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I am looking to do some programming for hobby\interest, I have never programmed before and I am looking at with mobile games as they seem easy to do with the kits you can get. However I would like to also get into some serious programming down the track. What language would you recommend for creating IOS and Android games. Any links or pointers are appreciated, i am a beginner at this stuff and understand its a long road to program properly. I just need somewhere to start, I think if I can create a basic game like pong from scratch then work up to a 2d platformer, and go from there I would learn more than using a kit from either apple or Android. I am open to using kits if people think its worth looking at as well.

Thanks.

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Hi Uzhi, "where to get started" questions are off-topic for GDSE, per the FAQ. Your best bet is to Google some tutorials or browse your local book store for texts you find readable and approachable. – Sean Middleditch Jan 2 at 3:11
Android is restricted to Java and iOS is restricted to Objective-C. There are some ways to get around these restrictions, but the alternative languages aren't easy for beginners to dive into as their first languages, so you don't really have many choices here. – Alex Yan Jan 2 at 4:12

closed as not a real question by Sean Middleditch, Nathan Reed, John McDonald, Tetrad♦ Jan 2 at 5:14

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

2 Answers

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Honestly, it is easier to program games on the PC rather than on a mobile platform directly. I myself am a game developer for PC in Java.

Have a look at there: http://www.emanueleferonato.com/2012/05/24/the-guide-to-implementing-2d-platformers/ http://www.wildbunny.co.uk/blog/2011/12/11/how-to-make-a-2d-platform-game-part-1/ Parts 2 and 3 can be found at the bottom of the page.

I suggest you start off by creating Tic-Tac-Toe or other smaller games first using Java (Preferably) or C++. C++ is the most popular language used in the video game industry.

If you plan to develop games seriously, have a look at Game Maker by Yoyo Games. Game Maker is very easy to use and allows you to export games to PC, Android and iOS, though it may be a little expensive.

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Game Maker as a recommendation to develop games seriously? What is this I don't even – jhocking Jan 2 at 4:07
@jhocking I agree – Alex Yan Jan 2 at 4:15
Agree. I started with Game Maker; it's a good starting platform, but it's not "serious". – Anko Jan 2 at 9:45
Actually some excellent games have been created using Game Maker such as Spelunky and Hotline Miami, the latter of which has made a decent amount of money and the former is a very popular freeware title which has been ported to xbox and is doing very nicely there. [saying this as a LibGDX user with a little GM experience] – nospamthanks Jan 29 at 11:29
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Unity might be a nice place to start. They have some pretty decent in house tutorials, as well as other places like 3D-Buzz and Digitial Tutors have very nice stuff as well.

It would be easier (And cheaper) to start with just developing for PC to start with, then move into mobile at a later time. That being said I did start with PC , and have moved to android as well. At one point Unity had a free Android/iOS addon deal, but without it I think I would still be working exclusivly on pc, or the unity web player. The web player might be a nice place to start as well, if you are looking for quick and easy distrubution. I dont mean for selling or ad revenue, but its nice to post it on your site as you learn, and be able to say "Hey, look what I made" Its always nice to share with other people what you did, and the feedback can be great as you learn.

I also really enjoyed this book http://books.google.ca/books/about/Xna_4_0_Game_Development_by_Example.html?id=-MqsETKeKZQC&redir_esc=y

When I started nothing really made sense, but following along with this book really helped me get going.

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