Game Development software?????

[ErikS]

I'm looking for a a game development software package. The level I'm looking for is "hobbiest", in other words I don't want to spend $1,500 dollars, it's for a 13yr old who's interested in developing some games. Is there such an animal?

Thanks in advance.

 

[CodeJockey]

Games can be developed in VC++, Java, VB, or any of about 100 other languages...what languages does this 13 yr. old know? What sort of game...tic-tac-toe against the computer, solitaire, or a first-person shooter?

For fun, pick up a copy of Unreal Tournament, apply all of the patches, and play around with UnrealEd. You can do all sorts of stuff with it. Here's a link to the Epic Games site From there you can find all sorts of links to other sites with map making and mod (game modifications) writing.

 

[Searching]

If you are a little more serious for $100 you can get the same engine used in tribes 2, and develope a game based on it.

Take a look at www.garagegames.com.

 

[QuiltingB]

I've got a book, Awsome Game Creation No Programming Required by Luke Ahearn. On it's CD-rom is software for making games. One thing, 'The Games Factory', is software you can make games with, but you cant compile them and run them on other machines, only play them on machines where this software is installed, it also has other demos and such for 3D stuff, sounds, and textures. It might be a good place to start.

 

[Gstanfor]

Blitz Basic 3D website

Those of you who used to play around with Commodore Amiga's may recall a powerful dialect of BASIC for that machine known as Blitz Basic. Well 10 years on it has made its way to the PC.

The language has the ability to load Quake 3 BSP levels in directly. It also has the ability to load Quake2 MD2 models.
Other supported formats are .X (DirectX) and .3DS (3D Studio Max) Features

There is a demo version of the language available Blitz Basic 3D Demo

There are lots of demos that show the capabilites of the language. here are a few:

Quake3 Level demo - Take a run around a Quake3 BSP level.

Castle demo - A 3rd person perspective demo featuring terrains.

Dragon demo - Quake2 MD2 model demonstration with MD2 animation transitions.

More Demos

Greg

 

[Bluga]

actually all you need is an C++ compiler.

I remembered when i was in jr. high school i used BASIC and worte an RPG game, of course that's was like 4000+ lines of codes.

 

[ErikS]

Thanks folks, the information is much appreciated. Here's a real DOH! - I totally forgot about the UT & Q editors - oops!

 

[MustPost]

<<If you are a little more serious for $100 you can get the same engine used in tribes 2, and develope a game based on it. >>

How good is the engine documented.
You could always get an open source engine. Crystal-Space is a multi-platform open scorce engine that ive looked at.