other the game studio and development kit install the stuff you need into Visual Studio.

Good luck,
Ed

Reza Ahmadi 20-Apr-12 8:31am

Nice recommendation! ( though I could not vote as did not make your suggestion as a solution!)

Ed Nutting 20-Apr-12 8:32am

Thank you :) Yes was writing a comment then posted and realised it was really a solution...no point reposting as a solution though.

nitzan1 22-Apr-12 3:58am

I have another question
If I write in XNA, can I write online games too? or only single player games?
If not what the best language to write online games?

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Aescleal · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-20T02:38:00

If you want skills that'll translate into the games industry on desktop computers NOW then learn C++ and about DirectX on windows. Every games shop I've worked in has been exclusively C or C++, apart from mobile phone games which were J2ME.

One problem with C++ is that consoles (apart from the Xbox360) have terrible C++ compilers so most of the time you're working with a crippled language if you want some performance out of it.

I'd also have a look at some 3rd party games engines as most companies aren't bothering to create or maintain their own these days. Unity [^] is quite popular as it's cross platform and has a .Net interface and a C++ one if you can dig into their docs far enough.

Cheers,

Ash

Edit: English fail corrected

Espen Harlinn · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-20T02:57:00

Solution 3

Have a look at this page:
List of game engines[^]

Best regards
Espen Harlinn

Posted 20-Apr-12 2:57am

Espen Harlinn

Comments

VJ Reddy 23-Apr-12 19:38pm

Good reference. 5!

Espen Harlinn 24-Apr-12 6:25am

Thank you VJ :-D

Clifford Nelson · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-20T17:28:00

Solution 4

Here is a site for programming games in C# and XNA: http://www.freewebs.com/campelmxna/tutorials.htm[^]. It is not very hard. A group did a simple game program at my school using C# in only a week or so.

Posted 20-Apr-12 17:28pm

Clifford Nelson

Updated 20-Apr-12 17:29pm

v2

Comments

VJ Reddy 23-Apr-12 19:38pm

Good reference. 5!

Creating a game

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