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[Artsu]

Hello! I'm kind of a rookie programmer and never really done any game programming. That is however something I've been looking to for a while now and I've created some ideas I would like to implement. I know I probably should start with something easier at first like tetris or breakout, but I would like that work to support my ideas for future games as much as possible. And as much as I would like to get into c/c++ game development, my dream games for now are something of a webapp type so that's where I'm going to start. So the problem is what language and techniques should I start with?

I've mostly done Java programming and am currently using it on my first summer job as a programmer so the most easy way for me would probably be with a java applets. I feel however that many people (myself included) don't really like java applets for their loading times and such. So my eyes turn into flash. With enough googling if I understood correctly, I've found out that you can actually really just code flash without some Adobe's flash creator messy I don't like at all programs! Neat! I'm not sure I would like AS3 though 'cause I've heard it is sort of like javascript. Well I won't let that stop me. However flash has some flaws that I think might be problematic for me.

First of all, there's all the right mouse clicking business. I've played enough of flash games such as Bloons TD 3 where with a lot of stuff on the screen, the accidental right mouse click has totally jammed my game. Also I would like to use the right click on something else that the basic flash menu. I've heard that you can make a “hack” for the right mouse click but I couldn't find with a quick search how or even how easy this would be to achieve.

One of the games I would like to make reminds a bit of Soldat. So a proper multiplayer is needed. Can flash do this? I know this is a question which I probably would get answer to by doing some more research but my Googling skills have rusted and I couldn't find a proper answer. What I did find is that flash doesn't support udp which might be a problem. Is this true or has it been fixed at some point or something like that? Also there would be physics (I'm thinking of using box2d) included; can flash handle a multiplayer game (maybe like max 32. people/server) with physics, and people shooting and running etc? I've always felt that flash isn't a real performance beast. That's just a personal feeling though, I've got no real evidence

Finally, it isn't possible to attach mochiadds to java applet or any other than flash, right? Is there something similar made for other languages or techniques?

So now I'm struggling with what should I start with. I would be most thankful for any thoughts regarding to my problem. Any idea or thought is really appreciated be it anything from “get thoughts of game development off as fast as you can!!” to mind blowing “you can use xxxxxx with yyyyyy, that should work simply perfectly for your needs!”.

Thanks everyone in advance!

[st33d]

There is no hack for right click in Flash. It will always open up a context menu. Though you can detect the opening of the context menu (as it can be used to "hop" the mouse when playing a mouse avoider).

Mochi ads do not support Java.

If you're keen on doing a non-turnbased-multiplayer Flash won't really cut it.

You can stay in a comfortable environment by using Processing:

http://processing.org/

It has OpenGL support (making it much much faster than Flash) and all the hardware capabilities of Java managed by a community that has been making libraries for it for years. Box2D is available in Java as well.

Otherwise I would recommend heading into C++, as that is really what you want for a decent multiplayer experience and will put you in good stead for employment.

[oahda]

Flash is... Gee. HTML5 and OpenGL for JavaScript are here now. Use them.

http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

[st33d]

A realtime multiplayer action game? In javascript?

In a few years maybe...

[nikki]

i'd just start building that game in as3 (flashdevelop & flashpunk) it's free and handy and a nice learning experience.
don't worry about right-click (just think of something smart)
in the meantime start looking into HTML5 and OpenGL for JavaScript.

if you want to be part of the webfuture that is...

processing is nice indeed, but at the time i looked into it it wasn't well suited for building games, only more short java-applet arty things. especcialy with that horrible toddler IDE of theirs 
this might be different nowadays, i don't know.

good luck!

[moi]

You can add your own options in the right click menu, I've seen it , but I don't know how it's done, butI bet google has an idea on the subject.

[Iamthejuggler]

Flash is... Gee. HTML5 and OpenGL for JavaScript are here now. Use them.

http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

Why is that every time someone links to an example of why html5 is better than flash the examples always look terrible? Flash is still by far the best way to create games if you want them web-ready (apart from unity if you want 3d), and there is a far bigger opportunity of making money from said game.

[nikki]

yeah thats right, but if your starting your embark in the game-programming world, you might as well start looking into the things that will be a big part of it.

then again java/actionscript/javascript aren't all that different really.....

that  those example games with that akihabara-engine are a bit crappy shouldn't be such a big deal; they function and are tutorial games.
it's all opensource and free so you can make a better looking example-game if you want and/or can.

[st33d]

I've been a Flash dev for 4 years now and I think that Aves engine looks fucking awesome, regardless of how much they're gonna charge for it:

http://www.dextrose.com/en/projects/aves-engine

But unless you really know what you're doing, or you fancy yourself as a pioneer, I wouldn't bother with javascript just yet. It's going to be fucking awesome when a decent framework for it comes out, but we really aren't ready yet. Even jQuery chugs on an iPad. You shouldn't be tackling javascript for a big project unless you're some kind of code ninja.

 

[Artsu]

Thanks everyone for your answers!

Html 5 and JavaScript does sound like the future but for now it feels a bit too far far away somewhere in the galaxy. But I'll be sure to check that out regularly and start working on it too at some point!

I think I'm going to take a closer look on the Processing. It seems it could work for what I want to achieve. However from what I've read it has been made more for fast prototyping etc. and some say it isn't really that great for production, anyone can tell if this is true?

Also how about this: http://pushbuttonengine.com/ for flash non-turnbased multiplayer game? Features would seem pretty awesome but how's it in practice? Anyway because of the right mouse click which I really need I'm dropping flash out, although I've become most interested on trying some game development with it too, so will probably come back and try it out at some point! And yeah I've seen a tutorial for adding more options on the menu but I would like to get rid of it completely.

[Jorum]

Processing is often used for rapid prototyping due largely to the fact that you do more with less lines of code, but it can be used for larger projects as well. This site has tons of examples of things people have done with it.

Speaking of which, I saw this sketch today and thought for a moment I was back in the eighties on my ol' Amiga. 

[Epitaph64]

Wow that sketch is awesome. Entertained me for over a minute haha.