Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

[Crimson Knight]

Ambitious me is trying to start a games website soon. So since my C++ knowledge may not be very applicable to programming games for the internet, I decided to learn Java. The problem is, the amount of Java tools(and in some cases the language itself), blows compared to the support for C++.

For the most part, I'm looking for a game library/IDE/whatever, that cuts out a lot of the frustrating crap people have to go through just to even consider developing with Java. Anyone got any ideas?

[AbstractOrigin]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

You can get started here:

http://gpwiki.org/

It has tons of material on about almost every language you can program a game in.

[Chad]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

I kind of don't get what you want information on. Do you want information on building a site for games, or do you want information on how to make games people can download from a site, or do you want information about programming games that can be played on a site?

[Stormy]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

Not many people program games in Java... in fact almost no one does. The only game I've ever heard of (that wasn't text) that was programmed in Java is RuneScape. Perhaps you should try a flash game?

And if your trying to use Java to make a gameing website, then I strongly suggest otherwise. Java is the devil. Use JavaScript, or PHP, or PERL even. Hell, use Ajax if you want to (which isn't even really a language), but for the love of all that is good and holy, don't use Java!.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

I've taken years of programming classes and gotten As in almost all of them and I still don't know nothing about nothing.

[Crimson Knight]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

You can get started here:

http://gpwiki.org/

It has tons of material on about almost every language you can program a game in.

Thanks.

I kind of don't get what you want information on. Do you want information on building a site for games, or do you want information on how to make games people can download from a site, or do you want information about programming games that can be played on a site?

I'm asking if anyone has any information of say, which language to use for internet game development, and any tools to cut down grunt work, if any.

Not many people program games in Java... in fact almost no one does. The only game I've ever heard of (that wasn't text) that was programmed in Java is RuneScape. Perhaps you should try a flash game?

I've heard bad things about Flash. But I may consider it, since those kinds of apps are more likely to be supported by home console browsers.

And if your trying to use Java to make a gameing website, then I strongly suggest otherwise. Use JavaScript, or PHP, or PERL even. Hell, use Ajax if you want to (which isn't even really a language), but for the love of all that is good and holy, don't use Java!

Well what I'm trying to do is, make a website, which offers various games I develop to be played in a browser. I'm wondering which language/tools are best for this. Anything Java frustrates me though, so I may move to Flash.

Java is the devil.

I don't even use 30% of the C++ language to develop games, but I think I can agree with that.

I've taken years of programming classes and gotten As in almost all of them and I still don't know nothing about nothing.

LOL

Maybe you should try learning on your own terms? I never went to school for programming, I just picked up a book, and started learning.

[Chad]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

I'd definitely say ActionScript 3.0, going the Flash route, but that may just be a hard disposition for Java being a C++ programmer and all. If you know C++ it should be a breeze to jump into. It's another OOP language. I got this book on it and it is very nice.

That is assuming that by internet games you mean a game that you play in your browser.

[BeeZee]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

Hey Postulate Man, how are you with Actionscript? I've been studying it a lot for the past couple years, and I've got it pretty under control at this point, but it would be cool to have someone else to talk to about it once in a while.

Anyway, in answer to the thread: as far as Flash goes, it's easier than some and it has really wide support. The biggest problem I've had is that it tends to get a little choppy with scripted animations at times. If you don't mind that, or if you're making an RPG or something that doesn't require a lot of precision on the player's part, it's a good entry.

[Valkysas]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

You can do some pretty cool games in flash. One of my friends makes Megaman games with it.
http://www.dzarchive.com/iragination/clips/games.php

[Toaster]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

This is what I've been learning how to use:

Game Maker

The interface is pretty smooth and it doesn't require any real programming knowledge to use, but if you're interested in learning the fundamentals of how to make a game it's a great place to start. Plus all the games you make with it can be saved as self-executables and freely distributed without having to worry about giving credit to "game maker" itself.

[Chad]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

Hey Postulate Man, how are you with Actionscript? I've been studying it a lot for the past couple years, and I've got it pretty under control at this point, but it would be cool to have someone else to talk to about it once in a while.

