HEY kodewrita,
ITS BEEN THREE YEARS SINCE YOU SAID YOUR C++ SKILLS WHERE FAINT. SO HOW FAR HAVE YOU GONE THREE YEARS ON? HAVE YOU DEVELOPED ANY GAME / GAMES YET?

HEY MAXIMIP, GUESS YOU DID NOT SEE THE EARILER POST( SINCE IT WAS ON THE LAST PAGE) . DO YOU STILL THINK EVERY ONE IS JUST TALKING?

sweet_pawn:

IF ANY ONE'S STILL INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC THEN CHECK THIS OUT!

THERE IS ONE BIG ISSUE TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN CREATING A COMPUTER/VIDEO GAME FOR PROFIT MAKING,  COPYRIGHT!
LET'S FACE IT, EVEN IF YOU CREATED A GAME AS POWERFULL AND INTERESTING AS HALO OR PRINCE OF PERSIA, OR PES OR FIFA OR ETC, YOU'VE GOTTA PROTECT YOUR WORK. THAT'S WHY THEY HAVE TOOLS LIKE THE PS AND NINTENDO WII AND STUFF THAT CAN DETECT COPIED GAME DISCS AND REJECT THEM. IT WILL TAKE A VERY LONG WHILE FOR US IN NIGERIA TO CREATE OUR VERY OWN GAME CONSOLES FOR OUR GAMES, SO LET'S SKIP THAT IDEA FOR ANOTHER GENERATION.

SO NOW WHAT?
I PROPOSE WE DESIGN PC GAMES AND DISTRIBUTE THEM FOR FREE. MADNESS ? YES, UNLESS YOU USE THE GAMES AS ADVERTISING TOOLS FOR ADVERT COMPANIES LIKE GOOGLE OR COMPANIES THEMSELVES.

UH? WHAT AM I SAYING?
I AM SAYING MAKE PC GAMES AND STICK GOOGLE ADS ON 'EM OR FIND A BUSINESS BODY TO SPONSOR YOUR GAME. FOR EXAMPLE:

CREATE A PC GAME, IF THE LANGUAGE USED TO DEVELOP IT IS GUI BASED (JAVA ATI VB), FIND A BROWSER GUI CLASS OR OBJECT THAT WILL DISPLAY A WEBPAGE CONTAINING YOUR GOOGLE ADS, UPLOAD YOUR GAME TO A WEBSITE ON THE NET, MARKET YOUR GAME SO THAT PEOPLE GET TO DOWNLOAD IT, FROM THERE THEY CAN PLAY YOUR GAME AND CLICK ON YOUR AD IF THEY REALLY ENJOYED IT ( OR NOT!)

ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU COULD GET A COMPANY TO PAY YOU TO MAKE A GAME AND BRAND IT WITH THEIR WEBSITE OR PRODUCT OR WHATEVER THEY WHAT. E.G CHICKEN HUNTER GAME FOR TASTY FRIED CHICKEN OR WHATEVER! IF YOUR GAME IS PRETTY INTERESTING FOLKS WILL DOWNLOAD IT AND PLAY AND COMPANIES WILL LIKE YOU TO BRAND THEIR NAMES ON IT!

SO THROUGH AD REVENUE, YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK! WHAT SAY YE?

WELL IF ANY ONE OF YOU LIKES THE IDEA, THEN JOIN ME IN SHARING A COMMON SITE WHERE WE CAN UPLOAD OUR GAMES TO AND MARKET INSTEAD OF US MARKETING OUR INDIVIDUAL SITES. I THROW IN THE TOWEL WITH WWW.COMEANDPLAY.TK (IF YOU FEEL THE NAME OF THE SITE MUST BE CHANGED NO PROBLEM, WE'RE WORKING AS A TEAM HERE. SUGGEST WHAT YOU FEEL IS MORE SUITABLE) I HAVE ALREADY UPLOADED WHAT WAS MY FIRST GAME UP THERE!

THIS PROJECT ALLOWS ANY PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE TO BE USED, BE IT GUI BASED OR NOT, SO LONG IT'S AN INTERSTING GAME!

