My son (15) has decided that he wants to pursue a career as a games programmer. I've said that he should get started now with a simple game. He has no programming experience yet, but I am a programmer (business apps, not games) so I can teach him programming, but what would be a good platform for him to start on? Initially I'm looking for something that can provide quick results, to keep his enthusiasm up.
What would you suggest?
XNA is a good solution for a fairly confident programmer. It would be a good goal to aim for in the future.
The Unreal Development Kit is a way to get results far more quickly and easily, and might be a good place to start. Comments have indicated that the UDK is actually a pretty bad alternative, so I can't recommend it.
Unity is an alternative, it will run on phones which is something UDK can't do (as far as I know). So if he's into programming games for phones, perhaps unity would be better?
I'm also 15, so I guess that could help? :P
I've recently started learning Python (been doing C++ for a year or so), and I'm finding it much easier to learn than C++. There're a lot fewer pitfalls, and you need little code to get something on the screen - what I find makes you want to continue.
And there are wrappers like Pygame and Pyglet over SDL/OpenGL for the graphics side.
Before he starts making simple games, I would advise learning a language for at least a couple of months. (Of course, text based games like guess the number and hangman are good exercises during this time)
A bit of an unorthodox answer here:
Starcraft II Galaxy Editor.
You can make almost any game within Starcraft 2.
It also teaches most programming constructs like loops and if statements in a GUI-centric way.
Once he's confident with the basics, you can have him script stuff.
If he's good at it, and finds this interesting, he will love proper game programming.
I would roughly divide game development tools into three broad categories:
For people with no programming experience, I usually advise they start in the first category, just to get started doing SOMETHING. When they feel comfortable with a given authoring tool but are really feeling like the limitations are outweighing the benefits, it's time to learn something in the next category up.
I know this will date me somewhat, but growing up I really enjoyed P-Robots. There's a really simple goal (beat the other robots), a simple API, and a short amount of time between changes to code and seeing the results. It segues into AI, design patterns, and even larger-scale code structure (some of these robots can get pretty big -- and what about sharing code between robots?). If you can find something similar but newer it would be a good way to get the "getting started programming" part. Suggestions:
Once that's done, consider going for a really simple 2D scrolling shooter, platformer, or similar "arcade-style" game -- you can use SDL or XNA or whatever's most familiar. Even getting a pong clone up and running in these is not entirely trivial. This gives you a small echo of what it's like to build something "ground up".
After this, explore: a mod to an existing 3d game (a new object, or a bot, or something) to give a little insight into larger engines.
The keys, from what I've seen, seem to be:
My advice is to make web-based games. Why? Well, first of all, JavaScript is a beautiful language that will teach him all of the basic concepts of programming and you actually can make a great, competent and cross-platform game with it. It will also qualify him for many more things other than just making games... If you, for some reason, wouldn't like your son to get into web-development, then I suggest using Python, with a module called PyGame. I also have experience with that, and I'ts awesome. What I don't suggest is starting out with C/C++, that's what I did and it's awful and might get him unmotivated for programming altogether.
On another note, you're probably an awesome father, congratulations!
Mindstorms Roboter are really cool. We got some NXT's in school, and last week we started with programming things like follow a line, and that stuff. You can get easily results.
Also i found www.3dgamestudio.de a while ago. I didn't got more into it, but it was really interesting. You can programm with lite-C which is:
Lite-C is a programming language for multimedia applications and computer games, using a syntax subset of the C programming language with some elements of the C++ programming language
At the http://tutorial.3dgamestudio.net/ you get into it. And there are also a level, model and terrain Editor.
ps: I am 16 and started with a friend programming a website and customizing a programmed game server. So this could also be interesting for him.
I can't suggest this enough, but building his own levels for his favorite game of choice.
For someone of that age/ skill level, they should start by building levels in their favorite game engine of choice.
Many great games come with a level editor that allow many degrees of freedom.
RPG: Obsidian's NWN 2 electron toolset series, Elder scrolls
RTS: Warcraft III's level editor is a fantastic RTS editor and even spun off it's own game ( league of legends and heroes of newerth ).
FPS's: Hammer for half-life 2. Counterstrike was originally a half-life mod.
Start here. Building levels for your favorite game is probably the best place to start.
Although all the information here is helpful, I wanted to mention that the STEM Challenge (a national game competition promoted by the White House and ESA ) has some suggestions about platforms http://www.stemchallenge.org/about/Default.aspx
Gamestar Mechanic, Gamemaker, Kodu, Scratch, PBS KIDS Ready To Learn Stream
I have a feeling that there are community resources about these platforms specifically as it relates to STEM.
See also this excellent tutorial about python and pygame (which is also an online book) http://inventwithpython.com/chapters/ here's the PDF of the sequel to the book specifically about pygame http://inventwithpython.com/blog/making-games-with-python-pygame/
Here's another NYT article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/technology/personaltech/computer-programming-for-children-minus-cryptic-syntax.html?_r=2&sq=mitchel+resnick&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1322489239-tMp1Wjl9FUcI8rLaJ6cbOw
Update: here is a slashdot discussion http://ask.slashdot.org/story/11/12/27/152228/ask-slashdot-tools-for-teaching-high-school-kids-how-to-make-games
Game Maker is an excellent choice for people with no programming experience. It has a free version and a relatively cheap paid version. It allows you to quickly make games with a drag-and-drop interface, but includes support for more advanced scripting.
As Martin mentioned, the UDK is probably the fastest way to get something working as it comes with so many premade things like AI, models and also a wealth of books. It has a very good map editor, and the language is Java-esque (and ECMA-script like).
An alternative might be to try doing games in Flash or Silverlight - start off with simple 2D games. Whatever genre of games he likes dictates the toolkit.
Coming from a 14 year old, this advice might be useful. I find, the best way to choose a platform, is the platform most suited to the purpose. I've made this post many times before.
From Reddit-
Choose a language that suits your purpose. Most gamers don't care about what language the game is programmed in. They care if they can play it or not. They care if it runs fast on their computer. They care if the game isn't 10gb in size. They don't care if its an exe or jar.
Look at games such as Minecraft. Sure its written in Java, a language that has an extremely small market share in the game dev industry. Do the consumers care though? No. They care about the functionality.
However, since your son doesn't have any experience in programming, I suggest learning a language that is fast to code such as Python, or using an existing platform, such as XNA. Personally I love Slick2D with Java, but I guess thats my preference...
I was introduced to programming at a young age (younger than 15), and my Dad decided to use VB (1.0). We made a twisted version of pong using a timer object and GDI drawing. I liked that because we started with a blank canvas and were able to learn the basics of programming structures while trying to make something fun.
Today, I think I would choose XNA and pick a simple 2D game. C# and XNA are fairly straight forward and they leave you with plenty of room to grow, and they are free.
If he just wants to make games then he should use XNA, Unreal, Unity etc. If he wants to be a games programmer then he should learn C/C++ and OpenGL/SDL or D3D first.
XNA, Unreal, Unity etc are great for making games but really bad at doing far too much for you. I'm sure people will disagree with me on this, but these basically turn you into a lazy programmer and when the time comes to learn things like points in C++ it'll be more difficult because you went with the easier options first.
Peronally I never suggest anthing other C/C++ as the first language to learn if you want to be a games programmer. The main reason is that even if you go and learn C#/XNA , if you're seriously about becoming a games developer you will have to know C or C++ at some stage because no one will hire you otherwise. So if they're serious about the profession then you're only delaying learning what's expected from you.
