PC game programming - advice needed

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Hello,

I have a question for experts in the field of education and programming languages, as I need some andvice to help my son.

My son finally came out with a wish. His dream is to one day (in the distant future) create his own PC game. He's been thinking about this for quite some time now (a year) and finally approached me with a request. He wants to learn an appropriate programming language (sorry if I sound strange but this is neither a field I feel at home in nor is English my first language).

I'm happy that he finally found something he's interested in and that he actually aproached me with this wish.
Of course I promised to do some research for him and find out how to start accumulating the necessary skills and knowledge.

I told him I'd ask for help in the WP forum - a place full of people like him.

So my son is clever/gifted, focused if he's really interested (of course ) - how do you think he should start?

Thanks in advance for your help

Greetings

Ennik (NT)

Start with something that's object oriented. Java or C# (and the latter in particular) would be my first choices for beginners. Next, you need an IDE; for Java, you can use Ecplipse and for C# you could use Xamarin, given that this is free (unlike Visual Studio).

Lastly, for game development, use Axiom3D for C# and jMonkeyEngine for Java. Note that you should be familiar with the basics before downloading a 3. party game engine.

Good luck!

Hello,

thank you for your answer!! !

I' will take this as my (his) starting point for further research and see how it goes from there.

And of course I'll go and tell him your answer right now.
He's still awake - a Babylon 5 marathon viewing session with his dad...

Bye for now

Ennik

I forgot to mention: Be sure to check out http://thenewboston.org/, where there are step-by-step video tutorials that teach you the basics.

The Unity3D game development environment is also very good.
It uses C# based scripting.

C# & java are good languages to learn. They are also fairly similar in structure.

Hello,

thanks for your reply.
We'll check this out, too...

Greetings

Ennik

This. Have him get started with C#, and once he has a good understanding of the language, move onto Unity. Should he make something marketable, it also allows for commercial projects. Also, what's his mathematical background?

Game development is a rather multi-faceted field. I ranges from almost purely artistic to highly technical. Which side of things does he express the most interest in?

Hello,

just home from work.

I started out with what I learned here and did some research of my own.
I've found a beginners course with which he'll be able to learn the very first steps and get a solid basis , and I've found a few online resources as well. He'll start with C# and he's set himself a starting date, as he first needs to get used to this new plan. (Even if it is his own plan ).

He is still quite young and has got a lot of time to learn. He loves maths ( and Latin) even takes part in special maths events. I think that at the moment he's more interested in , I think you'd call it the technical side of things e. g. get things to work.

Greetings

Ennik

My co-worker's degree is in game programming and he says "If you can program games you can program anything."

It's so encouraging to see a parent involved in helping their child follow their dreams. Sometimes young people just don't know where to start and need some help getting on the path. I wish I had that kind of help years ago.

Thank you Tori0326,

we'll see where it takes him.

We (both his parents) come from homes where learning and gathering knowledge was highly valued and not necessarily connected to anything that could be turned into money. So we never would discourage any of our children from following a serious interest - or even a less serious one.

If - in the longrun - this interest should help him finding a niche of his own, so much the better.

Greetings

Ennik