Hey sweet pawn, long time! Submitted the assignment you gave me ages ago but no reply. Whats been up? I tried fast forwarding to c++ win32 but could not find any tutorials or book. Using free game engines instead. I second your idea for free games cuz I think that is the way indies should start. It doesn't have to be full complete games. Fun and entertaining demos could be the trick. Looking forward to some fun games.


As for Maximip, You think say e easy? Is it everyone that has access to 24/7 electricity? Money for books to learn or tuition? Internet connection? Just last june when I started learning programming, I know how much trouble I went through before I could download my first java SDK. Not to talk of finding tutorials. I had to download stuffs through my phone and I know how many times I've used MTN's 500 naira dataplan and still could not find anything cuz it was damn slow. Thankfully, nowadays, things are easier for me. If you happen to have anything to aid our success, bring it instead of posting doubts and pessimistic comments. Jor ooo. See the big fonts wey you even use. kai.

I could make something really easy to ease your doubts using 3d game studio. Only thing is, my models are from projects from which I learnt and not mine. The free version of the engine also doesn't support shaders which are about one of the most important things in todays 3d games.

Instead of being pessimistic, how about inspiring us? No let me write bot wey go wound you o. Abeg modify your post and reduce the font.

@sweet_pawn,
@gameaddict

Ok!

I went to the comandplay.tk website, downloaded the only game on it and my antivirus caught two viruses while i was extracting. Good Start.

I have been programming for a while now wrote about 3 simple MS Dos games (a card game, ping pong and top view racer - more like "left and right") just to learn C/C++. I even created a first person 2D shooter in powerpoint/visual basic and the problem Nigerians will have creating
games is this.


1. Most Nigerians acquire the ability to create games when they are much older and there are too many important things (that will fetch guaranteed money) to create than games.

2. And we all know Black people like money (esp. Nigerians), we don't mind doing a very very boring and unintelligent job provided it brings in money.

The last time I wanted to create a game, I gave up due to lack of a game design and game graphics. I just want to program and not have to worry about anything else.

When ever anyone has a game design and some graphics to work with, I'm down and my weapon of choice is C# and the XNA framework.

Hope this wasn't too pessimistic

HI GA! I ACTUALLY WAS WAITING FOR A REPLY FROM YOU . I HAD RESPONDED TO YOUR LAST MAIL! MAYBE YOU DIDN'T GET IT! DID NOT WANT TO BOTHER YOU SINCE YOUR SCHOOL WORK WAS ON. OKAY I WILL RESPOND TO YOU AGAIN SO WE CONTINUE FROM WHERE WE STOPPED! TAKE IT EASY ON MAXIMIP DUDE! EVERYONE'S FREE TO POST WHAT THEY FEEL!

HMM! MAXIMIP
WELL IT'S A PITY YOUR ANTIVIRUS DETECTED TWO SUSPECTS FROM THE FILE YOU DOWNLOADED. GUESS THE FILE GOT CORRUPTED WHILE I WAS UPLOADING IT FROM THE CAFE. TOO BAD . NOW YOU HAVE SCORED A POINT WITH THAT ONE !
NICE SHOT! ANYWAY, I WILL UPLOAD THE FILE AGAIN.

ATLEAST I AM GLAD YOU SAW SOME EFFORT FROM 'TALKING NIGERIANS' AT TACKLING A PROBLEM IN A TOPIC THAT WAS POSTED OVER FOUR YEARS AGO. SO ITS NOT JUST TALK! LIKE I SAID IT IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT! PROGRAMMERS LIKE YOU AND I ARE SUPPOSED TO RALLY AROUND - IF THEY SUPPORT THE IDEA - AND CONTRIBUTE GAMES TO THE SITE FREE OF CHARGE WITH THE PURPOSE OF GETTING THEIR REVENUE FROM ADS DISPLAYED ON THEM, SO I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE SUPPOSED TO PROVIDE GAMES.

