Totally new to everything

General Discussion
1

Hello,



I want to make a game, but I don’t know how or what I need. I’m learning java from an internet course.

I want to make a game, a 3D game, and I asked myself what do I need to learn in order to make something. I chose the language java.

So, as far as I know, I need:



Software:

  • (Netbeans)
  • JMonkeyEngine3
  • Blender (other?)
  • …



    To learn:
  • java
  • how to use: (blender), JMonkeyEngine



    Something else?

    Please reply, thanks!
2

Use the JME3 SDK, it’s build on top of Netbeans.



But honestly…you are opening up yourself a world of pain. There are a lot of hard subjects involved in creating a 3d game.



Start at the absolute simplest thing you can think of and then make it simpler. Make that…then from that think about making something a bit bigger and so on.



I’m not joking when I say something like tic-tac-toe is a good place to start. You need basic AI, interaction, something viewable, etc, etc. You are going to be amazed at just how much you need to do even to get something as trivial as that working.



And don’t even think about doing multiplayer until you have several single player games working. Multiplayer is MUCH harder.

3

Pretty much what zarch said, and a good math background helps as well.

4

Here is some further learning advice…



Any Java programmer of any reasonable experience could write a simple text adventure engine in a few hours. 90% of the concepts/structure of a proper text adventure engine are reusable for any game. You need a command loop, basic data structures, input processing, etc…



Any experienced 3D game programmer could write a 2.5 D asteroids clone over a weekend.



A possible learning track, therefore, could be:

  1. learn Java first. Run through a bunch of basic Java tutorials. Write a bunch of simple programs… command line app to search for strings in a file… a swing text editor, etc…
  2. write a command line based text adventure. When done, rewrite it a few times to hone the data structures.
  3. run through all of the JME tutorials All. Of. Them.
  4. write a 2.5 asteroids clone. This will have every game element that a larger game will have but you won’t have to worry about the complexity and feature creep of an actual game. Asteroids is an extremely simple and well-defined game.
  5. rewrite the asteroids clone using lessons learned and attempting to better leverage the JME architecture of app states and controls.
  6. hang out on the forums and give advice to the next generation. :slight_smile:



    Edit: between 3 and 4 (or during 3) also read all of the “…for dummies” links in the Quick Help to the right.
2 Likes
5

Thanks,



I have to learn a lot! And I am going to do it but do you know any good tutorials that I can use?

6
@maxime-jak said:
Thanks,

I have to learn a lot! And I am going to do it but do you know any good tutorials that I can use?


I don't. Apparently, Oracle's tutorials are pretty good. One of my Mythruna players who is trying to learn Java also found some youtube videos that he likes. If you find some good tutorials then maybe you can post back.
7

oke, if i find some good ones, i will post it!

8

everything needed, except using JME3, you can learn on IT studies.



But if you don’t have it in plans, then first you need to be advanced in java, because if not, then later you will want to “rewrite” your old code.

especially: superclasses, interfaces, abstract, good using of “instance of”, reflection, annotations, hashmaps/lists/sets/etc, iterators and propably something else important.



Blender is not hard to learn,1-5 months(for average experience) depends of your learning abilities.

9

javabeginner.com | Table of contents



The book i used to learn Java was:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Java-How-Program-International-Version/dp/0273759760/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351199625&sr=8-1



Teaches you so much, and its very well written. (i didn’t have this edition though, i had the 8th i believe, was also much cheaper :P). I recommend checking your library, it may have some good computing books if your lucky

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