Game Engines?/Game Designers

Don`t go off programming your own right now. It`s best to work with something like the Unreal Development Kit or mod existing Source games. Not many big name companies make their own engines, instead licensing others', like the Unreal Engine.

 

Or you could use java and go like Minecraft did. But if not there there are alot of different engines nowaday. Unreal just happens to be the most used.

 

Take a games design course or take a computer science course. I'm learning programming atm. I could have taken games design, but it's best to have a mix of courses to get into college/uni.

 

Oh, my. If you wanna make a game, you're going to need a lot of help.
It takes a bit more than a concept to get a game going, and programming is a pain. What I would suggest is you begin small. Start by making maps (not Forge maps, mind you, actual maps in PC games). This'll help you grow your design legs and possibly even teach you a fair bit about coding.
Offhand, I can think of 3 engines where you should start:
Unreal
Source
Or, if you want something more old-school:
Blam! (Halo 1 PC)

I'm personally experienced with the Blam! engine (see my introduction thread for a few examples of maps I've designed and coded), so if you need any help with that particular engine, I'm your guy. Perhaps I'm a bit biased since that's what I learned on, but I find coding for H1 easier than Unreal coding (too heavy on the technical side) or Source coding (I hate the Hammer editor they force you to use).

After you've dumped some time in effort into realizing some of your PC maps ingame, then I would pick up the challenge of beginning your own game. When it becomes time for THAT, I would recommend the Unreal engine as a base. Your first priority is getting something playable, so try at first to use as many existing assets as you can, slowly phasing them out with your own after your game works.

It'll take lots of time, especially when you don't have many people. I wish you the best of luck. You'll need it.

 

If you are remaking something for free, you don't need to worry about copyright laws. Those are primarily there to prevent people from stealing things and selling them for a profit. As far as remakes go, you're in the clear if it's free. Doubly so if you're not using many of the textures or models from the original game.

Don't bother with art class; the things they teach you don't help you at all within the limits of video games (unless you want to become a concept artist). Take 3D Design (if they have it, which most schools do). It'll teach you the basics of modeling, how to work in three axis, etc.
Modeling is similar to Forge 2.0, yet also very different. You aren't bound by the constraints of a budget or by the shapes of the different pieces of scenery, only by the limits of your imagination (and keeping a sealed environment, which is a pain). You can make anything, at any size, you choose. And it's nothing like drawing. I can't draw, yet I can model a to-scale Russian SU-47 "Berkut":


(Yes, I have VERY poor polygon optimization. That's an old render from about a year ago, and I was rushed to push the jet out the door.)

If anything, modeling is like playing with clay. There are different techniques you can use, from beginning with boxes and shaping these boxes as you go along (Bungie prefers this style) to "Boolean Modeling", which takes two intersecting boxes and subtracts one from the other and produces a shape, to the style I prefer, "Plane Modeling", where you begin with a flat, 2-dimensional plane and manipulate it into a 3-dimensional object.
Box Modeling is quick for blocking things out, but adding detail is time-consuming and typically causes a bit more polygons than you need (the more polygons, the harder an engine has to work and the more your framerate drops). This effect is typically negligible, but it can build up quite quickly and result in the massive framerate drops you can observe on a Forgeworld map with no budget remaining.
Boolean operations are faster than box modeling, but detailing is worse and you have a MASSIVE amount of polygon build-up. Seeing people work with boolean operations is rare.
Plane modeling takes FOREVER to even begin to look at the layout of an object. It's extremely time-consuming, as each individual polygon has to be manipulated by hand (as opposed to box and boolean, which can adjust hundreds of polygons at a time). As you can pick and choose what polygons to model, you can get a bunch of detail with less polygons, therefore allowing your game to run faster. However, when under real-world pressures (such as release dates), the slow, time-consuming plane modeling just isn't realistic.

 

Don't worry about getting a game onto Xbox. That would take a real studio and a license with Microsoft, publishing companies, and so on. Basically, if you do really well you may be able to get your game popular and then eventually get in contact with Microsoft. You can design for Xbox with XNA, but I think that only does arcade games.

 

"Doubly" is an adverb form of the word "Double". He moved doubly quick (meaning he moved twice as fast), The excitement of being promoted to Major was doubly true for Bob (meaning the excitement was twice as true for Bob as it was for everyone else), etc.


Also, trying to get onto the Xbox platform is pushing it. If you want to even come CLOSE to having a game come to Xbox, you would need to go through the Xbox Live Arcade first. In order to even get Microsoft to CONSIDER your game for arcade, you must have had a successful history of fun (and popular) flash games on the internet.
The only other way to really get onto Xbox is to form a company with a group of people (I believe Bungie began with 7 people) and code a game from the ground up. A loose collection of internet modders isn't good enough to make it onto Xbox, you have to have a legitimate company, which means you must either code your own engine or lease the Unreal engine (I believe they take a cut of 25% of all profits, which isn't bad at all compared to the other games out there). Make your game for the computer at first and begin taking every step you can to find a publisher (Valve found the guys who made Portal at a College Expo). This will take years (it took Bungie a decade) before you find a good publisher, not to mention those are years your company will be operating at a loss. It is EXTREMELY hard to form your own gaming company, although not impossible.
It's an unrealistic goal.


Also, under "Fair Use", you can use any assets from any game and remake it as long as it's not for profit. If it's a total fan creation, you can take assets from any game, remake any game, etc. But remember, it's only for PC. A remake can never be sold for profit, nor can it be ported to consoles. What you're talking about is going to be a MASSIVE undertaking; one that you're more than likely not going to succeed in. I'll stick by my advice before: keep it small. If you want to develop a Borderlands-esque RPG, begin by modding existing games. Prove yourself to a big gaming company. If they see you hold potential, they'll snap you up. If not, they'll feed you to the fishies.

If you're willing to give up the idea of your own IP, try applying for a gaming company. Bungie's hiring (check out their front page). So is Activision, and Infinity Ward. Gearbox (guys who ported Halo 1 to the PC and also made Borderlands) is too. 343 Industries is hiring. They'll hire you if you show promise. But remember you won't have much of a say as far as your own IP goes.
Still, the hardest part is breaking into the industry. If you can net yourself a job, it can be a potential springboard for a jump to your own company.
But don't stress over it now. It's not going to happen. Trust me.