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[Sato]

Noob alert, just saying.

Now, I know that there are a lot of good sections on this site designed for helping with this kind of thing, but I'm still struggling to make up my mind on which to learn.

I've been attempting to learn Actionscript with Flixel, but the problem with that is the lack of good, updated tutorials for Flixel.

C# looks simple at a glance, there are many tutorials for it and it seems pretty good for game development, but I'm not sure if it would be easier to learn than Actionscript.

C++ seems to be the most usable and powerful, but would it be good for a beginner like myself?

Alternatively, I could start out with a tool such as Unity, GameMaker or Construct and take it from there? Unity seems interesting, but might be a bit too advanced for me at this stage...

Thanks for any help any of you can give.

[mcc]

I do not think C++ is good for a beginner.

Because of the way C# works, anywhere you can use C# you can use simpler languages like javascript.net or unityscript.

I think the important thing at your stage is not to worry too much about the language or the tools and just try to get to the point where you're comfortable writing a significant, structured program in some language.

[BlueSweatshirt]

Contrary to what you think, Unity would probably be an excellent start for you. It's highly flexible and has tons of resources.

[Sato]

Contrary to what you think, Unity would probably be an excellent start for you. It's highly flexible and has tons of resources.

Good for a complete newbie though? I'm definitely considering it.

[thatshelby]

Depends on what you want to do. If you want to crank out the games, use Game Maker. If you want programming, use C# or AS3. If you want both, Unity is a nice balance of visual and code. So is Game Maker, however, Game Maker is geared towards 2d, but Unity 3d.

Bottom line:

C# or AS3 if you want to focus on learning to program
Game Maker or Unity if you want to learn to make games

[Sato]

Unity is starting to sound better and better. I believe it has has it's own programming language and support for C# as well correct? If so, then I guess I can learn C# and make games faster.

One question though, does it have support for 2D games? I think Max and the Magic Marker was made with it.

[thatshelby]

I'm not sure if it has it's own language.. I thought it supported C#, Javascript, and Boo (unless that IS unity's language).

Unity does have a few plugins for 2D games. I'm not experienced with it, but here's a sprite manager for Unity, which sounds like it makes it easier: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=24812.0 I'd assume the rest is just restricting the axes, which is easy to do. I'm fairly certain there's a check mark you can tick to bind it to that particular axis.

I don't have much experience with Unity, but with what I have done, it's nice for tinkering around with little ideas. A lot of games are made with it, and it's very widely used, so I would say go for it.


Alec Holowka has some nice tutorials: http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/impromptu-unity3d-intro-tutorial/

[BlueSweatshirt]

Unity has support for Javascript, and Javascript is pleasantly simple and flexible for a beginner looking to get their feet wet. The advantage here is that when you've became more confident in your abilities you'll be able to step up to C# or whatever and take advantage of its capabilities, yet still be in the same environment. I'd call that a win.

[C.D Buckmaster]

You could always try using Flashpunk with Actionscript, the forums are filled with previously existing advice and tutorials and there are many active members who could help you.

[Player Ʒ]

Or Java. It may not have been quite what you were after, but it's another plausible alternative. It does have applet support, so you can do things in a browser. Plus you can develop for the Android that way.

[Sato]

You could always try using Flashpunk with Actionscript, the forums are filled with previously existing advice and tutorials and there are many active members who could help you.

It was one of my options (forgot to mention it) but I don't think I'll be going for it. It IS still a possibility though.

I'm not sure if it has it's own language..

Apparently it has something called UnityScript, which is similar to Javascript and Actionscript (It's ECMA based) but I don't really know...

[Hangedman]

Think of it this way:

AS3 = flash games. But AS3 is similar to Javascript and UnityScript is somewhere in between the two, so it's a good way to transition up.
AS3 also has plenty of cool libraries that make it easier to get in and learn the syntax. Flixel if you want to learn to swim, Flashpunk if you want to be thrown in the pool.

C* = executable games. Also, plenty of crossplatform libraries. Also XNA. Also, Unity right off the bat. Basically, everything. C++ is obtuse enough that it's best to just go for C# if that's what you choose. Learning C++ is fine, it'll just take longer, probably.

[Sato]

I have played around in Flixel, but like I said, I'm finding good, up to date tutorials hard to come by. And, now Unity is starting to sound almost perfect, I'm kinda veering off in that direction.

Downside is, It's much easier to distribute games with Actionscript, especially small, free ones like I'll be making.

[Hangedman]

That's true. Same reason why I got into AS3. But it's not too hard to get people to download little EXEs.

Unity can be packaged as an EXE or put on the web. But Unity also has an extra layer of interface knowledge you need above the programming language. And apparently it requires some clumsy workarounds to do pure 2d, but that may be changing.

[Sato]

That's true. Same reason why I got into AS3. But it's not too hard to get people to download little EXEs.

Unity can be packaged as an EXE or put on the web. But Unity also has an extra layer of interface knowledge you need above the programming language. And apparently it requires some clumsy workarounds to do pure 2d, but that may be changing.

Wait, do you do pure Actionscript 3, or use a library?