Hi there,
My first real project was this one.
It’s much more advanced than this game, and was my first real java project. What I mean by real was I had no goal in prior projects, other than to learn the basic uses of java by testing different things.
My process in programming was, learn basics such as System.out.println() and using multiple classes. I had made a very simple minecraft plugin, which gave me a way to actually implement the simple things I learned. I had no true concept of objects or java before heading into jmonkey. I did your tutorial set “Hello Whatever” which was fantastic and taught me a lot.
I then proceeded to import models into the game, and made my own scene in the sdk, using the tutorial examples, and essentially replacing the models and some things here in there but relying mostly on copied and pasted code.
Once I had a good idea on what things were doing what, after adjusting all the values etc. I started on my start to finish fps.
Which was my first “real” java project.
Here is the related post
http://hub.jmonkeyengine.org/forum/topic/my-first-game/#post-262219
Here is the github
The game is more complicated and less well written as the game I just wrote. I have a good idea of java now, and would call myself a beginner in knowledge, currently my knowledge of implementing, extending, anonymous and abstract things, is pretty much 0. But has not really limited me in my quest to game. I have some experience in extending but do not know the true implications of what exactly I’m doing.
My next project I set out to make the dynamics of the game simple, and I got exactly what I wanted in the production of the game. But what I wanted to learn was how to put it onto android, as that is my end goal in learning java, is to learn to make games for android.
I spent about 2 days making the dynamics of the game itself, and about 3-4 just trying to get it onto android (I can do it much faster now I’m sure)
But my goal is complete, and I have learned a lot and am happy with the result.
As for what beginning learners need to know in jme. There is a slightly hostile environment aimed at the very inexperienced which can scare some people away, and would keep me from the forums until I had exhausted all efforts and often time leading to a waste of time in over doing it.
While I understand that one should not post on the forums until attempting all solutions, in some cases, what is obvious to me now, could pose a major problem to a beginner, and rather seeing them as someone asking for help on a simple issue. In their mind this could be a very complicated procedure and after a few helps on simple issues, the rest of the engine begins to come together.
Other things is I used the #jme channel in the freenode irc. This is not an official chatroom but has some very knowledgeable people who can help in live chat and there is usually a least one or two people in their. Perhaps making this an official channel might be able to get more beginners to hold an interest in the engine rather than slowly getting answers on the forums, especially to those beginner questions.
As for engine specific knowledge, the beginner tutorials are fantastic, and I’m sure if my knowledge of java were better it would have made my experience smoother when I first went through.
I would suggest a walking character picking tutorial. To actually get collision results from the player walking into items and not just the picking with raycasting, as it did take me a while to find out how to collide my players model with a specific node and this concept is a factor in a lot of games.
The android stuff isn’t very well documented or the documentation isn’t very easy to find, as I had to post a few threads to find answers to questions such as setting the Icon on the device and naming the application on the device.
Also, the fact that someone like me can actually write a mobile app for android should be a centerpiece for this engine. I am only 2-3 months into programming and have actually made one.
If that’s not a good enough reason to get beginners here I don’t know what is.
That’s all I can think of right now.
