   Please help...all i wanna do is...
  Make video games...yeah its sad i know.  I'm a network specialist making a decent pay  but for as long as i can remember i've only wanted to create video games...namely (even before they really had a name) MMO's.  The problem?  All i have is some basic visual basic training and thats about it...i'm very fluent in computers themselves but i have decided i need to get started on my games...I've been told for years how great my ideas are even my guild and friends keep telling to get on 'the ball.'  I've DM'd many many table top board games and have even created my own but i want to go further i want to make the games and make mmo's...so my questionWhere do i start?  i dont care what it takes or how simple i have to begin i'll make pac mans for all i care in the beginning...just someone please tell me where to begin?  I'm not really interested in programming i want to develop games not program the software used to create them, although programming knowledge will help in the long run...So any help would be appreciated i'd be obviously willing to have someone take me under their wing.If you have any information please reply and/or send an Email to ServvsUmbrarum@yahoo.com   
  There is a begginer's faq around here somewhere, which I'm sure someone else will linkify.  My reccomendation: SDL, using C or C++ if you already know one of those languages, or Python if you don't.   ;  Bah...well its time for you to laugh at me...I have a decent amount of Visual Basic Knowledge and misc other little tools (rpg maker lol etc) but thats it.I'm familiar with C and C++ but never used them...and what is Python and SDL?   ;  The first thing to realize is games take teams a lot like a movie takes a team. You have to decide what part of that team you want to be. Are you giving your friends great story ideas or great gameplay mechanic ideas? Do you want to be the scriptwriter or do you want to be the stage setup crew? You could do a lot yourself, there is indie development, but...One of the worst things you could do is attempt to get into the complexities of computer programming if your heart is truly set in story or game DESIGN. Especially since you mentioned an MMO.So you say you want to "make games" but that's a very general desire. Step 1 is to sit down and think about what part you want to play. If you have great stories and game ideas and want to learn to program them yourself, just know it's a lot of work and it's a tough balance. You could end up getting frustrated at the technicalities of computer languages and lose sight/faith in your original idea.Don't take this as a doorstop though, it's just personal advice and a warning of what could be to come. This is a balance I struggle with as on my game I'm the programmer, story-writer, designer. The only things I'm not doing are art and music. And let me tell you there's nothing like 3 days of debugging to make you not even want to think about your original story idea.   ;Quote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumI'm familiar with C and C++ but never used them...How's that? (WIKIPEDIA: Oxymoron)Quote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumand what is Python and SDL?WIKIPEDIA/GOOGLE: PYTHONWIKIPEDIA/GOOGLE: SDL;Quote:Original post by Anonymous PosterQuote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumI'm familiar with C and C++ but never used them...How's that? (WIKIPEDIA: Oxymoron)Quote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumand what is Python and SDL?WIKIPEDIA/GOOGLE: PYTHONWIKIPEDIA/GOOGLE: SDLNot the most pleasant are we?I'm familiar meaning i've seen people use them and i've sat down and have conversations with people who use them but have yet to start learning them myself.Sorry, i am in the process of wikipedia-ing them both it was simply a question i'm sorry if i offend you in my search for assistance and knowledge   ;  Hi,Yeah, just a word of caution.... games take a loooooong time to complete...  start simple, but finish it! Check it, my game in development ;  http://www.realmcrafter.com/not done yet i dont think, but it would be up your alley.   ;  since you know Visual Basic, let's work with that, shall we?Visual Basic + Direct X or Visual Basic.NET + (MDX 1.1 or MDX 2.0);Quote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumQuote:Original post by Anonymous PosterQuote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumI'm familiar with C and C++ but never used them...How's that? (WIKIPEDIA: Oxymoron)Quote:Original post by ServvsUmbrarumand what is Python and SDL?WIKIPEDIA/GOOGLE: PYTHONWIKIPEDIA/GOOGLE: SDLNot the most pleasant are we?I'm familiar meaning i've seen people use them and i've sat down and have conversations with people who use them but have yet to start learning them myself.Sorry, i am in the process of wikipedia-ing them both it was simply a question i'm sorry if i offend you in my search for assistance and knowledgeSorry, this wasn't meant to offend you, and I am sure you didn't offend anybody either, it's just that you asked a couple of questions that would take us more time to manually answer, than for you to simply use a search engine to look up the answers yourself, answers which are much more comprehensive than the ones you would be getting here.Concerning "familiarity" with a programming language: you'll find that most programmers would hardly consider themselves "familiar" with a programming language as long as they aren't able to use it properly. That's why it may in fact seem weird to see someone refer to himself as being familiar with a programming language, that he didn't even ever use at all.Again, sorry if it seemed you offended anybody: that's certainly not the case, but it is generally very much appreciated to do some legwork yourself.   