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GD&E: Useful Links Mega-Thread.

  • 23-04-2013 7:14pm
    #1
    Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 4,599 CMod ✭✭✭✭


    First of all, thank you to the following people who contributed this starter pack of links -- RedXIV, Satchmo, Torakx, ReturnNull, Esterhase, Genghiz Cohen...

    This thread will be used for the supply & listing of any useful sites, links or articles regarding Game Development & Game Editing.

    If you know of any useful links that may not be supplied in this thread, feel free to contribute them below and one of the Moderators will hopefully be around to add them to the list when possible.




    --- Learning & Basics ---


    -- General Links & Tutorials--

    CPlusPlus.com
    "C++ site with a good tutorial, and some handy library references".

    https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/tutor...ramming-basics
    "Khan academy; this link is great for learning the very basics in programming with a helpful real-time screen on the opposite side to see the results".

    CG Cookie
    "Collection of high-quality tutorials for software like Unity, Blender, 3DS Max & others. Some content only available to paying subscribers but the free stuff is well worth checking out, especially for beginners".

    http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=3142.0
    "A collection of tutorials for GameMaker."

    http://www.cokeandcode.com/index.html?page=tutorials
    "A link to a few java tutorials for 2D/3D java games (Space Invaders & Asteroids etc)."

    http://www.java-gaming.org/
    "Some great tutorials on game loops, animation, using timers in games etc".

    "Ray Wenderlich is an immensely useful resource for the mobile Devs. He takes a game, like Tiny Wing for example, and then shows you how to build it from scratch".

    "Ne-He does good, if slightly outdated OpenGL tutorials, more than enough for the beginner to get making games".

    CSharp-Station.com
    "A good C# tutorial for learning the language from scratch. Some aspects of the site might be confusing for novice programmers, but useful if you're coming from another language and want to quickly pick up C#".

    Digital Tutors, 3D Buzz & Gnomon
    "Paid games development learning sites, but have loads of free content. 3D Buzz are doing a free 101 live class in C# at the moment which could be useful to people".



    --- Engines, Open Source & Programming ---

    Unity 3D
    "Highly popular package for creating cross-platform 3D games on many different platforms (PC, OSX, iOS, Android, and others). Game scripting done via C#, Javascript or Boo. Known for being relatively easy to use without sacrificing complexity".

    UDK
    "Free version of Epic's Unreal Engine. More advanced than Unity, but comes with a steeper learning curve. Supports PC & iOS target platforms".

    Project Anarchy
    "Recently unveiled game engine specifically targeting iOS & Android, developed by game middleware company Havok. Based on the Trinigy Vision Engine, acquired by Havok in 2011".

    CryEngine
    "Free version of the engine used by Crytek, makers of the Crysis series. Can only be used to make free games - Commercial use requires a license to be negotiated with Crytek. PC only".

    GameMaker
    "Primarily 2D game engine for desktop, mobile & web platforms. Fee required to publish on mobile platforms".

    Torque3D
    "Fully-functional open source game engine, under active development. Supports PC and browser target platforms".

    OGRE3D
    "It's well laid out and quite powerful. Keep in mind it is purely a graphics engine. If you want any game logic, AI, physics, networking or anything else, you have to implement or integrate yourself".

    LearnCPP.com
    "Great C++ tutorial site, well laid out and easy to follow. Goes into some good details that other tutorials don't. Also has some recently-added C++11 sections".

    AiGameDev.com
    "Some good resources for AI programmers. Some content is only for paid subscribers".

    Visual Studio Express
    "Free version of Microsoft's IDE & compiler for C++/C#/VB.NET".

    Clang/LLVM
    "An alternative C/C++/ObjectiveC compiler under active development. C++11 feature complete. Chosen as the compiler for the PS4's toolchain".

    Cocos2D
    "A fully fledged 2D game engine that has almost everything you could ever possibly need to make a game for iOS, it implements a lovely Scene Graph, making laying out your game very intuitive".

    "There is currently a cross (x) platform version, it is not as easy to use as Cocos2D as the engine left out features that iOS took care of that now need to be implemented into the cross platform version.
    Cocos2D-X. Build for iOS, Android, PC, OSx, and so on with one project".

