[Miikalsen]

Okay, I'm being captured in the bubble of deciding which programming language i want to continue with to make games. I'm not asking for which is best, but I'm asking for which you think would suit me the best after the preferences I'm about to post.



First off, I'm very interested in 2D games, recreating the games which one time was very popular. Like Super Mario, Tetris, snake and all of that. I*m a big fan of games like Super Meat Boy. Which is a 2D game i believe made in c# (?) I do believe i just want to do this as a hobby, not a full time job within a few years( I'm 16 Years old)

I have been looking at learning more of C++, Java, C# and Pyhton.

Here is my conclusion so far on each of those.


C++ : Seems like something i could continue with, only problem is that its not possible to make games only knowing C++. So i have to learn something like DirectX, or what so ever.

Java: Its a very nice language, but its heavy.. And I have not found any games on youtube which really looks good in java (Don't Mention Minercraft ). So I'm not sure if this is the best language for making games of my sort(?)

C#: Its somewhat similar to Java, only thing i don't like with it is that Its using .Net and tha Virtual C# Studios to create programs.. Which i find not to be very fun, because it somewhat removes some of the work.

Python: Uhm.. Just something i looked at but dose not seem to be very attractive to make games in over all.
It looks powerful, But the IDE, hate it. And games seems to be somewhat wierd. When they are made in Python.



So the conlusion is ??

I have no idea what to pick... So I'm reaching out here to get some answers and hopefully I'll


Thanks in Advance.

[stayscrisp]

From what you posted regarding the types of games you want to make then XNA , which uses C# would be a good choice. Another option if you want really quick development and multi-platform games is AS3 and the starling framework, it's a relatively easy language and engine to learn.

Also you could use SDL with C++ and I have some tutorials linked in my signature that will get you started

[Miikalsen]

stayscrisp, on 29 July 2012 - 06:04 AM, said:

From what you posted regarding the types of games you want to make then XNA , which uses C# would be a good choice. Another option if you want really quick development and multi-platform games is AS3 and the starling framework, it's a relatively easy language and engine to learn.

Also you could use SDL with C++ and I have some tutorials linked in my signature that will get you started

Well.. Is there some kind of IDE for C# Which i can use that dose not let you like make the frame and buttons and all that as the studio for Microsoft dose? Since that's why i don't want to use C#.. Its somewhat seems less fun.


And also.. C++ Is a big language. And i would expect to learn a lot to learn it then learn that library. Don't you think ? :3

[stayscrisp]

C# is a big language too, in fact any language is going to take a lot of your time to learn. The question is how serious you are about putting the time in and learning? If you really put your mind to it then any language is possible to learn along. Some will be a little quicker to learn but they are usually languages that do a lot for you (which from your dislike of visual studio creating frames and buttons for you is something you don't want).

So I guess the real question here is how much effort you are willing to put into this?

[Miikalsen]

I believe that if i find the right language for me, i would work a lot on learning it.
Also, do you have some videos of games made with this Starling Framework ? It seems somewhat interesting, and could be a option really. Same with Game Maker Language.

[xclite]

From reading your post, I'd say the best choice is C#. C++ is always a good choice, loathe as I am to write it myself.

[Miikalsen]

xclite, on 29 July 2012 - 03:40 PM, said:

From reading your post, I'd say the best choice is C#. C++ is always a good choice, loathe as I am to write it myself.

The only way i could do C# Is to get a IDE that do not offer that Drag and Drop feature which the studios offers. Example buttons window size and et cetra. Just from thinking on it makes me wanna throw C# somewhere ugly.. 0o

[Tayacan]

Look into Python some more - you say that games made with Python look weird? Weird how? What a game looks like depends mostly on the graphics. Pygame is a good library for making games with Python xD

[Miikalsen]

Tayacan, on 30 July 2012 - 03:54 AM, said:

Look into Python some more - you say that games made with Python look weird? Weird how? What a game looks like depends mostly on the graphics. Pygame is a good library for making games with Python xD

Could you link some games.. 0o I can't find any..

