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I want to make games someday but where do i start and what should i learn? (leminal.space)

submitted 1 week ago by GrumpyCat@leminal.space to c/programming@programming.dev

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So i want to achieve many types of hobbies. For the longest time ive wanted to make games but im honestly unsure where to start, what tools to pick up, and what to learn especially sense i want to attempt to learn for free without having to pay for anything.

Ive been told gamedev is like learning a new language in a way. I could use a point in a starting direction if possible.

I also have a dumb question but i cant really make out a different between the definitions of coding and programming, what is the difference if any?

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[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago

“Making a game” involves many different subjects. Since were in a programming community I guess things like storytelling, worldbuilding, writing lore, writing characters or missions/quests, designing ingame or promotional art, etc. is ruled out.

Depending on the game you want to work on, you should learn how to use the game’s engine. It’s always good to know C/C++ well, Lua is also pretty common for scripting. Game engines sometimes also come with their own scripting languages.

You should also learn 3D modelling, 3D design, GLSL for shaders, etc. Even if modern engines cover a lot of this for you, it’s always good to know what’s actually happen, so you can properly track down errors.

i cant really make out a different between the definitions of coding and programming, what is the difference if any?

How I see it: All programming is coding, but not all coding is programming. Writing markup (like HTML) or style definitions (CSS) in my world count as coding, too, but not as programming. I’d also say that writing code in any scripting language is not programming but coding. Whenever the code is meant to be compiled into a standalone binary – a program – it’s programming.