How to spell gaming

You have just completed your first C++ course and want to start making games. Someone pointed you to this site and you may have experimented a bit with the guide. You've gone through a few concise examples but haven't found a guide on how to make an entire game. And there is a reason for that. nine0005

Tutorials are good for learning something step by step, like how to move a point image around the screen. In order to put the game together, you need problem-solving skills that come with experience. It's not something you can learn from manuals. The best way to learn how to make games is to start making them.

Project selection

So where do you start? It is easier to answer where not to start, namely with large projects, such as a full-fledged 3D FPS, MMO, or even a long platformer of the 16-bit era. The most common mistake new developers make is to start with a big project based on a Cool Idea, or take a project that seems simple and end up with a half-finished bunch of spaghetti code. Start with small projects first. nine0005

In early projects, your primary focus is learning, not implementing Cool Ideas. By keeping the project small, you can focus on learning new techniques instead of spending a lot of time on code management and refactoring. While your Big Idea may be awesome, the reality of the development industry is that the bigger the project, the more likely it is to make an architectural mistake. And the larger the project, the more expensive this mistake is. Remember the story of Daedalus and his son Icarus? Daedalus created wings from wax and feathers for his son. He warned Icarus not to fly them too close to the sun. But Icarus ignored the warning and the wings melted, and that's when gravity caught up with him. nine0089
So remember: don't fly too close to the sun with your new programming wings.

With all that said, here are a couple of tips to get you started.

Graphics and event handling

If you've never programmed anything graphics or GUI related, you should start with something small to get your feet wet. My first project was tic-tac-toe, so even I had humble beginnings. A couple of ideas for the first project:

• One Armed Bandit Simulator
  
  
• Black Jack
  
  
• Tic-tac-toe
  
  
• Four in a row
  
  

The goal of your first project is to move from console development to development of event-driven graphical applications. It will also teach you the fundamentals of game logic and architecture. I recommend something turn-based because motion games are a whole other beast.

Try to keep the project simple so that you can complete it and not lose interest halfway through and never finish the game. It's important to finish a game because you don't learn how to develop if you have a few unfinished games on your hard drive.

There is one point that I want to point out to those who will be doing tic-tac-toe or four in a row. Don't worry too much about artificial intelligence right now. Making the game only for two players, or playing with a computer that makes random moves is enough to get you started. nine0005

If you've dealt with graphics and event handling before and feel comfortable in that area, you can go straight to the next step.

Synchronization, motion, collision, animation

Now that you've played around with the graphics, it's time to do something in real time. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Duck Hunt
  
  
• Pong
  
  
• Space Invaders
  
  
• Galaga
  
  
• Tetris
  
  

Here you will learn about motion, timing, animation, collision detection, game loop, scoring, win/loss calculations and other important basic concepts used in every game.

Duck Hunt and Pong are good projects for those who already have experience in graphics and events programming. They have simple collision detection and all the essential basics of real-time gaming. nine0005

Space Invaders and Galaga are good choices for a second/third project. They have levels, so you will need to learn how to move from level to level using a state machine. You can read about state machines here. Shoot 'em up games also require you to create simple behavior patterns for your enemies, which is a step towards artificial intelligence.

Tetris is good for the second/third project. It has very little logic needed to create a puzzle game. It's a decently sized game, so you'll have to learn how to split your program into multiple source files, which you can read more about here. Don't underestimate Tetris. I underestimated and just look at this terrible mess in the Lazy Blocks code. nine0089

Reengineering

A typical rookie mistake is trying to make the Greatest Game of All Time, ending up in over-engineering. That is, when he tries to write the best game / engine and it all ends up using only a small part of what was written.

When I was a beginner I reengineered the AI ​​for tic-tac-toe. I wanted to make a game with invincible AI. I managed to achieve this by programming the computer to know all possible traps. Sounds cool doesn't it? It took almost 40,000 lines of mostly copied code and a month of my free time. nine0089 Later, I learned data structures and learned about the Minimax algorithm, which, with a smaller code size, not only did the right thing, but also did it better.

So learn from my mistakes and don't be too ambitious. Focus on learning how to make games instead of just making them.

Planning, collision analysis, physics, levels, artificial intelligence

Now that you have two or three small games under your belt, it's time to make your first big project. nine0005

So far, you've probably been programming as you go. It will end at this point. In the real world, most development processes are completed before the first line of code is written. Nothing can be worse than realizing that in order to add what you want to your game, you have to throw out all the code you wrote, because you didn’t plan everything in advance. Now that you have some experience in making games, you know what the development process is all about. Now you can plan games before you start making them. nine0005

Now about your next game. Break Out and Puzzle Bobble are good for a third project because they include advanced collision detection and physics. Physics is important because it gives the game a realistic feel. Even Super Mario Brothers has a sense of gravity and momentum. Billiards is an excellent project for those who want to strain their brains with physics.

