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[KenjiBeast]

Howdy folks, first post. Long time gamer, first time developer here just looking for some really basic advice for the time being. I really want to get into game design/development, but I'm not sure which programming language(s) I should invest my time in learning.

Thanks, folks!

[mcc]

It is basically impossible to answer this question unless you tell us

- What, if anything, is your existing programming experience
- Very vaguely, what is it you want to do

[John Sandoval]

Assuming you've never touched a compiler:

Python, then C++ is always a good path. But while you're learning these languages, learn game design with Game Maker.

Don't plan on making your first game with C/C++.

This is a bad idea.


On a side note, someone should make a "How to Get Started" thread and sticky it. There's a lot of folks asking this sort of question.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

c or c++ are a good start. They're fairly simple languages for basic text based stuff, and there is a lot of complicated stuff about them too so if you decide you like them you can delve deeper, and if you don't well you can switch to an "easier" language.

You won't be making games with just basic c++ though

[knight]

If you have no programming experience
-gml(game maker)
-as3(flash)

If you know flash or a similar language and want to do something more powerful
I suggest
-java
-python
-unity script(unity)

If you really want lots of control at the expense of simplicity you should learn
-C,C++

[Billy Ninja]

The best thing to pump a newbie motivation is something that he can quickly get a feedback, experiment and mainly express his creativity.

Then I would suggest something high level, like the game maker language, action script in Flash or Unity Scripting with Javascript. After playing and creating with this limited environments you'll eventually break it down to a more deep coding.

I think Java(with lwjgl) or C++ you may take awhile , or go through a lot of coping "mysterious code", before you can make something appear on the screen.

 

[KenjiBeast]

First of all, I'd like to answer some of the questions you folks brought up:
1. I have frankly very limited programming experience. I have a reasonable theoretical understanding of languages, but my real literacy is minimal.
2. I'm going to want to be making something small and simple, at least for the time being. One of the things that attracts me to indie game design in particular is the idea of elegant minimalism, so at least graphically/sound wise, I'm going to want to keep things as lo-fi as possible. The innovation, I hope, will come through the design.

I'm sure I'll look back on this thread in a couple weeks or months and realize just how generic and foolish the question is. I'm running through a couple Game maker tutorials as I type, and I'll be sure to look into the others you mentioned.

Thanks again!! I'll be sure to keep you all updated as far as my progress is concerned.

[Netsu]

As someone mentioned, Python and then C++ is a good path. And it is very easy to make your first game with Python and PyGame (a game making library for Python), especially considering the sheer amount of tutorials for PyGame available on the net.

[Billy Ninja]

2. I'm going to want to be making something small and simple, at least for the time being. One of the things that attracts me to indie game design in particular is the idea of elegant minimalism, so at least graphically/sound wise, I'm going to want to keep things as lo-fi as possible. The innovation, I hope, will come through the design.

This.   

[Riley Adams]

2. I'm going to want to be making something small and simple, at least for the time being. One of the things that attracts me to indie game design in particular is the idea of elegant minimalism, so at least graphically/sound wise, I'm going to want to keep things as lo-fi as possible. The innovation, I hope, will come through the design.

This.   

+1. Awesome attitude  , usually I expect a "i wan maek a MMORPG halp plz" from posts like these.

[John Sandoval]

2. I'm going to want to be making something small and simple, at least for the time being. One of the things that attracts me to indie game design in particular is the idea of elegant minimalism, so at least graphically/sound wise, I'm going to want to keep things as lo-fi as possible. The innovation, I hope, will come through the design.

This.   

+1. Awesome attitude  , usually I expect a "i wan maek a MMORPG halp plz" from posts like these.

INTERNET HIGH FIVE

[Ashkin]

My monitor cannot handle my extra-manly hi-fives.

[bateleur]

I think it's very hard to justify any language without garbage collection as a first programming language. It's not the 90s anymore.

[PGGB]

If you want to start with right away I would try GameMaker or Unity.
For some more do-it-yourself I would say Love2D. In any case I think Lua is a good language to learn. It's simple, elegant and if you need extra functionality it's easy to interface with C. Even if you eventually get used to C/C++ it's still useful as a scripting language.

[Alistair Aitcheson]

Personally, I'd recommend Game Maker or ActionScript 3. Good luck with your game development, and remember you can post links to your projects on these forums if you want help and feedback