Looks great! I've been toying around in XNA myself just for fun and to improve my programming skills. And i have to say that XNA is really easy and fun to work with! Keep up the good work.
I'm an Indie Dev!
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Easy? meh.. I wouldn't say so. Coding that grid snapping was a pita! :-p
Posted 1 year ago # -
Try C++. XNA and C# is much much easier ;)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Nice work, love the idea :D I'm sure if you released it you'd at least get a few hundred people buying it :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
hehe, been programming 18 years, yes C# is easier than C++, then again C++ is easier than assembler. Coding is easy in any language after a certain amount of time.
Difficulty is finding the "best" logical answer to a problem. In the case of grid snapping.. well.. I'm pleased with what I came up with. Ditto for animal rule checks. :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
@silkvg247,
I'm trying to learn C# myself at the moment, got any recommendations on learning resources?
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Mr-Brett
It depends, we all learn in different ways. I'm a hands on gal, so I learn by diving in and making mistakes. Other folks can learn by reading. Oh how I envy them.
It also depends on if you've ever programmed before, because learning the fundamentals should come before learning a language! And then on top of that game programming is quite different to other programming - I come from a windows forms background so had a learning curve to get past especially for drawing graphics to screen without a form.
To learn C#/XNA I started with this 2D tutorial:
http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/tutorial/2dgame/getting_started
And re-wrote parts of it afterwards.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Mr-Brett
I agree with Silk on how to learn C#. I definately prefer to try out and fail, and then figure out why it failed. Rather than reading a book and then just doing whatever example is in there. But as a general rule of thumb. Learn pretty much any programming language, such as Java for example, as this will also teach you the basic syntax that is the same for most programming languages. When you've learned one programming language, it is much easier to try out a new one, because you don't have to learn the fundamentals anymore ;)Posted 1 year ago # -
Wait..can you use my 1970's programming in Fortran??? ROFL.... I sure do miss those early days of writing my first programs with a team. Enjoy these early days and have as much as fun as you can...and Best Wishes Silk!!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Cheers for the replies, I also don't do too well with wall of text tutorials. I've not done programming before (I'm an artist so programming has always seemed like witchcraft to me), I'm probably getting ahead of myself and should focus more on the fundamentals.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm an artist who fell into programming. Don't be scared. A creative mind means you are likely to take quite well to programming after the intiial learning curve.
The tutorial I linked isn't too bad, it even takes you through what you need to install to get started. I'd say give it a whirl and if it's a bit too much then we'll see what else is out there.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You could try http://www.codecademy.com for its interactive lessons. The website comes with an interactive console and an IDE that marks syntax errors. It can be a little finicky but helps with the structure of basic logic problems. The main lessons are in javascript but they have the ability to do python and ruby as well. Each of these languages are human readable, which can be a boon for someone just trying to break in.
Users can also design their own lessons and spread them via facebook or twitter. I don't use either of those so cannot attest to how good any of the user generated lessons are.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm also an artist, and tried that link you gave us, silk. But I still haven't got the hang of it. What should I do? I want to learn programming, because I have ideas for a 2.5D platformer. Help? :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Sadismek
You really need to find a place that teaches you the proper syntaxes, and how you utilize the different fundamental functions, arrays, loops et cetera. And the XNA tutorial isn't really the best place for that. The best way i know is also the hardest. Reading a 900 page tightly written boring book :/
If you want C# i can recommend "Introducing Visual C# 2010" ISBN13: 978-1-4302-3171-4
And if you want Java i can recommend: "Big Java" ISBN13: 978-0470553091You can also try to find online guides, and there are some really awesome sites, such as stackoverflow.com. But be warned. It isn't easy to create a game. Not by a longshot. And you will have to learn all the boring stuff before you can create something fun. Otherwise what you'll create will most likely be very bad.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Sadismek
Find a programmer. Programming is not something you easily get its something that you either get it or you don't. In my Video Game art class I create, the most basic of objects so I learn the entire process of making normals, textures and modeling which I can do. It just doesn't look pretty. Last week all I did was work on my tower defense game throughout the classes looking at code and figuring out what is going on and it makes me all giddy inside more then making a 3d object. Its good to look into it with the sites like codeacademy or even grabbing Processing or actionscript and trying programming with those. Its good to know how it works but games are not made with one person they are made with a team of people.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Phoenix - sure games can be made with one person, 2D games at least. I'm doing it right now, did you not see the vid? 3D games probably need more manpower, though not always (minecraft?!). Regardless, I doubt anyone in their right mind would want to learn to program with a 3D game - it'd be making an already difficult learning process even worse.
@Sadismek - If that was a bit too deep then you really need to google C# beginner tutorials instead. This one looks good for learning C# AND games programming:
http://www.freewebs.com/campelmxna/tutorials.htm
As for 2.5D. Start with non animated 2D. Then learn animation. Then learn 2.5D - I presume you mean paralax scrolling or something? Learn in stages, otherwise you'll get overwhelmed.
Also if it turns out programming just never clicks, look into flash instead. You'll need to write action script for the more complex parts, so don't expect to escape coding altogether.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I wouldn't rely on FLash too much its going to be going away like the do-do because HTML5 will doing the same thing that flash is doing. All the schools out here have already prepared for it and removed all the flash and action scripting classes and switched them for HTML5 related.
" sure games can be made with one person, 2D games at least."
Games are not made in a vacuum, yes you CAN make a game by yourself but bringing in other people means bringing other skill sets and opinions will make the game that much better. 3d is only hard because of the math involved from 2d to 3d you just jumped from trig to Calculus 2.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks for all your replies! I think that I'll use that link you gave me, silk, and I hope I can get the hang of it. And I don't want to escape coding, really, because it seems really interesting, and I'm captivated by it, it's just... that I know little things about it.
The game I have in mind isn't 2.5D, really, I don't even know how to explain this properly. How is an engine, i.e. Unity, working? Does that require tons of programming? I wouldn't mind refining my 3D Max skills, if needed.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sadismek
Unity uses nothing but programming, Java,C# and Boo. I would suggest looking into Gamesalad lots of mobile developers use that engine.
Posted 1 year ago #
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