Beginner's questions

[Spoonzor]

Hi UDK Community, this is my first post on UDK's forum, andI'm going to do a quick presentation about myself : I enjoy playing video games but i want to take it to the next step and share my ideas with other people and make video game for fans.
I should make/have a team to realize my projet, and learn from them but i still want to learn basics "alone" and everything a beginner can handle before even thinking about that.
I want to learn how to make video games but i've been searching though the internet, this forums and epic games looking for tutorials and help but i feel lost and submerged by too much information.
I'm looking for some instructions like, do i have to learn C++ to make a "good" game ?
Where can i learn step by step about unreal script, and if i have to pay for those lesson ( i'm okay with that ) ?
What can i use and what i can't use to make my own game on the UDK Editor ?
I told to myself that i have to learn i can within one year, and i'll need another one to make "finish" my real project but i don't feel i can do it without a guide.
Thanks for helping me.

[Vawx]

My best advice is to take it a step at a time, as taking on everything you want to do at once will simply overwhelm you. What I did (which was a bit overwhelming) was to make a simple iOS game, starting with the mobile vehicle example on UDN. The time spent took a bit over 4 months from the original idea to having it up in the App store (starting from a 'beginner' standpoint). I was lucky to have a technical interest into game design and so creating one with mostly Kismet turned out to be pretty enjoyable. The downside being the art I made and the direction for level design lacked immensely. Which is why I suggest taking on something you enjoy and sticking to that; 3D modeling, Level design, programming, etc...

There is a lot of information out there about using the UDK / UE3 engine. A good start is the Unreal Developers Network: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/WebHome.html
While the UDN has a lot on programming, I can also suggest Rachel "AngelMapper" Cordones book on UnrealScript: http://www.packtpub.com/unreal-devel...ers-guide/book
If you really enjoy programming and find yourself a bit lost on taking AngelMappers book to the next level, learning any of the OOP languages will help continue on your knowledge, or you can simply just keep playing with UnrealScript; personally, I've gone on to start learning C++ with C++ Primer Plus: http://www.amazon.com/Primer-Plus-Ed.../dp/0321776402
If you're into Level Design, The Hows and Whys of Level Design is a great book, written by Sjoerd “Hourences” De Jong: http://www.hourences.com/books-and-media/

There is also a ton on YouTube and Google, plus these forums hold a lot of little treasures via the search menu.

Best of luck to you and learning game design

[geodav]

without knowing what your project is hard to say where to start BUT what has helped a lot of people is my udk basics tutorials these will give you some of the basic skills/workflow that you'll need in any udk project

[Spoonzor]

First of all, thanks for your answer

@Geodav i give myself 2 years for my project ( 1 for learning, 1 for finishing my project, and yeah it's a lot i guess)
They're not innovative but i just would love to make them

First project is a remake of the battle of Thermopylae ( Mount'n'Blade style ) with if possible multiplayer, you launch the game, you launch the map,
choose your side ( Greek or Persian ) and your class ( Spartans, Thespians, Thebans or persian warrior, archer, Immortals etc) and you go straight to battle (with rounds).

Second project is about a survival parkour ( with a little fps, just like mirror's edge ) in an apocalyptical city with infected people, dangerous roaming people, and the army ( all being hostile, infected being a small threat)

I have other project but, i don't to think about them before those above. I just suscribed to your youtube channel and i'll be looking for your videos thank you !

@Vawx Thanks you very much for those information, i'm more interested in UnrealScript so i'll look for information about this AngelMapper, did learning C++ help you a lot more than learning Unreal Script alone ?

I'm sorry if i'm clumsy with my question, but how can i structure my time : do i have to start by level designing, or do i have to start by making the script for my game ?

Thanks again for your help

[Buddhist Punk]

youtube helped me 100%
know what u want to do and search about it,
im making a 100% kismet based game, so script isnt always needed but is preferred if u know it

[JessieG]

I think you need to learn the engine before starting anything for your project(s).

I'm not belittling your ideas here, but those are some big lofty game ideas. If you're serious about making them, start to strictly learn the engine with the methods suggested in this thread. A lot of people have come here with ideas that big, tried to jump into them to early without knowing what they're doing, and ended up never completing their projects and disappearing from here.

Take your time learning how the engine works. If you want to make the entire game by yourself, begin learning by just adding objects to a scene that are included with UDK. Work on designing a level you can walk through. Learn lighting, try basic kismet tutorials, get a feel for the engine. Eventually you can move on to learning 3D art using free programs like Blender and Gimp. Learn how to get an object in the scene that you created. From there move onto character creation, eventually moving on to rigging and animating. Then you can dive into Unreal script to learn how to get the characters in game. From there you would get into game mechanic scripting.

All aspects of creating a game, Unreal script, level design, character creation, gametype scripting, are all VERY large undertakings to do on your own and if you stick with it and work hard a lot, it's doable. Maybe not in just 2 years but it's doable.

To stick with your 2 year time frame and be able to get your ideas together, another choice you have is getting a team together. Spend that year like you said just learning the basics (aka the limitations) of the engine and when you've got a good grasp on it, THEN put a Game Design Document together and try to assemble a team of people good in different aspects (programming, level design, modeling, lighting, character creation, etc) so that your ideas can come together more quickly without the frustration of trying to learn the ENTIRE game creation process that gets so many new users aggravated to the point of quitting.

In short, don't work on a single piece of your project until you've learned enough to be confident you can actually finish it.

[Vawx]

As AngelMappers book is a 'beginners guide' and not meant to be an advanced course, continuing to read more about programming has definitely given me a better understanding of Object Oriented Programming.

[NickR]

Both of your ideas are interesting, but as has been pointed out they are exceedingly ambitious. My recommendation is to do first some essential game development - planning. Break down one of your ideas into small, achievable pieces and analyze what is most important for each. For example, "survival parkour" is huge scope wise. Professional teams wouldn't attempt such a game with 2 years time, never mind alone. However, break it down into something small and more achievable, such as a series of parkour moves across one or two obstacles. Now plan out how that would possibly play out (storyboard it, 2d map it, write it, whatever you are most comfortable with) and you will be able to come up with a likely big list of things you will need. Now cut that to the bare minimum, make a prototype. Then, and only then, look at the toolset and decide what to tackle first.

[Spoonzor]

Hi,

I'm going to do as you all said, i'll try to learn everything i can about Unreal Engine, i can see now how those project were ambitious, i'll try to make prototype ( at first i was thinking about one single level on each project, very small and very simple just to get a clue of what i can do).
If i feel confident i think i'll try to look for a team. Maybe when i'll be able to help someone here like you did.

Thanks everybody for your advices.

[eridan]

Hey Spoonzor,

I agree with JessieG you need to learn the engine more and if you want to work with a team I would suggest joining one before running your own. Look at some games you enjoy and try to clone them. Jumpman(mario) is a good start.. like this.

[Spoonzor]

Hi eridan,

i followed Vawx advice and bought Rachel "AngelMapper" Cordone's ebook. I'm reading it right now and i find it really helpful. I really feel like i'm learning with this ebook. After that i'll try to look how other make their games like you said but i don't want to "steal" their work.
Again, thanks everyone for your advice

[Icemopper]

That is a great book, but be warned about the e-book; in the version I used, the "-" symbol would not show up in code, and would cause the code to fail. You can figure out where it needs to go for the most part, but just be careful of things like that. The print version does not have that issue.