YOU HAVE DEVELOPED SOME GAMES YOU SAY, I BET YOU ARE NOT PROFITING FROM THEM IN ANYWAY NOW ARE YOU? THEY ARE JUST THERE, SITTING DUCKS ON YOUR LAPTOP OR PC. COMMON DUDE, WHAT HARM WILL IT COST YOU IF YOU UPLOAD YOUR GAME ONLINE FOR A LITTLE PROFIT. TRUE, THE PROFIT WOULD NOT BUY YOU A CAR OR A HOUSE , BUT THEN YOU NEVER KNOW. THE GREAT THINGS START RIDICULOUSLY SMALL!

YOU SEE, CREATING GAMES IS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT HOW GOOD YOUR GAME LOOKS, BUT HOW INTERESTING YOUR GAME IS! IF YOU HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CREATING INTERESTING GAMES THAT FOLKS LIKE TO PLAY AGAIN AND AGAIN AND YET AGAIN, EVEN IF YOU DO IT ON PAPER ( MY FIRST 3 GAMES WHERE BOARD GAMES.THE VERY FIRST WAS MADE ON MY OLD MATHS LONG NOTEBOOK WHILE IN BOARDING HOUSE .WHEN I PLAYED IT, HALF OF THE ROOM WOULD COME TO WATCH AND BEG TO TAKE TURNS TO PLAY. HAD A HARD TIME SETTLING QUARRELS! EVENTUALLY SOMEONE BROKE INTO MY LOCKER AND STOLE IT! IMAGINE A MERE OLD N80 LONG NOTE BOOK WAS WORTH STEALING ! I AM A MIDAS THEN, IF I CAN TURN SHIT TO GOLD!) SO LONG THE GAME IS INTERESTING EVERYONE WILL WANT TO PLAY!

SO DON'T BE SHY, SHOW US WHAT YOU'VE GOT! SORRY IF GAMEADDICT WAS A BIT HARD ON YOU, ( ITS TEMPTING TO SEE TAKE YOUR COMMENTS AS THAT OF A 'BAD BELLE') BUT I ADMIRE AND RESPECT ALL PROGRAMMERS NO MATTER THEIR PLATFORM ( EVEN THOUGH I LOVE JAVA ) AND ANY AVENUE FOR US TO SHARE IDEAS AND CREATE SOMETHING NEW SHOULD BE SUPPORTED. WE ARE ALL BRETHREN IN CODE AREN'T WE? SO PLEASE, NO HARD FEELINGS!

SORRY FOR THE VIRUS ISSUE, MY BAD. SHOULDA BROWSED ON A MACHINE WITH ANTI-VIRUS INSTALLED. HOPE THAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU RUBBISH THE WHOLE THING!

PLEASE, ITS NOT JUST ALL ABOUT GRAPHICS, ITS ALL ABOUT THE GAME! IF YOU DECIDE TO WAIT UNTIL 'When ever anyone has a game design and some graphics to work with. . .' DUDE, YOU WILL WAIT FOREVER AND YOUR SKILLS WILL ROT! IMAGINE THIS POST IS 4 YEARS OLD, AND YOU WANT TO WAIT AGAIN MORE YEARS! NO SIRREE! LET'S NOT FOLLOW OUR LEADERS' PATTERN. WITH THE LITTLE WE HAVE I BELIEVE WE CAN MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! THINK ABOUT IT AND UPLOAD YOUR GAME
TO THE SITE! CHEERS DUDE!

@ maximip

Cool!

Your words are spot on. The fact is Africans are suffering. We are suffering as a result of  the combined consequences of colonization, imperialism, corruption, and ignorance. Everyone realizes this but all we do is complain and talk while leaving the task of correcting this issues to others. Your first comment about everybody talking was indeed true. It might even be motivation to do something.

The fact that Africans have fewer opportunities especially when it comes to tech is reason enough to do all we can to get more people involved. I started programming last year when my dad gave me his old laptop. I was 19 then but I wasn't bothered. I see it as a challenging and inspiring hobby. I believe there are Nigerians out there who are not really interested in the money but in the challenge and possibilities it involves. This is one of the reasons I like topics like this that involve collaborative projects and ideas. It creates opportunities to meet people and inspire each other. Moreover, newbies like me get to communicate with knowledgeable people and since this is the internet we're on, our ideas are preserved. Younger and curious minds will no doubt stumble upon these pages someday and may get inspired to do something. By starting now and facing the challenges, we make it easier for them thus eliminating the first problem.

