Getting Started

Ok. So a little about me. I've been a programmer since 1995. I've worked mostly on non-public facing websites for small to medium sized companies. I have a degree in Computer Sciences, and so I of course did take C and C++ in school. But, since then I have rarely used either and so now prefer to avoid both if I can. I also have some experience with Java and JSP. However, I have done mostly all Microsoft technologies related programming in my professional career. I have done tons of ASP and VB Script coding over the last 10 years. But ever since the first or second beta of ASP.Net I have been working mostly with it using the C# language.

Ever since I can remember, I have also been a gamer at heart. I've probably never been through a time in my life when I didn't have some kind of game console hooked up to my TV. As I got older, I started to get more into PC gaming though. And with this, came the possibility and desire to make/mod games. This has been a thought in the back of my mind for a long time now, but I never started really diving into it. My reasons for not starting on it are basically: 1. Being too busy to make time for it (see: Procrastination) and 2. Barrier to entry. Reason #2 is what I think was my biggest reason that I never got started. As I said above, I haven't done C++ since my school days. And since the majority of games are made in C++, I wasn't very motivated to jump right in. Another facet of #2 is cost. As I think most of us are aware of, the cost of making a game has skyrocketed over the last decade or so. Now, I know this doesn't affect indie game makers that much, but it still weighed in on my mind. I would have probably wanted to license/use a game engine since I had limited experience with game design. I am also not a 3D modeler either, so I probably would have needed to either contract out to one or pay for some pre-made models. I am also not an artist, so again I would have had to contract out to one or hire one, or purchase some pre-made stuff.

So, with all those worries in my mind, I thought I would start smaller. Since I was (and still am) a very dedicated Day of Defeat gamer, I decided that I would try to make some maps for the game. I downloaded their map/world editor and got to playing around. It wasn't the easiest to use, and the new release of the game (Day of Defeat:Source, using Valves Source game engine) and it's map/world editor was coming soon, so I never made a map for the game. So, when they release the new map/world editor, I got into it again and map a few sample maps. This was before the new game came out though. So I was just testing the editor and viewing them in Half Life2. Finally, the new game came out, and unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations and I had no interest in playing the new version of the game. And of course, with that went my desire to make maps for it.

Ok, so on to today in the gaming market. For one, I have been playing more and more games over the years, and it seems with the more I play, the more I want to get into game development. And, I think today there are more things available for free/inexpensive then ever before too. There are a number of open source and free game engines. There are a number of free/inexpensive assets out there too, from textures, models etc... And, now there is XNA and Game Studio Express (GSE). With these two new tools, game developing has taken another step in the right direction to lower the barrier to entry into game development. With these new technologies/tools, my interest in game design has again been peaked. So, I think to start, I will just make some 2D games. Maybe puzzle/ball games (see: Zuma, Luxor - Amun Rising) or just simple games in general.

Along my journey into game development, I will be posting some code and looking for feedback/comments/suggestions. I also hope to develop some good re-usable code (class libraries) and some GameComponents for others to use. Hopefully I'll develop some stuff that will be useful for others that are new to game development. And hopefully for anything that I publish, people will provide me with some feedback on it with some criticisms and or suggestions.

I expect to publish my first GameComponents in the next few days or so. There will be one for Framerate calculation and display (probably similar to a lot of other Framerate components that are already out there), and more importantly, one for Mouse related stuff. Like using a custom pointer and also an event driven system for movement/clicks/scrolls.

Well, I hope that this gives a clear introduction of who I am and what my current/thoughts and goals are.