Hi guys , just joined the community

Welcome Jack!
First off, I'd assure you that you will love this community and our fellow members.
Since you're here for the first time i'd reckon you grasp in all the topics and threads. You can gain a lot of information about GameDevelopment

Anyways for a beginner programming language, C# would be a Kick start for you.
C# is a easy, powerful and strong language.
I would also recommend Python which is also a beginner language which is great i would also recommend you trying Python, Its all up to you. You can choose your own language.
For C# you could use XNA and for Python you could use Pygame.
There are lots of posts about what language to choose. You can go on search in our forums.

Have fun Game devv'ing.

Hi justin thanks for the heads up, yes i am going through the forums especially resource section , i am looking to learn flash games development for desktops and mobile devices in particular .. thanks again

Welcome to the community.

I only do desktop programming myself, but you might consider Java for desktop and Android phones, or Objective-C for desktop and iPhones. (Note: For iPhone development, it's kinda required that you own a Apple computer to make it on, but there are ways around that I hear).
For Windows Phone 7 and desktops, try C# and .NET.

I'd suggest that since you already know Java, to aim for Android phones first.

Thanks @servant of the lord, along with java i have also come across many posts suggesting the use of action script for flash games development , is AS 3 a part of some platform or developed using java or C# ? just curious as when i search for flash games development resources, action script 3.0 come up a lot ...

Need more details for a proper answer.

2D or 3D?
0$ or have a budget to spend?
Networking?
Preferred language?


In many cases, Unity is a good fit for deploying to multiple targets. Java can hit Android and many platforms, C# can hit many platforms, Windows Phone 7, Xbox Live and if you are willing to spend money, iOS and Android.

C++ can be used to hit just about all, but kiss any web port goodbye if this is in your future. C++ + OpenGL ( ES ) can hit pretty much all platforms (with a small shim of native code )but the web, but is also probably the most difficult and error prone route.

Thanks @servant of the lord, along with java i have also come across many posts suggesting the use of action script for flash games development , is AS 3 a part of some platform or developed using java or C# ? just curious as when i search for flash games development resources, action script 3.0 come up a lot ...

Action script is the embedded scripting language within the Flash player and is derived from Javascript. In other words, AS is it['s own language and a peer of Java or C#.

@Serapth , thanks for the reply, i will be focusing on 2d games, have budget to buy any resources if needed, language is C# or java both ( i have worked on .NET as well Java), i want to develop games that we see on gaming portals like miniclip , pogo etc along with the ability to have a mobile version of these games as well (preferably on android devices) and if possible on iphones as well with out having to purchase a mac just for that (if that is possible).

@Serapth , thanks for the reply, i will be focusing on 2d games, have budget to buy any resources if needed, language is C# or java both ( i have worked on .NET as well Java), i want to develop games that we see on gaming portals like miniclip , pogo etc along with the ability to have a mobile version of these games as well (preferably on android devices) and if possible on iphones as well with out having to purchase a mac just for that (if that is possible).

Well for as many platforms as possible, C++ and SDL are a pretty good combination for portability, although I generally do not recommend C++, cross platform portability is one definite exception. If you want to target iOS and Android, right now it is probably the best 2D option. Both platforms have their own native language ( Java on Android, ObjectiveC on iOS ) and neither play well on the other platform. I would recommend eating a bullet before I would recommend Objective C to anyone! You can ( now ) however cross compile Flash code for both platforms, although I am unsure of the performance price you pay, if any, I simply have little experience with Flash in general.


I personally am going to embark on a somewhat similar project, where I want to target web + desktop pc + mac + phones, working in 2D. Unity was initially a thought, but frankly it is both overkill and poorly suited towards what I am working on. I personally want to work in C#, as it's easily my most productive language and have recently been looking in to ExEn which has a great deal of potential. I haven't actually started using it yet, so....

[color="#1C2837"]i have also come across many posts suggesting the use of action script for flash games development , is AS 3 a part of some platform or developed using java or C# ? just curious as when i search for flash games development resources, action script 3.0 come up a lot ...[/quote]

iOS (iPad, iPhones, etc...) famously don't support Flash. Again, you can get around it, but every thing you have to 'get around' complicates development.

