I Want To Develop A Game

[Sharlenwar]

Okay, so here is one of those posts again. I have an inclination to go out and develop something again. I want to make a game, that is playable with other people online.

What development technology should I try and use? I'm aiming at something small, hobby level, but fun enough to mess around with. I'm good with any programming language really, sure I'm rusty in various places, but I can pick it all up fairly quickly. Realizing that I'm surrounded by various gods of programming here in these forums, surely someone has some useful advise of the direction I should take.

As far as the game, it would be most likely 2D, since that is much easier to work with and I could probably get something up and running quicker. With 3D that would be a challenge, as I need models, but I wouldn't mind going that route either. As well I am looking at taking vacation time here, so I would like to do something similar that Jack has done, try and make a simple game in hours.

The game I plan on creating will be documented each day as I work on the project. This is to motivate me to work on stuff, and to at least keep moving with the project. I find that the reason I never fully complete a project is because I lose focus through the project. This time I will have a clear idea of what the game is and create the game to that point. Then finish and move on.

So if you are still reading this, what direction do you think I should go? Go with Java? Python? Node? I understand that anything can be used really. What I would like is something that would work in a Windows environment, with the possibility of working in a Linux environment as well. Reason for Windows is because my machine at home is a gaming rig, could do game development with it, it has been mostly been used to edit/process videos, play, and record games. A big thing to keep in mind is my time. I usually have around 1-2 hrs a day that could be committed to a project like this at the moment, during my vacation I can allocate more time. Minimum would be an hour spent on the project a day. So it needs to be something I can have up and running in no time.

Any ideas to help? Oh, and if I posted this in the wrong forum, move it. :-p

[Xaos]

You could go with python/node and have a browser-based game that can be played anywhere. You could do that with Java, too, but it'd make more sense with python or node. Go for it, excited to see your updates (May I recommend you use your blog area for it???)!

[hallsofvallhalla]

I was just coming to the forums to get some inspiration as I too have got my Game Dev Mojo back and am redoing Planetary Wars. My first PHP web game I ever made. Funny though this time I making it with Javascript, NodeJs, and some libraries like Bootstrap. So many people were telling me "Use Unity and Photon" but in truth I can get so much more done faster and better with Javascript and can do SOOO much more networking wise with Nodejs. Not to mention all the code is mine so I know how it all works

[Sim]

how about an arena like game. instead of tanks, people or creatures

[Jackolantern]

I was just coming to the forums to get some inspiration as I too have got my Game Dev Mojo back and am redoing Planetary Wars. My first PHP web game I ever made. Funny though this time I making it with Javascript, NodeJs, and some libraries like Bootstrap. So many people were telling me "Use Unity and Photon" but in truth I can get so much more done faster and better with Javascript and can do SOOO much more networking wise with Nodejs. Not to mention all the code is mine so I know how it all works

I definitely think that there is a lot of value in things like Unity and Photon. But a single developer working with very little budget isn't going to make good use of Unity and Photon. Unity is amazing as you know, but it takes a ton of work and AAA quality art assets to really show off its muscle. And Photon is powerful, but its power is mostly in its scalability, which is something, again, most single devs aren't going to be too concerned with (node will scale fine for the types of traffic a hobbyist game without a $500,000 advertising budget will pull in).

For the types of games that small indies such as ourselves make, JS and node can be a better option. But I just did want to add that it gets to a point where rolling your own solution is going to take much more effort than taking advantage of existing tools, such as when you want to create a game with next gen graphics or create a fully fault tolerant server cluster farm.

[hallsofvallhalla]

Correct, I guess I should have been more clear. I meant working on a 2d game that is not graphically heavy is far easier with HTML5 than making a big production out of it with Unity. Unity definitely has its place and for a 3D app it is hard to find a better choice.

[Jackolantern]

Very true. I checked out Unity a while back, and it is apparent that they have not focused much energy on 2D development. I guess it is probably a good decision since 2D games can be rolled from scratch anyway, and even if a dev was going to use an engine, there are already plenty of good 2D engines out there better modeled for those types of games than Unity which is obviously designed from the ground-up for 3D.

[Sharlenwar]

Haha! Seems like a few of us are wanting to jump back in. I am just trying to see what path I should take. Like standing at a crossroads and figuring out which way to go. A lot of the time it is a coin toss and choose. I just want to see what the community has to suggest so that I can try and make a better decision.

I'll poke around with some stuff and see what I come up with. But advice is always good!