You were also right about game design and graphics being obstacles to programmers. It's even more difficult for us Africans cuz few can afford the money for necessary apps like 3ds max not to talk of tutorials. For those who have, they have to find payment means since we have been branded negatively and paypal has banned the country. Anyways, thank goodness for open source and free stuff like blender. I'm currently looking for good and free tutorials to learn them now cuz my holiday starts Wednesday ( whoooooo ). You could try getting free models and stuff from the internet to mess with. You'll never know what game ideas might pop in at the sight of something. I think the programming section should sorta befriend the graphics section so we could collaborate on ideas.

You said you're now using xna. How is the learning curve. I've got the installation file but it quits because I ain't got visual studio. I use dev cpp. Last week, I tried Microsoft's dreamspark program for a free visual studio and they helped me verify my student status. The only problem is that it's a 2gig download and thats WOW for my internet connection. Could take a day or two. Could you tell me what tutorials or books helped you. Maybe we should have a newbie guide topic on nairaland with links to sites with good starting tutorials. I understand nairaland has some tutorials but programming is not a static field. Today, your code is great but tomorrow, all the main parts are deprecated. This is a frustrating problem. I brought black art of java game programming last year at about 3k only to find out most of the examples had deprecated parts. I decided to leave java then and move to c++. Luckily,  I've just gotten a new ebook thats not too old but I can't tell till I download the latest java SDK. What kind of programs do you write now? The only thing I do aside gaming is learn web development. It seems an interesting field. I got bored with downloading and customizing scripts like joomla and others. Tryna to learn how stuff works.

@ sweet pawn. I'm having my holiday by wednesday. Hoping for lots of assignments. cheers.

@ sweet pawn. I'm having my holiday by wednesday. Hoping for lots of assignments. cheers.

@ maximip

Cool!

Your words are spot on. The fact is Africans are suffering. We are suffering as a result of the combined consequences of colonization, imperialism, corruption, and ignorance. Everyone realizes this but all we do is complain and talk while leaving the task of correcting this issues to others. Your first comment about everybody talking was indeed true. It might even be motivation to do something.

The fact that Africans have fewer opportunities especially when it comes to tech is reason enough to do all we can to get more people involved. I started programming last year when my dad gave me his old laptop. I was 19 then but I wasn't bothered. I see it as a challenging and inspiring hobby. I believe there are Nigerians out there who are not really interested in the money but in the challenge and possibilities it involves. This is one of the reasons I like topics like this that involve collaborative projects and ideas. It creates opportunities to meet people and inspire each other. Moreover, newbies like me get to communicate with knowledgeable people and since this is the internet we're on, our ideas are preserved. Younger and curious minds will no doubt stumble upon these pages someday and may get inspired to do something. By starting now and facing the challenges, we make it easier for them thus eliminating the first problem.

You were also right about game design and graphics being obstacles to programmers. It's even more difficult for us Africans cuz few can afford the money for necessary apps like 3ds max not to talk of tutorials. For those who have, they have to find payment means since we have been branded negatively and paypal has banned the country. Anyways, thank goodness for open source and free stuff like blender. I'm currently looking for good and free tutorials to learn them now cuz my holiday starts Wednesday ( whoooooo ). You could try getting free models and stuff from the internet to mess with. You'll never know what game ideas might pop in at the sight of something. I think the programming section should sorta befriend the graphics section so we could collaborate on ideas.

You said you're now using xna. How is the learning curve. I've got the installation file but it quits because I ain't got visual studio. I use dev cpp. Last week, I tried Microsoft's dreamspark program for a free visual studio and they helped me verify my student status. The only problem is that it's a 2gig download and thats WOW for my internet connection. Could take a day or two. Could you tell me what tutorials or books helped you. Maybe we should have a newbie guide topic on nairaland with links to sites with good starting tutorials. I understand nairaland has some tutorials but programming is not a static field. Today, your code is great but tomorrow, all the main parts are deprecated. This is a frustrating problem. I brought black art of java game programming last year at about 3k only to find out most of the examples had deprecated parts. I decided to leave java then and move to c++. Luckily, I've just gotten a new ebook thats not too old but I can't tell till I download the latest java SDK. What kind of programs do you write now? The only thing I do aside gaming is learn web development. It seems an interesting field. I got bored with downloading and customizing scripts like joomla and others. Tryna to learn how stuff works.

