I want to learn game development. Which language should I use? [closed]

Answer 1

I think your best approach is to start with a language that you are familiar with. Learning about game development requires you to be at ease with your tools and to focus on the specific challenges that comes with the field, rather than the language.

Start with the fundamentals: how do you manage your game loop, how do you load external resources, how to you save and restore state, how to you manage your artificial intelligence and which pathing algorithms are more efficient for your needs? As you start learning, you'll see architectural and functional patterns emerge.

As your project grows, you'll start tackling new challenges such as networking, optimization and the usage of frameworks to make game development more efficient.

So in general, I'd say go for something easy that you are comfortable with, like Python (there are wonderful libraries and frameworks available). Learn the core fundamentals there, and from then on you can explore other options like C++ (seriously used in the industry) and their existing frameworks. I'd stick to non-mobile, non-flash development for now, as developing in those environments introduces extra challenges and constraints which are fairly specific.

Answer 2

If performance is critical use C++.

Many games write the core engine in C++ then have bindings to python for less performance critical code (game logic, missions, AI). A good example of this is Civilization 4. This also makes the game expandable.

I would personally recommend C# / XNA for a new developer and using a framework such as Ogre.

Answer 3

The simplest and fastest way to learn game programming is with Python/PyGame.

Python is a cross platform, byte code compiled, easy to learn programming language with a really clean syntax that maximises readability. It has a ton of libraries and documentation written for it.

PyGame is a 2D game development framework written in python which is really simple to learn, with lots of tutorials and documentation written for each. Each year a PyGame context is held where people over the word submit their PyGame games. Python is interpreted language ( but you can also package it in an standalone executable) , so when you download a game to play you can also see its source code and change it.

Answer 4

Wanting to "Learn game development" is very, very vague.

If you want to develop your own, small games, for fun, while learning how to structure the application, go with python.

If you want to learn more hard-core graphics programming, or gain experience towards working in the industry, I would have to say go with c++.

I think the answer depends very much on your current skillset and goals. Note that I'm certainly no expert in the field.

Answer 5

I'm of the mind that you want to know lots of languages, and how the same "program" looks in different languages. Then you can make better decisions about what parts of a program should be in which languages. You can use any language to write a game. The concepts themselves behind organizing data to execute are more important than the language, and practicing different languages helps you become comfortable with those concepts. Then you can "pick up" and get a feel for new languages quickly without much re-learning.

So I think that it doesn't hurt to try to learn and practice multiple languages at once, even as a beginner. C++ is certainly widely used in industry game programming (where it's survived more than in many other programming domains). OpenGL usually comes along with that for high performance 3d programming. Python has libraries for writing games, is considered 'easy' syntactically (personally I agree). You might skip C++ for now and focus on C and python, and return to C++ after studying Object-oriented.

You want to learn the concepts behind what your code does, and efficiency trade-offs. To write more complex games you simply need more knowledge - knowing which data structures are most efficient for the requirements. How to structure your programs so that they don't fall apart in your head when you want to fix a bug or add a feature. With a bit of rudimentary programming knowledge and Python you can write a pretty good game without graphics for practice. And there is PyGame and other libraries for graphics, sound etc.