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[Trash_Empire]

I've reached a dead end in my quest to become an indie game developer. I know how to program. I know how games are made. I am hit with many problems. I don't know how to produce art for a video game, nor do I have the hardware to learn how. I don't know how to produce music for a video game, nor do I have the hardware to do so. However, the biggest issue is that I do not know any good Game Engines or frameworks to suit what I am trying to achieve. I'm looking for something that is not too simple and does a lot of the stuff for you. For Example, Construct 2 or Game Maker studio. I am also not looking for something too advanced that is a lot like writing an custom engine. I need some guidance, because I do not personally know anybody that could help guide me. Please reply, even if it is not helpful, I am driving myself mad trying to find something. Thanks, DevLizard.

[saturdaymorning]

FlashPunk? PyGame? LibGDX? There are a ton of frameworks for a ton of environments. It sounds more like you're making up excuses, but I dunno.

[Trash_Empire]

FlashPunk? PyGame? LibGDX? There are a ton of frameworks for a ton of environments. It sounds more like you're making up excuses, but I dunno.

I am probably making up excuses, but I feel that i need guidance because I don't really know how this stuff works. I would also like it to have *native* mobile support.

[Photon]

Hey man, I understand what you mean. Its something called the "sophomore slump," I've heard: you've past the beginner stuff at this point but aren't sure how to take yourself to the next level of finishing something on a larger and more professional scale.

Haxe seems to be a good choice these days. You could either work with a framework like OpenFL or dive into something like HaxeFlixel or HaxePunk.

Although I am curious: what kind of experience do you have? I know you said you know how games are made, but knowing how they're made and actually making one are two different things, ya' feel me? Just trying to better understand how to help. 

[Trash_Empire]

When I say I know how games are made, I mean that I have made games in the past. Just really simple ones in ActionScript with FlashDevelop. I want to find something bigger and more flexible. I understand the main game loops and receiving input and everything, I just am really looking for a better environment. I just don't want to use something visual like Unity or anything. I was looking at HaxeFlixel for a while, being that I used Flixel for a while. Thanks for your help!

[HDSanctum]

Unity is pretty legit. Your use of the term 'visual' makes me wonder if you have confused Unity with some drag + drop beginners tool. Unity provides very useful tools to get many jobs done, which is what you would want if you are looking to finish a game.

[Trash_Empire]

When I say I don't like Unity, I am not referring to it as a Beginner Tool. I have used it for a while, and I just didn't like the interface. The whole stage thing. I much prefer a programming only tool. I actually started trying HaxeFlixel and HaxePunk, and I am liking them so far. Something like that is just a library and not an entire development environment, but also able to produce professional quality games.

[nikki]

There are no silver bullets nor rainbow farting unicorns, you just need to pump up the mojo:

"I am hit with many problems. I don't know how to produce art for a video game, nor do I have the hardware to learn how. I don't know how to produce music for a video game, nor do I have the hardware to do so."

you've got a computer right?, with access to free tools. I mean asesprte/graphicsgale go pretty far imo. for music there are all sorts of free sequencers and whatnot.

this gameengine/framework struggle I get it, but you don't need anybody really, You already got haxe (which ticks all your boxes) there aren't may better alternatives exactly like that.

good luck, have fun

[vrinek]

Since you have Flash experience, you might want to take a look at LoomSDK. I tried it while it was still in beta but the ActionScript syntax through me off (not a Flash-person myself). A couple features I really like is deploying from the console and live reloading of code.

[arceon]

Flambe is another Haxe framework that I like to use, although it deploys to Android through AIR so that might be a turn-off...other than that, there really are several options worth exploring in the framework department aside from the mentioned Haxe frameworks. Torque2D/3D looks decent although it isn't as cross-platform as you'd like, but it is open-source so there might be support for mobile building in the future.

jMonkey SDK is another 3D option which has Android (with iOS apparently coming soon) deployment, it also has a modified NetBeans editor. It is in Java so you'd have to get your hands dirty with that, though.

Haven't tried it myself but MonoGame with Cocos2d-XNA looks viable, too.

[Trash_Empire]

Thanks everyone! I'm really getting into the Haxe Frameworks. I recently tried Monogame, however I got lost pretty fast by the setup of their docs. It is a good engine, and if I gave it some time then it probably would work well. I guess what I was kind of looking for on here was something like this https://github.com/bebraw/jswiki/wiki/Game-Engines
Not really HTML engines, just a list of engines and their uses. I also kind of wanted approval from fellow developers. I would be very interested to hear what everybody else uses. Thanks Again!

[Richard Kain]

As long as you have a computer, you should have about 90% of the hardware necessary for this hobby. Additional hardware for the kind of tasks you are describing would be a microphone and a drawing tablet, and both of those are optional.

For art assets, any free graphics program will allow you to make capable game assets. I personally keep GIMP, Inkscape, and Blender 3D installed on all my computers. Those programs keep me covered for game art. Learning how to use them could take you a little while, but for the moment I would focus on the tasks you REALLY need them for.

Also, if you are more comfortable with programming and are currently using HAXE, there is no reason why you couldn't just create programmer art using code. I used to do it all the time when I was working in Flash/AS3/HAXE. The graphics drawing API in HAXE is very easy to use and would allow you to make most of the "filler" art you would need for game graphics. You would need something pixel-based for some more advanced character animation, but for basic graphics the Flash drawing API is aces.

For audio sound effects, just use SFXR for the first pass. It's extremely basic and focused on making short, chirpy 8-bit styled sound effects. But it's insanely easy and fast to work with. It even has a random function for just rolling the dice and seeing what sound effect comes out. Music is a more complex subject, and might require contracting down the line. But that's always been the case. If you don't think you're up to full musical composition, just explore the public domain for some background music.

[Krux]

for pixel art I fell in love with GrafX2. It's just designed for pixel art and super easy to use.