Game programming

[EagleFan]

I am looking to start using my time to create a game. Something sime at first to get the feel and to see if I want to try anything more involved.

Thinking of just making a stupid little time waster first. Then a Sim lite. Then see from there.

I know the odds are slim but it's been a bucket list kind of thing. When I was a kid I created a text basketball and baseball Sim in basic. Also a text adventure that I never finished because I ran the computer out of memory while coding.

Are there any recommendations for utilities to start with.

I heard of something called Game Maker. Is that newbie friendly enough?

Any advice is appreciated.

[CraigSca]

My son used Gamemaker - it's certainly newbie friendly. It also has a programming language that you can use to customize some of the content. If you're looking to make a text sim, it's quickly going to show its warts. If you're looking to make a nice little top-down 2D game, it's right up your alley.

[Marc Vaughan]

If you're looking to make a text sim and don't have programming experience then I'd recommend Visual Basic as a starting point its more newbie friendly than C++ and suchlike ... but still suited to making a text sim.

[Gary Gorski]

I will second what Marc suggested - I am completely self taught and Visual Basic works just fine for text sims - that's what all of my games have been developed using.

[Groundhog]

If you are looking to make a text-based simulator, I'd go with something like Visual Basic or even Python - In a few months I've gone from zero programming knowledge of any language to building decent sized applications with GUIs in Python to automate a lot of manual tasks at work.

Graphically there are a lot of tools available with varying degrees of difficulty. I was just looking at App Game Kit 2 on Steam and it looks decent.

[EagleFan]

Thanks all, I'll have to check everything out.

Is there a stand alone VB development app out there still? All I find is visual studio which is well above what I want to spend just to start getting my feet wet.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Thanks all, I'll have to check everything out.

Is there a stand alone VB development app out there still? All I find is visual studio which is well above what I want to spend just to start getting my feet wet.

Visual Studio Express is free and perfectly suited for most needs.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Graphically there are a lot of tools available with varying degrees of difficulty. I was just looking at App Game Kit 2 on Steam and it looks decent.

I was a Kickstarter on the App Game Kit, but frankly haven't even touched it yet.

What GUIs have you used with Python? I'm not an HTMLer, so I'm having problems finding a good tool. I've looking into QT, but it looks a little difficult. I'm not sure whether I should learn yet another language (HTML) or hopefully find a GUI tool.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

What GUIs have you used with Python? I'm not an HTMLer, so I'm having problems finding a good tool. I've looking into QT, but it looks a little difficult. I'm not sure whether I should learn yet another language (HTML) or hopefully find a GUI tool.

I started with Tkinter, but about a month ago I switched to wxPython. QT was the 3rd one I looked at, but I haven't actually tried it yet.