Hello out there....

I have some programming experience and have a specific idea for a game in mind but I am not sure where to start.


My query is what language to begin with.....

I want my game to be able to connect with a database easily as the content will be based on vocabulary... I am an english teacher....

I also want something that can be played via the web...

The basic idea will be to have the vocabulary in one language falling from the top of the screen with the opposite language at the bottom in boxes. The player will have to click the correct vocab word before they die. I have attached an example. I am not reinventing the wheel with this idea but I would like to make mine a little different than how the original worked....The database connection is so I can change vocabulary around if I want....easily...

I was thinking flash at first but then I started to look into database connections and got worried... There seemed to be a lot of people saying that connections in flash were not too easy...

I know this is going to take a lot of effort, even for my simple idea... but I think I first need to know what language would be best... my thoughts are flash or java because I know a little about each of these... although not a lot...

any help would be appreciated to get my research underway...

Travis

This post has been edited by tmlander: 18 Jun, 2009 - 08:21 AM

I definitely do not claim to be a master in either, but here's an analysis.

Flash pros: Easier animation, flash is also kind of the "standard" for developing simple web games

cons: harder database access, expensive (400$) dev tools (I don't want to scare you away though, look into the tools and prices a bit)

java pros: easier database access, free dev tools.

java cons: not really any huge cons, java applets are kind of dying but absolutely nothing is holding you back from making one. I haven't done much applet design, but the animation is definitely possible.



Very different techniques and dev strategies used with each.


good luck! I'd love to hear about any decisions/progress

Probably you should take a look here:

Where to start with Game Programming?

In this case, i'd not use java if i was you. I think flash is a right choice for animation while php for database manipulation.
So, the first thing you should consider is not only about isolating the game logic stuffs in php and flash but also animation in flash.