    "If you want high quality rigid-body physics in your 2D game, Box2D is the way to go. It's free and built by the same people who made the Unreal engine".

    Corona SDK
    Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Kit.

    LibGDX
    It's a free open source Java Framework. It deploys on Windows/Macs/Linux/Android/Ouya and Iphone all for free.
    (Pair it up with the free Physics Body Editor and you can make some interesting physics game easily enough)

    http://www.qhimm.com/
    "Not sure if this is the sort of detail you want to go into but if you're looking for PS1 Final Fantasy modding tools, this is the ultimate resource. Tools to do everything from model extraction to scene scripting. Not massively beginner friendly, they don't do hand holding but if you're willing to put the effort in, they are great to work with".

    http://flixel.org/
    "Flash library to help with game development, good community behind it as well. Wouldn't be the most sophisticated stuff but very good to help you learn ActionScript/Flash".



    --- Various Resources ---

    Three.js
    Java Library / WebGL collection / projects.

    Spriters Resource
    "For those more artistically minded, this is a good resource if you A) want to improve your sprite creation or B) want to get your hands on some Open Source sprites (or commissioned ones if you like)".

    RPG Maker VX Ace
    "If you're not terribly good at coding (or just lack the time), this is a pretty nifty tool for creating JRPG style games. Easy to read scripts can string dialogue, quests and battles together without too much trouble, with a lot of control over how things are done that lets you create some really quite decent games".
    -- Massive list of scripts that add new features to the base editor
    -- Similarly massive list of various resources, including artwork, sound, scripts. Most are free or creative commons.



    --- Random Blogs & Articles ---

    http://www.digitaltimes.ie/start-up/...up-incubators/
    "Posted June 2012, maybe of use."

    http://blog.flurry.com/default.aspx?...e%20Statistics
    "For the more business minded Devs."

    GameDevelopers.ie
    "Irish game developers community site, good for a broad overview of the current state of the Irish industry. Semi-regular meetups & other event details can be found here. Also has comprehensive lists of current Irish games companies and gamedev-related college courses, as well as a jobs board".

    Gamasutra
    "News, post-mortems and articles/features on all aspects of game development. About to get bigger now that Game Developer Magazine is no longer being published".

    GDC Vault
    "Repository of all presentations from recent Game Developer Conferences, with videos, audio & presentation decks. Decent amount of free content, but a lot of it is only available to GDC attendees (or for a hefty fee). Great resource if you can get access".

    GameDev.net
    "Long-running game developer community site. Lots of articles, and a very active forum community.

    DevMaster.net
    "Similar to GDnet, lots of articles & active forums".

    AltDevBlogADay
    "GameDev blog with lots of different contributors, founded by Insomniac's Mike Acton. Quality of posts can be very variable, but there are some gems in there".

    StackOverflow
    "All-knowing question-and-answer site for programmers. If you have a programming-related question, it has probably already been answered here".

    RealTimeRendering.com
    "Home of the comprehensive 3D graphics book Real Time Rendering. Also has a good index of links to various rendering pages, but they're not very well organized and somewhat out of date. The blog is worth keeping an eye on".



Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭Genghiz Cohen


    Not sure what I was thinking not including Cocos2D in my post.

    Cocos2D is a fully fledged 2D game engine that has almost everything you could ever possibly need to make a game for iOS, it implements a lovely Scene Graph, making laying out your game very intuitive.

    There is currently a cross (x) platform version, it is not as easy to use as Cocos2D as the engine left out features that iOS took care of that now need to be implemented into the cross platform version.
    Cocos2D-X. Build for iOS, Android, PC, OSx, and so on with one project.