@ sweet pawn. I'm having my holiday by wednesday. Hoping for lots of assignments. cheers.

@ maximip

Cool!

Your words are spot on. The fact is Africans are suffering. We are suffering as a result of the combined consequences of colonization, imperialism, corruption, and ignorance. Everyone realizes this but all we do is complain and talk while leaving the task of correcting this issues to others. Your first comment about everybody talking was indeed true. It might even be motivation to do something.

The fact that Africans have fewer opportunities especially when it comes to tech is reason enough to do all we can to get more people involved. I started programming last year when my dad gave me his old laptop. I was 19 then but I wasn't bothered. I see it as a challenging and inspiring hobby. I believe there are Nigerians out there who are not really interested in the money but in the challenge and possibilities it involves. This is one of the reasons I like topics like this that involve collaborative projects and ideas. It creates opportunities to meet people and inspire each other. Moreover, newbies like me get to communicate with knowledgeable people and since this is the internet we're on, our ideas are preserved. Younger and curious minds will no doubt stumble upon these pages someday and may get inspired to do something. By starting now and facing the challenges, we make it easier for them thus eliminating the first problem.

You were also right about game design and graphics being obstacles to programmers. It's even more difficult for us Africans cuz few can afford the money for necessary apps like 3ds max not to talk of tutorials. For those who have, they have to find payment means since we have been branded negatively and paypal has banned the country. Anyways, thank goodness for open source and free stuff like blender. I'm currently looking for good and free tutorials to learn them now cuz my holiday starts Wednesday ( whoooooo ). You could try getting free models and stuff from the internet to mess with. You'll never know what game ideas might pop in at the sight of something. I think the programming section should sorta befriend the graphics section so we could collaborate on ideas.

You said you're now using xna. How is the learning curve. I've got the installation file but it quits because I ain't got visual studio. I use dev cpp. Last week, I tried Microsoft's dreamspark program for a free visual studio and they helped me verify my student status. The only problem is that it's a 2gig download and thats WOW for my internet connection. Could take a day or two. Could you tell me what tutorials or books helped you. Maybe we should have a newbie guide topic on nairaland with links to sites with good starting tutorials. I understand nairaland has some tutorials but programming is not a static field. Today, your code is great but tomorrow, all the main parts are deprecated. This is a frustrating problem. I brought black art of java game programming last year at about 3k only to find out most of the examples had deprecated parts. I decided to leave java then and move to c++. Luckily, I've just gotten a new ebook thats not too old but I can't tell till I download the latest java SDK. What kind of programs do you write now? The only thing I do aside gaming is learn web development. It seems an interesting field. I got bored with downloading and customizing scripts like joomla and others. Tryna to learn how stuff works.

@ sweet pawn: I'm having my holiday by wednesday. Hoping for lots of assignments. cheers.

@ maximip

Cool!

Your words are spot on. The fact is Africans are suffering. We are suffering as a result of the combined consequences of colonization, imperialism, corruption, and ignorance. Everyone realizes this but all we do is complain and talk while leaving the task of correcting this issues to others. Your first comment about everybody talking was indeed true. It might even be motivation to do something.

The fact that Africans have fewer opportunities especially when it comes to tech is reason enough to do all we can to get more people involved. I started programming last year when my dad gave me his old laptop. I was 19 then but I wasn't bothered. I see it as a challenging and inspiring hobby. I believe there are Nigerians out there who are not really interested in the money but in the challenge and possibilities it involves. This is one of the reasons I like topics like this that involve collaborative projects and ideas. It creates opportunities to meet people and inspire each other. Moreover, newbies like me get to communicate with knowledgeable people and since this is the internet we're on, our ideas are preserved. Younger and curious minds will no doubt stumble upon these pages someday and may get inspired to do something. By starting now and facing the challenges, we make it easier for them thus eliminating the first problem.

