I have had this idea for a long time now, I would really love to develop a RPG Pokemon like game for iPhone but I seriously have no clue on what to do or where to start. I have had a look at Xcode and Coco Pop (I really hate coding.)I have looked at the other game makers like Game salad and Stencil and I would like a more professional program. Any advice for other game dev software that is suitable for my needs I've heard that with the release of iOS 7 there will be a new program called sprite kit any info on that would be great I use a mac btw. I was wondering if anybody could really help me out and give me some advice on creating such a game for iPhone and iPad the game will be 2D only, also I have a lot of time on my hands so I don't mind on how long it will take, this project is for my own purposes and entertainment I will not be selling it. I am a Graphic Designer so graphics will not be a problem, I have minimal coding experience if you call action script 3 coding.
Honestly... Learn to program. That is the first step here. -- I am Saying this as a Lead Programmer with an Art Degree. If you don't learn to program you will always be at the mercy of tools that can't do what you need or not being able to find a coder to work with you. Once you commit to that we can talk about engines etc...
I'm using playmaker +unity3D and it rocks. All you see in 'oberon's court' is made using playmaker. But even though its not coding classic style, its still coding, and you need to understand how to dev games.. But I can recommend it, I'm a game designer/artists by trade and I too hate to text-code, but I can do it if the game or prototype requires it. (there's just a speed limit to visual coding, text coding can be quicker and offcourse faster).. The game I've been developing playmaker, all the pathfinding, UI, controls, animations scripts have been made in the visual coding method of playmaker. The combat resolution code I did in C# (there's just no use in visual coding complex algorithms) Offcourse you need to understand shaders , but there's a visual tool for that as well, strumpy shader editor or Shaderforge(upcoming) for unity3d. All in all with all the tools and tutorials available for unity3d there is basically no alternative.. here's some links, http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=202754 (my game , oberon's Court) http://www.hutonggames.com/tutorials_game_design_with_playmaker.php (requires unity3d, its basically a plugin) http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/56180-Strumpy-Shader-Editor-Now-Open-Source (strumpy shader editor) https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/search/rpg ( the Unity3d Asset store sells a bunch of premade RPG toolkits, just add art and story basically) good luck.
just get your base and let your creativity takeover. I am nowhere near a "good" programmer but I know the base lang so I can make stuff work.
Even harder to keep on task then the average artist Since they end up taking on the brunt of the work and playing catch up to everyone else. No the safest bet is to be able to code and do art and lead your project and team. Having done many multi year indie projects with small team that were published.... is why I say this.
I would recommend Unity3d (free) and Playmaker (you can find it on the Unity Assetstore for a few bucks -it is an awesome visual scripting tool and easy for artists to learn.
OOP is where you need to start. Java has a ton of resources for learning. A great site to start learning is http://www.codecademy.com/ Also check out this link for some info on Object Oriented programming: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/concepts/index.html
My advice would be to start simple and learn to program. I always think people should start by learning C if they want to get into game development, then after you have your head around the basics of C, learn C++. With those two languages well understood you can pretty much learn any other language in a couple of weeks. The concepts of logic are pretty much the same across all languages. API's and whole engines, like unity, are great. But without programming know how, you are really limited even with these great tools. I started really simple, many years ago, writing simple text based RPG games. Doing something basic gives you are really good understanding of how to manage everything in a game, before you start to try and make something more complex. But like all game developers know, it is so hard to keep your project small and actually something you can get done, the mind goes wild with ideas and things to add, and before you know it you are trying to make a Skyrim by yourself in a couple of weeks.
Finishing something is the most important thing IMO, better to achieve a simple goal than forever try to develop a massive AAA game which you will never get close to releasing. Simply releasing your first game even if not that great will be a huge step.