In games like billiards, you not only need to detect collisions, but also process them in a specific order. Collision handling is very different from collision detection. While creating a pool table or a 2D platformer may seem like a simple matter, analyzing collisions in the right order is a tricky process and shouldn't be underestimated. nine0005

Break out and Puzzle Bobble also include level design and require their resources to be loaded and freed. It would be a good experience to create a level editor for the game. Editors allow you to easily create levels without having to solder them into the application. I have an article about creating a level editor.

You might also want to practice writing artificial intelligence (AI). One option is to go back to tic-tac-toe or four in a row and write an invincible AI. By now you should already know data structures and will be able to use your knowledge of trees to use the Minimax algorithm. With this algorithm, you can calculate all possible outcomes of tic-tac-toe and create an invincible AI. It's fun to upset your friends with it. You may also want to make different levels of difficulty. A game isn't fun if it can't be won. nine0005

Pac Man is a great way to practice writing AI. You will need to know tree/graph structures and search algorithms like A* in order for the ghosts to get through the maze. You will also need to make the ghosts work in a team. All this will come in handy when you make games with complex AI, such as real-time strategy games. You can read about the basics of AI here.

Platformers, Action/Adventure, RPG, RTS, Engines

Now that you've got the experience of creating a well-planned game, you're ready to create an Action/Adventure/Platformer. It will be the culmination of graphics, motion, animation, collision analysis/detection, physics, AI, software architecture, and everything else you've learned up to this point. Those who are more ambitious can be offered to make a real-time strategy (RTS) or role-playing game (RPG). Be careful because RPG and RTS are really huge projects.

RPGs have a complex architecture and require a lot of planning. You will need to plan every weapon, armor, trinket, attack, item, spell, summon, enemy, map, boss, dungeon, etc. down to the smallest detail. It all has to work smoothly, and, to put it mildly, this is not an easy task. So if your design project looks like a script or a comic, you need to do 9 more0219 a lot of work.

RTS are also architecturally complex and require a lot of AI. You will need to do pathfinding for units, receiving commands, different behavior depending on the received commands. If you've never done AI before, it's best to start with a Pac Man clone to start with.

This is probably the first time you'll have to build an engine for your game. What should be avoided is creating a generic engine. When creating an engine, do not try to make it suitable for any game. If your game requires x, y, and z, make an engine that can x, y, and z. Engines are created based on what is needed for a particular game, and not on the basis of what any game could potentially need. nine0005

Another common mistake among beginners is trying to create an engine as a first project. And usually it is a universal engine. You don't need a fancy graphics engine to make Pong or Space Invaders. When programming, it's easy to dig into the details. Focus on the big picture and complete your games.

Network

Everyone seems to want to make the next big MMO. Making online games is not something you can quickly grasp. I figured this out when I tried to do online poker right after finishing tic-tac-toe. nine0005

Adding a network makes the game much more difficult. When one player does something, you must send information about it to everyone else. It's like your right hand doesn't know what your left hand is doing. You will also have to choose between server load and what it can control. The more the backend does, the less chance the client has to cheat, but it also means more load on the server. For action and other high paced games, you'll have to worry about network latency and packet loss. nine0005

You should complete at least one well-planned game before attempting a multiplayer game. As your first networking project, try doing something that is not speed critical. For example, a simple chat server/client would be good practice. You can also return to tic-tac-toe / four in a row and add the ability to play online to them. Alternatively, try making an online card or board game.

After your first network project is ready, try doing something in real time. In your first networking application, you probably used TCP to make sure that the data you received arrived in the order you sent it. For games with a lot of action, the delays introduced by TCP will probably be too high, so you will have to use UDP. UDP does not guarantee the order of delivery, nor does it guarantee delivery at all. Because UDP doesn't do extra integrity checks, it's faster. You have to sacrifice the ease of use of TCP in exchange for the speed of UDP and the need to check data integrity yourself when creating a game. nine0089

3D games

Before making 3D games, you should make at least one well planned game and have a good understanding of 3D vector math, linear and Newtonian physics. Here you have to deal with vertices, textures, lighting, shadows, defining interaction with objects in three-dimensional space, loading models and other complex sounding things.

The good news is that if you've already made 4 or 5 games, you already know the basics needed to create a game. You are already familiar with the development process and know your capabilities as a programmer. Whether it's a 3D shooter or a 2D shooter, it's still a shooter. 2D RPG or 3D RPG is still RPG. nine0005

Don't take this as an excuse to skip 2D and go straight to 3D. Before you can learn to run, you must learn to walk.

Fast way

Are you saying that you learn faster if you jump right in and just write your 3D MMOFPSRTSRPG and learn what you need as needed? Well, here are a couple of tips to help you:

1. Go to the local market
2. Buy a whole fish. I recommend taking salmon or cod, although catfish is also suitable.

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