Other ways of making a game
From DmWiki
Games rely on programming - it is code which makes the magic of the computer transform art into an interactive experience. But games also require gargantuan quantities of artistic resources such as models, textures and sound effects for the fabric of the game world. With the packages now available one can just provide the art and script the world instead of having to program. There can be disadvantages to the code-free route however, depending on the solution chosen.
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Modifying existing games
Since the days of the original Doom, games have increasingly leveraged on the users' willingness to create content. Half-Life, Doom 3 and The Sims (to name just a few) all have extensive facilities to build your own world to play in the game. One can create new maps, campaigns, characters, objects, weapons, sounds all to give the player new experiences. Many projects produce 'Total conversions', which are giant mods that create an entirely separate game universe from the original, where all content is player created.
Creating a 'mod' (shorthand for modification) is a simple, and usually free affair once you own the game itself. You can begin by just toying with existing maps, and later add more things and experiment further. If you eventually get into programming you can extend the game through code as well. The only disadvantage is that you will not be able to package your work as a standalone game for others to play.
Game creation software
There is a growing selection of software that helps you to create games, without ever resorting to programming. These usually rely on you to create the artistic resources, and to create the worlds. It is worthwhile investigating some of the following products:
- Visual3D Architect .NET (http://visual3d.net) (framework and visual authoring environment for game creation with .NET 2.0)
- The games factory (http://www.clickteam.com/English/tgf.htm)
- Video Game Design Pro 2006 (http://www.thecorpament.com)
- 3d Gamemaker (http://t3dgm.thegamecreators.com/)
- Game Maker (http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/gmaker/) (completely different from the above product)
- Game Editor (http://game-editor.com/download.html)
- Adventure Game Studio (http://www.bigbluecup.com/)
- Wintermute Engine (http://www.dead-code.org/)
Most of the above have free trials, but require a small fee for full functionality. You should check out the product demos and the community before making a final decision.
Other sources of information:
- MMORPG Creation Packages (for MMORPG related packages)
- Awesome Game Creation by Charles River Media (http://www.charlesriver.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=18866) (a book on using these tools, and many more)
Choosing Alternative Languages
The following is a list of alternative game programming languages. These languages are often simpler and easier to use then a more fully featured main stream language like C++ and therefore a more viable option for a beginer game programmer, or just someone who is new to programming, to get started making his or her game.
- BlitzBasic (http://www.blitzbasic.com/)
- DarkBasic (http://darkbasic.thegamecreators.com/)
Work as an artist
You can still be part of the games production process as an artist - designing levels, creating meshes and textures, synthesising sounds and writing music are all invaluable skills to a game production crew. There are many brilliant open source projects that you can work on in your free-time, or you could train to work as a professional in the industry (it's never too late to change careers!).
In a game team there are different kinds of artists. A few examples are given, but the important step is for you to find out what you enjoy most - there will be a use for it in games!
Texture Artist:
- Learn photoshop
- Learn 3D package
- Learn BodyPaint 3D
3D artist:
- Learn 3D package
- Learn Photoshop
- Learn zBrush
- Learn about 3d engines (perhaps when employed)
