Building a game-- what language(s) to learn

[Gabis1207]

My brother and I have been playing with the idea of making a 3D Action-adventure RPG game for some time now. We've gotten voice actors, music writers and performers, a decent plot line, textures, rigging, meshes, all that god stuff, but we've been held back by one major issue --None of us are very good with programming.

For a 3D, open-world game, I've read that the best languages to use are Java, as well as the C family (++ and # included). The issue is, I don't want to spend a ton of time learning all three C based languages, only to use C#, and neither of its family members.

So, What programming languages would you all suggest that I learn in order to start programming this game, and what makes that specific language or languages better than the others?

 

[carnageX]

Depends on what library you want to base on really. C++ is good to know, C# if you're going to target XNA especially. Not sure about Java.

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[Gabis1207]

Nothing I read mentioned anything about big buildings full of books... what on earth is a library? xD

 

[carnageX]

Library = prebuilt classes and functions to make it so you don't have to write basic things yourself.

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[Gabis1207]

Okay, so if I were to write for windows vs windows+linux vs windows+linux+Mac, the language I write in would change?

 

[carnageX]

Well, like I said... depends on the library or libraries you use lol.

You can write cross-platform in C#... it just requires the Mono framework/libraries to be able to use it on Linux/OSX. With C++, you need the platform-specific libraries included (different system calls for each OS essentially). Not sure about Java, as I'm not a Java programmer.

For example, in my Game Programming 1 class I took, we used C++ with the Allegro game library. In my GP2 class, we grouped together and my group picked C# with XNA.

 

[Gabis1207]

Alrighty then, I think I'll be sticking to just Windows for the time being.

 

[brandonsays]

I agree with CarnageX in that you're going to want to know which game library or game engine you're going to be using.

Some of the most popular ones for game development across platforms are:
- Unity 3D
- Crytek

Unity 3D is my favorite, and it allows you to use C#, JavaScript or Boo. Crytek uses C++ and Lua.

I have heard of XNA as well, but I am not too familiar with it. A good resource for a beginner game developer is gamedev.net. When I was toying with the idea of game development as my major, I found that to be a great starting point to get a lot of answers for things like this.

There are a lot of other dynamics to game development in itself that might be a little more overwhelming than the languages chosen. Handling the camera angles and the game physics are brutal from what I'm told. Maybe you can consider a quick course in game development at a community college nearby? Also, I was at Barnes and Noble the other day, and I saw a few great books on game development that might help you out with all the other aspects of game development aside from the programming.

Good luck!

 

[Gabis1207]

Well then I guess a trip to the bookstore is in my future. Thanks for the help.

Lucky for me, we're planning on doing a 1st person type setup, so no screwy camera angles to deal with.

 

[carnageX]

Add Unreal to that list as well; that's a pretty popular one, and if you're a student you can usually get it for free.

I also see that CryEngine (Crytek's engine that they made Crysis with) is available on Steam now.

You'll still have to deal with the physics of everything as well, though. If possible, start out with a simple game library, making something easy like a basic sidescroller and/or basic Zelda-style dungeon-crawler. You'll run into similar issues you would if making a first-person, but may be slightly easier to manage due to the more simple nature of the game itself.