ForumsProgramming ForumWhat are your favourite tools to make games with?

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DoraDoraBoBora
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DoraDoraBoBora
116 posts
Nomad

It's so neat to see people talking about learning Flash and Unity. It's a really daunting task for a lot of folk, so all y'all just diving in are clearly pretty darn brave.

I thought I'd see what other tools everyone likes to use to experiment making games with. Obviously RPGMaker in all its various forms is kind of iconic, but what about Twine or Choice Script? What got you interested in making games, and what do you feel like would help you get there? I feel like we need a NaNoWriMo (or obviously NaNoRenO), but for baby steps in game making across all platforms.

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Easelm
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Easelm
24 posts
Shepherd

Nobody has replied to this thread? No way!

I'm a CEO of Nomsoft, LLC which is my small game development company. I cannot get enough of games. I enjoy Unity a lot and I've been using it for years now. My team & I are currently creating two serious projects in Unity (one of which is about to release this year). I even create Unity and other game creation related tutorials on Youtube under ProgrammingNomEnt. I share my experience with everybody else and I cannot get enough of it!

But before that I started coding in Lua and the thing that got me into creating my own games was the idea to bring uniqueness to the game world. Of course the major thing was the overall enjoyment of creating games - once you start going you cannot stop! It was truly all about learning different libraries, languages or engines before I got comfortable using software/other that I wanted to make my game's with.

I have used RPGMaker but I like more control over my games. I'm not saying RPGMaker limits that, but as a programmer I like to code my games from scratch. That way I know how everything is coded, how it runs, etc - and the uniqueness to add more features if I'm willing to or if needed.

Some other libraries I've created games in: XNA, SFML, GameMaker and probably others that I cannot think of at the moment. I also started a side-hobby game in javascript and php.

I'm a C# guy so every chance I see I'll code in C# as it is my main language. I do mostly 2D games before I hit 3D for the learning experience first.

I created a nice 2D Tower Defense game in XNA that I brought to Steam Greenlight; sadly the artist quit and it never took off. The game was a bit amateurish or it might seem that way in the trailer, but I had a LOT of placeholder art. You can see the trailer Another Tower Defense

The game in SFML I went very in-depth with. Skills, inventory, items, item tooltip, player weapon attack, etc. It was more of an SFML learning experience than anything. However, weapon attack, combat, enemy, weapon equipping, looting and everything is working so I did some good with the game I guess. I did name the game Boredom because I was bored and worked on it whenever I was ...well, bored. Heh. Here's a screenshot: screenshot of Boredom (P.S. I'm not an artist \o/)

I've done a lot the past few years to get where I am today and it has been a great journey. With my overall experience I really enjoy Unity and C# the most. The only way I learned Unity was through Youtube tutorials, Unity API (docs) and experimenting by trying to create simple games. You can go on some sites like udemy for learning courses. My friends did it but I never really got into that.

I feel like I'm advertising, but I'm honestly not. If you feel like I am you can ask me to remove the links or you can remove them @ArmorGamesStaff. This is my life experience with games! If you have any question I'd love to answer them.

Jtom2k
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Jtom2k
43 posts
Nomad

Great answer from above! ^

I love using Unreal Engine, publishing with it is really depressing as it takes away a lot of your sale, but it is very strong and powerful depending on the game you want. It's very C++ based, which to some people is a much harder language to learn, but like all languages, put time into it and you'll get your head around it.

I love Unity too, it's more well rounded and can make ideally any game you want. Most people frown on it because it's too 'nooby' but let's face it, some amazing games have been produced through Unity. You have Rust, Slender and other titles that took away the online gaming community, and sold hundreds of thousands, or played just as much.

reedman64
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reedman64
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Nomad

I use Twine, but I've never had the courage to submit my games

SirLegendary
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SirLegendary
16,585 posts
Duke

I used to use Scratch. It was very basic.

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