Well for as many platforms as possible, C++ and SDL are a pretty good combination for portability, although I generally do not recommend C++, cross platform portability is one definite exception.

I had some initial glances at C++ development with Android, and it isn't officially supported. It's officially unofficially supported, with Google having free libraries to help you get it working, but they don't recommend it. They encourage people to use Java, while still saying, "if you really want to use C++, you can sortof work around it like this....".

@jack: Since Java works on desktops and Android (but not iPhone), and since you already know Java, why not start there, and then expand as needed? Trying to learn a new language and a new platform at the same time, especially when the language isn't recommended by the developer of the platform, is not that great of an idea.

However, once more I feel obliged to point out that I don't program for mobile devices, so take my advice with a pound of sugar.

[color="#1C2837"]i have also come across many posts suggesting the use of action script for flash games development , is AS 3 a part of some platform or developed using java or C# ? just curious as when i search for flash games development resources, action script 3.0 come up a lot ...

iOS (iPad, iPhones, etc...) famously don't support Flash. Again, you can get around it, but every thing you have to 'get around' complicates development.

Well for as many platforms as possible, C++ and SDL are a pretty good combination for portability, although I generally do not recommend C++, cross platform portability is one definite exception.

I had some initial glances at C++ development with Android, and it isn't officially supported. It's officially unofficially supported, with Google having free libraries to help you get it working, but they don't recommend it. They encourage people to use Java, while still saying, "if you really want to use C++, you can sortof work around it like this....".

@jack: Since Java works on desktops and Android (but not iPhone), and since you already know Java, why not start there, and then expand as needed? Trying to learn a new language and a new platform at the same time, especially when the language isn't recommended by the developer of the platform, is not that great of an idea.

However, once more I feel obliged to point out that I don't program for mobile devices, so take my advice with a pound of sugar.
[/quote]

I've worked on Android, using their Java toolchain and guess what, you are still pretty much unsupported.

In many ways Google hasn't become a grown up yet and things like support ( or the complete lack thereof ) are a joke. Then again, the tools are pretty ruddy awful too, the emulator is laughable in it's badness, the market is horribly fragmented and the changes between Android versions are annoying and sadly not consistent ( I wrote code that worked on 1.6, and 2.2 but not 2.1 and continuously found things that would work in the emulator but not a real device and vice versa, to say nothing about not working across the two devices I have even though they are running the same OS level! ), and of course all the support is shoveled off to the developer because again... Google is not a grown up company.

Generally my recommendation for developing for Android is... don't. I've talked to a number of other people that work with the platform and the consensus seems to be pretty universal.


TL;DR, you are unsupport no matter what you choose with Android. Have fun. The NDK ( C++ dev kit ) however has gotten a lot more focus and is fully capable of creating applications and dealing with UI events now I believe, previously you had to use a Java shim.

@Serapth and @servant of the lord thanks a ton for the invaluable guidance, just to be clear as there are so many options if i want to focus to begin with on web then i can go for C# and EXEn , kindly correct me if i am wrong ..

@Serapth and @servant of the lord thanks a ton for the invaluable guidance, just to be clear as there are so many options if i want to focus to begin with on web then i can go for C# and EXEn , kindly correct me if i am wrong ..

Just so you know, I am looking at ExEn for my own personal project, that doesn't mean it's the best choice. To support the web via ExEn you will be creating a silverlight app, which yes, you code in C#. Of course, you will be depending on your user to download the Silverlight plugin if they don't already have it.

Just an FYI. Again, this is just the decision ive made, you may be just as happy working in Flash/Actionscript.

C++ can be used to hit just about all, but kiss any web port goodbye if this is in your future. C++ + OpenGL ( ES ) can hit pretty much all platforms (with a small shim of native code )but the web, but is also probably the most difficult and error prone route.

Well, not quite: meet Wt: a C++ Web Toolkit
http://www.webtoolkit.eu/wt