Hi guys, a newbie type question i'm afraid.
I have what I think is a pretty good space strategy game concept. I have designed the data structures and made a functioning demo using VB. The intefaces are all simple text forms, and the AIs are still a bit moronic; there is no art.
My artistic skills are nominal. How should I proceed I wonder in making something of this, by spending years developing a broad range of implementation skills, or by producing a rough demo and selling it to those that can produce the product?
Thanks. Andrew
If you want to know about design I would suggest looking at sites such as GameDev.net and Gamasutra.com, since they have some very interesting articles. And I would suggest you get the book "Game Architecture and Deisgn" by Coriolis Press, they've gone bust now, but if you can find a copy, get it since its a damn good book.
As for the art I would suggest just using simple coloured squares (if in VB) as a start in the art, or smiley faces taken from an Intant Messaging Program for your units etc, until you either get someone else to do the art, or you learn an art program and make more programmer art yourself.
As for the skills set, I'm saying that everyone that develops games should have a broad understanding of all the necessary topics involved, but then concentrate on one particular field and get really good at that. By this I mean for the programmers to learn to use the artist's tools like image editing software, 3D modelling tools etc, but to then just program a lot and get really good at programming, while still being able to resize, adjust brightness / contrast, for the odd image.
As for the game that you have made a functioning VB demo for, I would suggest that you build up on the demo a bit to get a nice prototype done, and then try and get a few mates to do the art for it while you start programming the real game (in another language, C or C++ preferable, although Java is acceptable now also). Then this little demo and project might turn into something cool, and if the source is good enough it might land you a job at a *real* game company. And if it doesn't then you can always try to sell it yourself, or distribute it for free.
Anyways that's my long winded response to this.
I really need to visit AIE sometime. I've been driven past it and went "OOooooo" but haven't actually been in there and checked it out...
Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/
quote:Originally posted by Brain
I really need to visit AIE sometime. I've been driven past it and went "OOooooo" but haven't actually been in there and checked it out...Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/
It's not much to look at from the outside. It has the same tan/brown bricking that Australian buildings seem so fond of [:p]
If your skill is programming, then keep it as your main area of expertise. If you want to branch out into art and such, go right ahead. It's your project, do what you wish.
You could get a mate or few that are artist's to help you out, or recruit via places like Sumea.
Hmm... unsure if that was useful at all... @:-p
Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/