Video Game Design
Content and information provided by Winston Ruley.
To learn video game design you should start with learning programming and graphical design. The easiest way to start is with Visual Basic (VB6.0 or higher required). This is a programming language that’s used in almost all of the 2D games you see and understanding this language will help you understand the basics of programming for video games.
Visual Basic Compiler
About $550 from microsoft
Creating 2D Video Games
2D Game Engines to Start With:
All of these engines support a tile selection mapping system and Sever/Client network capabilities which means they can all make small 2D MMORPGs and the best part is they’re completely free.
You can find/make and add new tile sets, character/NPC sprites, and GUI creating your game in your own style.
Eclipse Game Engine
http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/index.php
Its good if you know the basics of Visual Basic and are willing to further your programming skill in a scripting language called Sadscript, it has multiple tutorials for learning (Sadscript is very similar to Visual Basic).
Elysium Game Engine
http://www.thefmp.com/elysium/
http://www.touchofdeathproductions.com/
Once you get the basis of Visual Basic down you should work with Elysium which is great for hard coding but it requires you to compile your project multiple times unless you’re completely perfect with Visual Basic. Another thing good with this engine is that if you don’t know much programming it has tons of applications to where you can
construct a game without having to use any programming
Konfuze Game Engine
http://www.touchofdeathproductions.com/ (may have been removed)
This engine is the Basis to both of the engines listed to both and the basis of most 2D game engines you will find. This Engine has very little applications and if you want to add something you will have to program it in but its very flexible and is great if you want to make your own engine to use.
Learning Graphical Design
You can use many common programs for creating GUIs, tile sets, sprite sets, and graphics for your website
(if you choose to make one for your game) these programs include:
Gimp – This program is completely free and pretty easy to use
Photoshop – This program isn’t free but is very useful and easy to use
3D Video Game Design
Once you have made a few working user friendly games in 2D you could move on to 3D which requires much more work and much more knowledge of programming. Also you will need to know 3D modeling to create characters, scenery, and interactive environments for your players. Along with 3D modeling you will need to know texturing and animating which will give your game a more realistic feel. The programming language you need to know this time is C++ which is the basis for all 3D engine’s scripting and hard coding.
3D Game Engines
Panda3D - open source and free for any purpose.
Realm Crafter – easy to use, little scripting needed, ok graphics, $100
Torque Game Engine – not easy to use, lots of scripting needed, great graphics, used on multiple platforms, $150 - $1000 (depending on the version and license you want)
Unreal Engine – medium level of difficulty to use, varies on the scripting needed (depending on the kind of game you want to make), great graphics, used on multiple platforms in many famous games, $3500
http://www.unrealtechnology.com/
Graphical Design Software
Photoshop – common, easy to use, $699
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/
Gimp – easy to use, user friendly. $0
Paint – (not recommended) $0
(comes with windows)
3D Modeling Software
AC3D – easy to use, many export formats, $79.95
http://www.inivis.com/buy.html
3D Studio Max – easy to use, few export formats, $3,495
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5659302
C++ Compilers
There are many free C++ compilers there’s a list in the following
link.
http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/cpp.shtml
More Tips
In a MMO or any other kind of video game it’s always better to add music and sound effects to what you make, you might even want to give your characters and NPCs pre-recorded voices.
It’s also a good idea to buy lower dated software to save money.