Making a video game

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Should we start programming little 2d games before we get the hang of it and are able to make a more complicated game?

Any tips to put us in the right direction? There's two of us at moment maybe three later on. Both of my friends have done computer science but I'm just a standard user

2D is definitely easier in a lot of ways and a good starting point for just about anyone, so I'd suggest you start there. Considering the size of your team, if you do 2D for now, the workload will also stay reasonable. Then again, animating 2D sprites is a lot more challenging than animating 3D models (to my understanding anyway).

Yes, I'd say just start with 2D. Not just from a technical standpoint, in alot of ways it's also just easier to learn game design concepts that way. Some types of gameplay also just plain work better in 2D; alot of indie games these days are 2D, and "3D is too hard" isnt the reason for that, despite what some people seem to think.

Start with something small, yet functional. Perhaps take something a bit simpler, like an old arcade game, and try to recreate it or something. Alot of devs start out with stuff like that, building their skills before tackling a major project.

Not to mention that sometimes those "little" games end up turning into something much bigger. There's been alot of examples of that one happening in recent times.

That all being said, you do need a base understanding of the various parts of development... definitely including programming... before getting started. Depending on what your role on the team is, of course.

Thanks, do you think we should use the unity engine?

I would say it's certainly not a bad place to start. Not a bad place to completely focus on, either.

My favorite developer, who so far mostly makes games in 2D for a variety of reasons (mostly just that it fits the gameplay they're going for) always uses Unity and has nothing but praise for it most of the time. And they've got quite a bit of experience now; they've been doing this for years and one of their games even has six expansions. Even the one I was contracted to help make is getting an expansion, which'll be done sometime this century, I'm sure (I'm really glad they dont mind that I tend to do things so slowly...). Suffice it to say, they've got alot of experience with Unity, and they typically have nothing but praise for it.

Granted, it's not the ONLY thing they use, but it's definitely a major part of what they do. Which seems to be the case for quite a few developers. Unity seems to have a ton of versatility in it, in terms of what you can do with it. It's very good for 3D games, too.... it can go either way, so that's a good thing.

Just be aware that something like that isnt easy to learn. But I'm betting you're expecting that to be the case. Programming and design is always like that, really. But it sure is satisfying when you start to see the results of some of your work. With Unity, you'll be needing to learn C#, if I recall correctly. There are books on that, which can help, and probably tons of tutorials and such online.

Well, the impression I get about Unity is a largely positive one... So I'd say go for it.

try to get books or equivalent in the theory behind game design
2d logic vs 3d logic isn't much different, especially in the beginning imo. start 2d or 3d, just stay small and don't over do past your limits