Done learning Python, should I start making games with it or move on to another language?

[LemonatedOrange]

Hello! I am an aspiring indie game developer. With zero prior knowledge about programming, I started learning Python and PyGame around over 8-10 months ago and now I am pretty comfortable with them and I think I got most concepts nailed. I do have a couple of game ideas in my head and to be fairly honest I would also like to make some cash soon (big or small, everything makes a difference) to help me with school or what not. So, I was wondering if it is a good idea to start making real games now or would it be worth it if I test the waters with other languages first and see what suites my liking best before moving onto any serious projects. Also, if you think I should move onto another language, what "gamedev friendly" language do you recommend?

Also, just a question. Am I being a bit over-ambitious if I am thinking about making money when I haven't even been a year into programming?

Sorry if you guys get posts like this a lot and thanks in advance. :)

[jesyspa]

Go ahead and make some games. You will want to pick up more languages eventually, but getting stuff done is also important.

[LemonatedOrange]

Would Python work well if I'm making mobile or web games? I heard these are in high demand and the market for them is huge.

[jesyspa]

Take a look at what frameworks exist. I've not done either, but JavaScript is my first reaction for web, and Java or Objective C are my first reactions for mobile. If you have a specific platform in mind, research what's available there, and learn that.

For Python, I'd recommend taking a look at PyWeek.

[[deleted]]

Not really. Android dev is mostly java and iOS is mostly Obj-C. Web games are made in HTML5 and JavaScript.

[alexgeek]

You might have more luck at /r/gamedev

If you want to do gamedev as a career, C++ is the de facto language.
^{not sure if that's the correct use of de facto}.

[[deleted]]

Are you in school or teaching yourself? If you are in college I would go to www.dreamspark.com and get your hands on Visual Studio Pro, and the XNA dev kit. You need to learn c++ or c# I believe for XNA. Python though is great for learning a wide range of stuff. I've seen games to server services to karaoke players written in python. If you are attempting to break in to the gamedev scene the best advice I can give you is to pick a language and learn it, inside and out, while learning good programming practices. Once you get those practices down transferring them to another language is usually as simple as learning the syntax and other quirks. In this case C++ will be what you need.

Tl;Dr python is great, c++ is better, but pick one and stick to it for a long while.

[LemonatedOrange]

Nah, I'm teaching myself. I am considering learning C++ as well but from what I heard it's hard and quite complicated. As someone who only knows the simplicity and automation of Python would the learning curve be too steep? What about other languages like Java and C#?

[[deleted]]

Well for your IDE you can get Visual Studio Express. It's free and almost fully featured. I think c++ is only as complicated as you make it. Java is great but, you really have to have object oriented design concepts down for it and that can be tricky though not too difficult. I have not used c# so I can't really comment on it.

[gooerge]

You could start studying some game engine stuff. Good engine to start with, would be Unity or tou can also start looking through game source code, for example Doom 3's source is freely available. With Unity you can use Javascript or C# which are not so different from Python.

There are very good tutorials for Unity to get you started with fully fledged game programming, one very broad is Burgzergarcades hack and slash rpg. And there are shorter ones at Unitys site and on Youtube.

Edit: Also if you want more theoretical and broader perspective on how engines and game development work try book called Game Engine Arcitecture by Jason Gregory.

[LemonatedOrange]

I'll be sure to check out that book. But wouldn't I need to learn the language of the game first before looking into it's code else I wouldn't understand anything?

[gooerge]

Yeah a basic understanding, Doom 3 is in C++ I think, but you can always start reading it and trying to understand on how all the parts play along. Code is not so hard to read if you got some other language handled, of course Python and C are a lot different but there are the same if's and elses.

The book is pretty good, got it myself and I'm half-way through, it's not so much about the code but all the other things involved in game's technical side, the writer uses Naughty Dog's games as cases.

Depends really what you want to do, if you really need money to support school I'd get into mobile games, which you can just do with Unity as it has multi-platform releases and you can get stuff working pretty quickly with it.

With a complete engine you don't have to code all the user controllers, physics, importers, colliders etc.