    If you want high quality rigid-body physics in your 2D game, Box2D is the way to go. It's free and built by the same people who made the Unreal engine.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,581 ✭✭✭DesperateDan


    Definitely would add Digital Tutors, 3D Buzz and Gnomon sites to the list. All of these are paid games development learning sites, but have loads of free content. In particular 3D Buzz are doing a free 101 live class in C# at the moment which could be useful to people. They taught me more than 5 years of college did regarding coding an 3D modelling :D


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 10,461 Mod ✭✭✭✭Axwell




  • Registered Users Posts: 8,397 ✭✭✭RedXIV


    http://www.qhimm.com/ - Not sure if this is the sort of detail you want to go into but if you're looking for PS1 Final Fantasy modding tools, this is the ultimate resource. Tools to do everything from model extraction to scene scripting. Not massively beginner friendly, they don't do hand holding but if you're willing to put the effort in, they are great to work with.

    http://flixel.org/ - Flash library to help with game development, good community behind it as well. Wouldn't be the most sophisticated stuff but very good to help you learn ActionScript/Flash

    http://www.spriters-resource.com/ - For those more artistically minded, this is a good resource if you A) want to improve your sprite creation or B) want to get your hands on some Open Source sprites (or commissioned ones if you like)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    RPG Maker VX Ace

    If you're not terribly good at coding (or just lack the time), this is a pretty nifty tool for creating jRPG style games. Easy to read scripts can string dialogue, quests and battles together without too much trouble, with a lot of control over how things are done that lets you create some really quite decent games. I'm finding it to be really quite good out of the box, but I suspect with a few of the right scripts it could do a ridiculous load more.

    Tonnes of free and Creative Commons support, as well as resources that cost money.

    Massive list of scripts that add new features to the base editor
    Similarly massive list of various resources, including artwork, sound, scripts. Most are free or creative commons.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 627 ✭✭✭Dboy85


    Three.js is pretty cool. It's basically webGl underneath so you can do some interesting stuff in a browser


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,950 ✭✭✭witnessmenow


    I have been using LibGDX - It's a free open source Java Framework. It deploys on Windows/Macs/Linux/Android/Ouya and Iphone all for free.

    Pair it up with the free Physics Body Editor and you can make some interesting physics game easily enough.

    If anyone wants an example of them working together here is a github link to game I made for the Derry Gamecraft using it. ( I will upload the code to github later this evening)


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,752 ✭✭✭✭Encrypted Pigeon


    SFML A games development library that provides easy access to graphics, audio, input etc. Primarily C++ but also has multiple bindings, including for C, .Net, Python and others.

    Games from scratch Loads of tutorials including LibGDX, Blender and SFML.

    http://www.nosoapradio.us/ Great selection of royalty free music


  • Registered Users Posts: 138 ✭✭jamiemc


    Can you update the links for GameDevelopers.ie ? They link to the old site, and all redirect to the front page now

    http://gamedevelopers.ie/category/jobs-and-internships/

    http://gamedevelopers.ie/category/irish-made-games/ (companies are gone, just games now)

    http://gamedevelopers.ie/games-courses/ - CAO and other courses

    Also, a new feature is the #IrishGameDev timeline at http://gamedevelopers.ie/timeline-of-the-irish-games-industry/

    People can submit content (ie press releases, new games, jobs) via http://gamedevelopers.ie/contact-us/submit-content/

    Thanks

    Jamie


  • Registered Users Posts: 6 QT2


    thanks


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  • Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭Kensei


    Lumberyard - Amazon's free engine, based on CryEngine's framework (for which they paid quite a lot). No royalties for games post-deployment, no subscription, better support and a wider choice of assets. Low userbase at the moment, and will likely stay low.

    MakeHuman - Excellent piece of software for fast humanoid mesh generation and rigging. It's basically a glorified character creator, if you ever spent 2 hours in a game creating a character, you'll be a pro at this. Has basic animations and some rudimentary animating tools. Excellent for prototyping. Exports fbx and has a similar animation workflow to Maya.

    PixoLogic Library - An absolutely massive library of alpha maps. Excellent for importing into Substance or for any PBR workflow for that matter. May also be good for masks in textures, as well as displacement/height maps.

    Spacescape - Your best friend for generating outdoor cubemaps for skydomes and bounding boxes. Free.

    Bfxr - A free virtual synth for SFX generation. Very powerful, and customizable.


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