[Tayacan]

PyWeek - a game jam where all games are in Python!

[Miikalsen]

Tayacan, on 30 July 2012 - 04:10 AM, said:

PyWeek - a game jam where all games are in Python!

Thanks for that link, other thing that concerns me with Python. Is that Python has to be installed to play the games.. Which is not very good.. xD

[BBeck]

Miikalsen, on 29 July 2012 - 07:07 AM, said:

stayscrisp, on 29 July 2012 - 06:04 AM, said:

From what you posted regarding the types of games you want to make then XNA , which uses C# would be a good choice. Another option if you want really quick development and multi-platform games is AS3 and the starling framework, it's a relatively easy language and engine to learn.

Also you could use SDL with C++ and I have some tutorials linked in my signature that will get you started

Well.. Is there some kind of IDE for C# Which i can use that dose not let you like make the frame and buttons and all that as the studio for Microsoft dose? Since that's why i don't want to use C#.. Its somewhat seems less fun.


And also.. C++ Is a big language. And i would expect to learn a lot to learn it then learn that library. Don't you think ? :3

I'm going to say C# with XNA also.

I think what you don't like about C# is Windows Forms applications. Yes. That would be bad for games. And if you were only using C# you might end up with something like that. But XNA is the game design framework/library for C# that allows you to create games. These are full screen Windows games (and can also be run on Windows Phone and XBox, but I think you have to pay money to put it on XBox). No frames. No buttons. Nothing on the screen except your game.

Both MS C#.Net and XNA are free downloads from Microsoft's website. Once you have Visual C# 2010 installed then download and install XNA 4.0. C# 2008 works with XNA 3.0. XNA 3.0 and 4.0 code are different enough that code for one will not work on the other. You may need to install all 4 if you are working with 3.0 AND 4.0 example tutorials.

Game programming in XNA with C# is a whole lot of work. You'll learn a lot. And you can focus more on game making than C++ would allow you to do. Any work you are missing out on by using C#/XNA will be work that you don't want to be doing anyway.

[SixOfEleven]

Miikalsen, on 30 July 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

xclite, on 29 July 2012 - 03:40 PM, said:

From reading your post, I'd say the best choice is C#. C++ is always a good choice, loathe as I am to write it myself.

The only way i could do C# Is to get a IDE that do not offer that Drag and Drop feature which the studios offers. Example buttons window size and et cetra. Just from thinking on it makes me wanna throw C# somewhere ugly.. 0o

Just because you use C# doesn't mean that you have to use Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation. As BBeck just pointed out there is XNA for making games with C# and there is no drag and drop involved. You will find the drag and drop and building of forms useful if you are making a game that needs an editor. C# is used all of the time when making tools for building games. Even if you go the C++ route it is still worth learning C# for it's tool building capabilities. If you're looking for an example of a game that was built with C# and XNA look no further than Terraria. There are also many more games built with XNA available through XBOX LIVE. You can't take one aspect of a programming language and say, well because C# and Visual Studio allow for building apps using dragging and dropping I'm not going to use it. You have to step back and take a look at the language as a whole and all of the tools that are available.

[darek9576]

This question is answered every 2nd thread.

[Miikalsen]

Okay thanks for the fulfilling answers i have gotten so far.

I have made a decision and i hope that I'll follow this path. I'll take my time and go through C# and learn it. If i regret what i have done, I'll go over to java and begin learning there.

Both languages seems like a good choice. Java over the other, But you guys suggest that I should pick C# After what i wrote. And that's what I'll try to do.

For me to manage to continue learning, I'll maybe create a blog and post about what i learned that day, and maybe It'll be a good source for me to get some questions out. Or maybe just get some tips and so on while doing my stuff.

This thread is still open for more replies and suggestions..


/Thanks