Anyway, in answer to the thread: as far as Flash goes, it's easier than some and it has really wide support. The biggest problem I've had is that it tends to get a little choppy with scripted animations at times. If you don't mind that, or if you're making an RPG or something that doesn't require a lot of precision on the player's part, it's a good entry.

Eh, I'm all right on it. I haven't really done anything with it because I got held up, but I'm good enough on programming languages in general to discuss most anything about it, especially game concept and theory wise.


Funny enough, this is exactly what I was doing Crimson. My friends and I were going to start a Flash game website with a few things about it. I started creating the login system for the site and everyone else kind of stopped working on games so I stopped working on the site. For now, at least, it has been reduced to this. From personal experience, if you've taught yourself C++, you should be good enough to use PHP and Javascript for programming the site. Just read up on MySQL so that you can use a database and make it truly dynamic. There's nothing better than uploading a game and it just shows up and works.

As for the games themselves, you should be good with ActionScript as well. The biggest thing you're going to have to get used to is a language with even more OOP. Everything is a package.

[Crimson Knight]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

You can do some pretty cool games in flash. One of my friends makes Megaman games with it.
http://www.dzarchive.com/iragination/clips/games.php

But Flash is so... CHOPPY!
I played that game, it's probably one of the best displays of what Flash can do, as far as games are concerned.

This is what I've been learning how to use:

Game Maker

I've used that for a few years now. I kind of wanted something better and faster, so I moved to C++.

Funny enough, this is exactly what I was doing Crimson. My friends and I were going to start a Flash game website with a few things about it. I started creating the login system for the site and everyone else kind of stopped working on games so I stopped working on the site. For now, at least, it has been reduced to this. From personal experience, if you've taught yourself C++, you should be good enough to use PHP and Javascript for programming the site. Just read up on MySQL so that you can use a database and make it truly dynamic. There's nothing better than uploading a game and it just shows up and works.

As for the games themselves, you should be good with ActionScript as well. The biggest thing you're going to have to get used to is a language with even more OOP. Everything is a package.

That's what I don't like about Java. C++ has support for generic code, as well as OO code. And since Java lacks preprocessing, you can't just go in and make a game out of 1 array. But I guess I could use it for website design. Time to read up on that too I suppose.

So I decided to get on Flash and learn stuff about it. So, um... how would I go about developing with it? I looked at some dev tools, and they cost an arm and a leg.

[Toaster]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

Dear Postulate Man,

What do you reccomend I start reading or getting into--programming wise? Game Maker is fairly basic in an "RPG Maker" sort of a way. I won't actually learn much in the ways of programming but I'll be able to at least make something as it stands.

C++, I'm guessing. Should I just buy a "C++ for Dummies" or something like that?

[Crimson Knight]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

I'm not Postulate Man, but I believe I can offer some help.

I believe you should stick with Game Maker for a little longer. Game Maker's GML starts off as a simple scripting language at first glance, but in reality is deceptively complex, and capable of teaching some fundamental programming concepts, such as value passing, loops, functions and code crunching techniques. It's a good place to refine your programming/problem solving skills, without all the overhead of having to properly render sprites or something stupid like that. Once you get used to GM's GML syntax, you'll find C++ surprisingly easy to use(aside from all the OO stuff).

As for learning C++, here's a page you can start at.
http://www.cppgameprogramming.com/cg...cgi?page=intro
Pretty easy to get into. I suggest Dev C++ from bloodshed software for the IDE to code with.

When you think you have a grasp of C++, I suggest you start with the Allegro game dev library. It handles all the grunt work, allowing you to focus mostly on the game. Also, the Allegro community is full of stupid elitists, so support for easy access to the library is very small. When you decide to use Allegro, search for "EasyAllegro". It's a package with a good IDE, MinGW compiler and the Allegro stuff already installed, so all you have to do is use the IDE, and not have to worry about where certain files are supposed to be and all that.

If you want to go deeper, you could always use SDL.

[Chad]

Re: Anyone got a clue on net game prgrammin'?

Toaster, I'll put up some details later tonight (maybe a group photo of me and my programming books), but I basically made love with this book to start.

Crimson, this site is invaluable. Basically the SDK is free, so if you just download Eclipse you can use that as an IDE and let it compile for you as well. That would be a nice and free IDE.