How do you turn a Videogame idea into a Videogame?

[Cecil475]

I have a videogame idea. After writing out full details about the Idea what should one do next?

- Warren Lewis

[Picho]

Dunno really, thats the point im stuck at as well.

But something im trying to do would be to get a 'crew' together who want to make your game.

[beemoh]

STEP ONE: Send it, plus a million pounds, to me.
STEP TWO: Wait

In all seriousness, buy a book on game programming, learn to program, and program it. Enlist like-minded friends to help.

[KN]

Make game.

Show game to Valve or Nintendo (if they're really going to release indie games on the VC).

Suck some cocks.

Game gets released on Steam/VC. Valve/Nintendo and you split profit.

Now, you must become John Romero.

[Demontestament]

Now, you must become John Romero.

lol I thought we were above John Romero jokes :rolleyes:

[KN]

Absolutely not!

[ffalcon]

Try Game Maker as a starting point. (http://www.gamemaker.nl) You can't make blockbusters with it but I recommend it for beginners. GMLhas roots in C/C++.

[neoelasticman]

Game Maker is good, it's what I use and if you have other programs it makes it even better (I like to use Photoshop's animation capabilities to make animated gifs that I can import into GameMaker. This is far better than the built-in paint program)

Another option that can be very cheap or very expensive, depending on your taste, is
www.thegamecreators.com
I believe that's the site. I haven't bought it myself yet so I can't attest to its goodness, except to say that it looks pretty good. They sell loads of programs for all aspects of games, including a couple options for people who are not interested in actually programming their games. I can't say I'm interested in those, though, but others might be.

[Viper_K]

does anyone know where to get any SDK's or "ground-up" editors, i know and use Unreal Editor 2.0, but i still need more...

[beemoh]

does anyone know where to get any SDK's or "ground-up" editors, i know and use Unreal Editor 2.0, but i still need more...

I'm going to assume thigs where you can code up from nothing, whereas I suggest looking into DirectX or OpenGL- or even XNA.

[Garrett]

Fool around with some free game creation programs first. I like adventure games; take a look at these:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

http://www.adventuremaker.com/downloads.htm

And look at your choices of game development software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Game_creation_software

[Anjin-San]

I'd like to note that pre-fab stuff is great as a point of reference, but in order to truly get into game design you'll need to know a whole helluva lot of math and should make a point to learn about coding. A friend of mine is a novice at this stuff and is giving it a look, so I'd advise getting stuff like Maya or that HL2 SDK.

And don't procrastinate either, seriously.

[beemoh]

Oh- you can download single-language versions of Visual Studio (I have Visual C# 2005- but then, I have full-on VS, too) for free, off the MS site.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/

That's pretty much all the software you'd need to make games, albeit simple ones. After that, it's just application of knowledge.

[ZippyDSMlee]

I am working on Q4 scripting its going slow,I been having computer issues >>

[Viper_K]

step one.
-wait

step two.
-repeat step one

[ZippyDSMlee]

step one.
-wait

step two.
-repeat step one

I am getting some help at doom3.org :3

just my stupid computer has gone batty

[John]

I USE A PHOENIX DOWN!

Hem...ok...before you can turn an idea into a game, you have to organize said idea.

Doing so will require a Game Design Document/Game Bible, which basically would outline the design aspects of the game. Which, in turn, would be followed up by the Technical Design Document, which outlines the technical aspects of the game.

For a GDD, check it out here: http://www.ihfsoft.com/designdocuments.htm

Personally, I like the layout of the Captain Claw GDD.

As for the Technical Design Document, you won't find any on the web. Those are kept under wraps by developers, and are not released publically.

[Brokenscope]

Do not, I REPEAT DO NOT buy a book on game programming until you have a solid or at least a beginners grasp on the language. If you do frustration will be common.

[ezacharyk]

Do not, I REPEAT DO NOT buy a book on game programming until you have a solid or at least a beginners grasp on the language. If you do frustration will be common.

I agree. First learn a language. This will help you get a grasp on the SDK. C/C++ are the best to learn as the majority of developers use them. C# would be next in my list as XNA uses it and it is being adopted by more studios every year. Java would be last. It is not widely used or adopted in the game industry.

After learning one of the above languages, find an SDK that uses the language.

For C/C++ - DirectX, OpenGL, and hundreds of opensorce SDKs

For C# - XNA

For Java - you got me. Do a google search, but by learning it, you learn a wide range of valuable skills.

So learn a language and program the game yourself. Game design docs are essential as they keep the vision of the game in line and you a don't succumb to feature creep as easily.

[beemoh]

After learning one of the above languages, find an SDK that uses the language.

For C/C++ - DirectX, OpenGL, and hundreds of opensorce SDKs

For C# - XNA

DirectX is language-agnostic, it'll work in VB.NET and C# just as well as it will in C++. I believe people have had XNA going in VB.NET, too.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Do not, I REPEAT DO NOT buy a book on game programming until you have a solid or at least a beginners grasp on the language. If you do frustration will be common.

I know enough Unreal script to slop sludge around at it,I cant seem to find any recommended coding books for it..maybe because all the good stuff is online.

[Brokenscope]

In my oddessy of programming discovery (unlearning the bad habits java programming has taught me...ugh) several books have helped me thus far.

The C Programming Language
http://www.amazon.com/C-Programming-Language-2nd/dp/0131103628/ref=pd_sim_b_3/104-6406044-6739930

God bless this book. Took me roughly 6 weeks to go through it, literally learned C, C aint a huge language but still I rather felt that was pretty good considering that 1 1/2 years of java courses in college didn't teach me nearly as much as this on book did. I grabbed this book 5 weeks into my first semester of java. I also learned some valuable things like memory management. Learned C then started C++.. which is taking longer but is proving interesting. I still have time to take my java course to.

Once you are fairly good with C start on C++ for that I recommend this book

C++ Primer Plus
http://www.amazon.com/C%2B%2B-Primer-Plus-5th-Sams/dp/0672326973/ref=pd_sim_b_5/104-6406044-6739930

Good book helpful thus far you can pick up some other books to help you with the game design specific stuff.




I would actually pick up a book that specifically goes over the mathematics concepts used in game design. Depending on what you do your going to need calculus, linear algebra, er some type of geometry I know but can't name, and some discrete math. If your really want to go nuts with it do some basic game theory, while not always realevent to the programming, if ever, it can be interesting from the design standpoint. Oh yes and some statistics stuff.

That all depends on what you want to do with your programming skills.

Oh yes, you should also read a book called "code complete". It will teach you how to program in a fashion that will allow your co workers not to hate you because your code can't be looked at by anyone but you. Not to mention other things.

Please note your talking to a beginner/intermediate programmer with hopes of working in the industry one day.. er well more than one day maybe a few years...woo sleep. yeah have the stuff i just typed may be completely unnecessary considering what you may or may not plan on doing with your idea.