Begining 3D Game Design

[<<Onafets>>]

Hey guise.
I'm trying to write a 3D RPG game with a friend of mine but have no clue where to start. I looked at XNA but realised that there were no solid tutorials out there and so I'm pretty much stuck. *sadface* I was wondering if diving straight into C++ and designing my own game engine was a good idea (probably not), or using an open source engine. I will probably be using a 3D modelling tool like blender or milk-shape but have no idea about engines. *also sadface*
Can someone steer me in the right drection?

 

[Kreij]

I looked at XNA but realised that there were no solid tutorials out there

Not true. http://www.riemers.net/

 

[<<Onafets>>]

Legendary. Is there a large difference between XNA 2.0 and 4.0 or is it just a matter of simplifying code blocks?

 

[Kreij]

I would use at least 3.0, but it doesn't make any sense not to use the latest (4.0) in the event they have obsoleted and replaced certain API calls and whatnot.

 

[<<Onafets>>]

I'm assuming this would mean that I'd have to use .net 4.0 framework then? I'm trying to minimise hassle when installing and such.

 

[Kreij]

I'm not sure about that. You may be able to use XNA 4.0 and compile to a .Net 3.5 framework executable.

 

[stephen0205]

xna isnt that xbox 360 development ?

There are a few books out there for that.

 

[digibucc]

not just xbox, but yes.

 

[stephen0205]

i had a look at xna a while ago, seems pretty kl, based on c sharp i thinks.

Im reading through some open gl stuff, and playing around with c++ just now myself .

 

[xbonez]

XNA is quite a powerful game dev tool but be aware that XNA requires you to develop your game from scratch, so there will be a ton of coding.

Another good place to start, if you want to start slightly easier would be to look at a Game Dev engine such as Unity3D. You'll still have to get your hands dirty with code (option of javascript or C# or a combination of the two), but it'll be a lot less work.

 

[Kreij]

What Xbonez says is true.
XNA is a game development environment which uses C# for making PC, XBox and Windows Phone games. It is not a game engine.
However, learning all the details of what it takes to completely program a game is not a bad thing, though it is a rather steep learning curve.

Using a pre-developed game engine or something like Unity3D will get your game on the ground faster, but plugging in assets and using pre-written shaders is not going to teach you about the nuts and bolts of those things.

It basically boils down to whether you want to make a game, or learn game programming.
Neither is better than the other, it's just what you want to accomplish.

 

[Jacko28]

You can also check out http://www.ogre3d.org/ it's an open source 3d engine, heard its good.

I haven't used it myself but there's apprently alot of tutorials about for it

Have fun

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

You can also try DarkBasic Pro. Its free as well. And if you know how to use valve's hammer or other BSP map making tools, you can directly import it in dbpro through a simple 1-2 line code call. It automatically imports the bsp lightmap and collision map as well.