New to mobile game developing, I need some advice!

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Sharkbait, May 17, 2014.

  1. Sharkbait

    Sharkbait Member

    May 16, 2014
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    School
    Florida, USA
    I know the basics of code. My dad is a professional web developer, so he is willing to help me. I am looking at launching my first app in the Google Play store, simply because it is free. Once my app advances and earns some money, then I will transfer it over to all of the others app markets like the App Store.

    Now that is said, what programs should I use to develop games for Google Play? Where should I go to learn code for free? What language should I code in? What tips do you have for me?

    Thank you for your time! :D
     
  2. Rogue

    Rogue Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Feb 9, 2011
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    Games Developer
    Brisbane, Australia
    Probably best to go the engine route if you do not know how to program yet. I know very little about engines available as we use a custom in house engine for our stuff. Unity is probably the most popular choice but IMO is overkill for small 2d games. I have a friend that makes his stuff with Game Salad (don't laugh yet people) and he gets very decent results despite having zero programming experience (he is a designer - not an artist or a programmer)

    If you go the pure "make my own engine" route (which is not as hard as it sounds - most 2d Games all you are doing is rendering textured quads with opengl) then it is always best to code in C++ and write wrappers for the other platforms. iOS will need objective C, Android needs Java etc. This sounds more scary than it actually is. I do all our game code on windows and then I can recompile on the other platforms.

    So back to Engines: Have you had any experience making games or even making programs before? Are you familiar with C? If you have zero experience and do not want to spend the time learning to code then use an engine as that can be more designer orientated and can be done with scripting.
     
  3. POLYGAMe

    POLYGAMe Well-Known Member

    Jul 3, 2010
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    Game Developer (iOS, Mega Drive, C64)
    Auckland, New Zealand
    I use a Unity for all my 3D and 2D stuff. I'm capable of doing it "native" but I prefer to spend the extra time that takes on design. Unity is awesome.

    GameSalad is find if you're not making anything that has a heap of action on screen... performance is very poor, you really need to know how to optimise, but hey, no code needed!

    I believe Corona is pretty good for 2D, uses Lua, I think.

    Honestly, though, Unity is your best bet, it can really do it all and it's great to use!
     

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