Any Teams/Schools Have A "Game Development" Club?

[davidalln]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

OpenGL and SDL are multi platform and if I specifically use only OpenGL and SDL without any platform specific libs, it should all be good.

Dicey. Sure, you could use GLUT and SDL and it would technically be multi-platform (if by multi-platform you mean across Mac/Linux/Win; it's a different story if you want to be on the iPhone). But you'll be sacrificing speed and risking unnecessary bugs.

Also, graphics is just one part of the puzzle. You still need the actual engine code: controlling the characters, physics, audio, etc.

I would really suggest focusing on one platform. The experience you get fighting your way through WGL or learning Objective-C or... God knows on Linux will be much more useful later in life. Why limit yourself?

Also, if you're having trouble with dedication, then it's usually a biting more than you can chew issue. As romantic an idea as it is, you will not be able to sit down and churn out the next Half-Life, or even the next Braid or Sam & Max. I have a feeling this is your style considering your very popular thread. Slow down friend!

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by davidalln

Dicey. Sure, you could use GLUT and SDL and it would technically be multi-platform (if by multi-platform you mean across Mac/Linux/Win; it's a different story if you want to be on the iPhone). But you'll be sacrificing speed and risking unnecessary bugs.

Also, graphics is just one part of the puzzle. You still need the actual engine code: controlling the characters, physics, audio, etc.

I would really suggest focusing on one platform. The experience you get fighting your way through WGL or learning Objective-C or... God knows on Linux will be much more useful later in life. Why limit yourself?

Also, if you're having trouble with dedication, then it's usually a biting more than you can chew issue. As romantic an idea as it is, you will not be able to sit down and churn out the next Half-Life, or even the next Braid or Sam & Max. I have a feeling this is your style considering your very popular thread. Slow down friend!

I guess that is true, but its better than having low expectations and just half assing it, don't you agree? BTW I am not ready to venture into 3d programming yet, I failed miserably before trying... There are games that are quite simple from a programmer's POV, but they are so addicting, that is what I am trying to reach, not the next Final Fantasy Series or God Of War... I always say why aim for Community college while you can aim for MIT and CalTech? Never underestimate yourself

[davidalln]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

I guess that is true, but its better than having low expectations and just half assing it, don't you agree?

I disagree. I love the thrill I get of drawing a ship to the screen using a professionally-used API like OpenGL and watching it move across the screen. Sure, it's not too exciting, but it's there! It's something that I made!

Where do I go from there? Well, I have to make that ship shoot bullets next. And then make enemy ships, and those enemy ships have to move around with AI. And then we need to see if the bullets hit the ship. And increase the score if they do. And save the score to a high score table. And then, just for fun, set up a database online, connect to it, and make a global high score table!

See how quickly things can evolve? Don't focus on the final product: the final product isn't guaranteed. But you should be able to draw a sprite and move it across the screen; from there so much can come out of the knowledge you gained from that first step.

You ARE shooting for MIT right here, but you're working your way up. Most mortals like us have to learn step by step, gaining more and more with each tiptoe taken. You don't take a forth grader and ask her to take the derivative a logarithmic function and calculate the area under the curve. You give her years of education and experience, and then throw her in a Calculus class. Then she can apply for MIT and get in smoothly with a full ride

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by davidalln

I disagree. I love the thrill I get of drawing a ship to the screen using a professionally-used API like OpenGL and watching it move across the screen. Sure, it's not too exciting, but it's there! It's something that I made!

Where do I go from there? Well, I have to make that ship shoot bullets next. And then make enemy ships, and those enemy ships have to move around with AI. And then we need to see if the bullets hit the ship. And increase the score if they do. And save the score to a high score table. And then, just for fun, set up a database online, connect to it, and make a global high score table!

See how quickly things can evolve? Don't focus on the final product: the final product isn't guaranteed. But you should be able to draw a sprite and move it across the screen; from there so much can come out of the knowledge you gained from that first step.

You ARE shooting for MIT right here, but you're working your way up. Most mortals like us have to learn step by step, gaining more and more with each tiptoe taken. You don't take a forth grader and ask her to take the derivative a logarithmic function and calculate the area under the curve. You give her years of education and experience, and then throw her in a Calculus class. Then she can apply for MIT and get in smoothly with a full ride

I see what you mean, baby steps, but I go for get the big picture, like lets say lets get the league championship, but we have to take it game by game, even play by play. I want to keep the big picture in mind, but break it up into baby steps. Thats what I think the pseudo coding period should be, plan everything out like the game theme, storyline and the code. What the audience wants, not what you want. Put it down all on paper, then have like a step by step check list that you go by. I think thats the way it should be programmed, I programmed the way you described, kind of spontaneously, I never really got that far that way, I just kept going into road blocks and had to refactor my code several times, then I would lose interest... I like working top down.

[Slix]

I wish my high school had a game development club.. That would be great fun!

[Jogo]

If you are hoping to profit, I highly recommend working in Flash. It is definitely accessible for high school students, and the casual game market is doing well. Even simple puzzle games can go for upwards of $1000 if they are addicting, and with a large enough group can be a 1 or 2 week project. Actionscript 2.0 and up is a full-fledged object oriented programming language not much different than Java or C++, and it is pretty easy to work with.

Sponsorships can be achieved by contacting sites directly, or using flashgamelicense.com.

[hipsterjr]

342 started something like this in 2009. It is called Summer Pygames. Students use Python to develop educational games for the XO laptops.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=team+342

[MattSr]

Originally Posted by Jogo

If you are hoping to profit, I highly recommend working in Flash. It is definitely accessible for high school students, and the casual game market is doing well. Even simple puzzle games can go for upwards of $1000 if they are addicting, and with a large enough group can be a 1 or 2 week project. Actionscript 2.0 and up is a full-fledged object oriented programming language not much different than Java or C++, and it is pretty easy to work with.

Sponsorships can be achieved by contacting sites directly, or using flashgamelicense.com.

I have programmed in a number of languages but surprising to even myself I have never wandered into Flash, any chance that there is some free software out there that is decent to learn on?

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by MattSr

I have programmed in a number of languages but surprising to even myself I have never wandered into Flash, any chance that there is some free software out there that is decent to learn on?

http://www.sothink.com/product/swfquicker/index.htm

[Jogo]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

http://www.sothink.com/product/swfquicker/index.htm

http://www.swishzone.com/index.php is another good flash animation tool.

Both of these are okay for the animation side. For a solid programming IDE and compiler, go with Flash Develop: http://www.flashdevelop.org