You were also right about game design and graphics being obstacles to programmers. It's even more difficult for us Africans cuz few can afford the money for necessary apps like 3ds max not to talk of tutorials. For those who have, they have to find payment means since we have been branded negatively and paypal has banned the country. Anyways, thank goodness for open source and free stuff like blender. I'm currently looking for good and free tutorials to learn them now cuz my holiday starts Wednesday ( whoooooo ). You could try getting free models and stuff from the internet to mess with. You'll never know what game ideas might pop in at the sight of something. I think the programming section should sorta befriend the graphics section so we could collaborate on ideas.

You said you're now using xna. How is the learning curve. I've got the installation file but it quits because I ain't got visual studio. I use dev cpp. Last week, I tried Microsoft's dreamspark program for a free visual studio and they helped me verify my student status. The only problem is that it's a 2gig download and thats WOW for my internet connection. Could take a day or two. Could you tell me what tutorials or books helped you. Maybe we should have a newbie guide topic on nairaland with links to sites with good starting tutorials. I understand nairaland has some tutorials but programming is not a static field. Today, your code is great but tomorrow, all the main parts are deprecated. This is a frustrating problem. I brought black art of java game programming last year at about 3k only to find out most of the examples had deprecated parts. I decided to leave java then and move to c++. Luckily, I've just gotten a new ebook thats not too old but I can't tell till I download the latest java SDK. What kind of programs do you write now? The only thing I do aside gaming is learn web development. It seems an interesting field. I got bored with downloading and customizing scripts like joomla and others. Tryna to learn how stuff works.

my posts are disappearing, why?

Anyways

@ sweet pawn: I'm having my holiday by wednesday. Hoping for lots of assignments.

@maximip: Cool dude. Also looking into xna but trying to get visual studio pro free from their dreamsparks program before I can do anything.

Cheers guys.

That's the problem with nigerians.we just know how to construct very interesting sentences but actually don't act on what we are saying. Since most of us are new to game development we should join forces in creating a really small but interesting 3D game. That way we can be inspired enough to go further, I mean top game studios didn't just startup with super great games. Imagine a game industry with naija titles e.g Grand Theft Auto: Ajegunle, Onome Akpos: Splitter Cell.

I say we create a new thread or some kind of project management system that holds the names of those that can do specific task. I can develop a lite system for us if we are serious about it.

I mean we have got mad talents in naija, we just need to believe in ourselves.

For now, we can manage free 3D models.There are tons of free archives there.

Mainwhile, I think xna will be a good one to start with. They have lots of support and a great community.

Guys let's do this.

A project management system with the below capabilities can definately handle a collaborative project of this nature.


PROJECT GENESIS DESIGN
----------------------------------
This is an online project management system capable of maintaining computer programming projects between multiple individuals remotely.

Features:

PROJECT TEAM SIGNUP & LOGIN SYSTEM: This allows any interested individual willing to join the project team to signup. Already registered members can login. Although, the system will register a user, but, it will not display any of the projects data until the user has been certified as a team member by an administrator.

TEAM MEMBER DASHBOARD: This part of the system is available to all project members. It contains necessary links, feeds etc to keep the members well informed of every part of the project.

MESSAGING SYSTEM: This system allows the team to send private messages to one another. They can also receive general messages from the team leader.

PROFILE SYSTEM: This is just a short but well detailed information of a particular member that contains personal, skills and reference details.Only members can view profiles.

TASK MANAGER: Available to all members. This is where the programmers, graphic artists etc get to see their next official task. It comprises of the task name, description, discussions, time frame for completion, references and a list of those assigned the same task.This system sends a new email notification everytime a new task is assigned.

DISCUSSION BOARD: This a feature that allows any member to create a discussion on any topic. Ideal for discussions relating to designs.

SCREENSHOT & FEED SYSTEM: Allows members to post and view screenshot of other members works.

UPLOAD & DOWNLOAD SYSTEM: This one of the most important feature that allows members to upload finished files, arts, audio etc. They can also download files to work with. The system keeps a log of who and when a file was downloaded or uploaded. This log will be visibile to every member.


I may be pushing things too quick but I believe in action not just words.who is in?

Cool guys! All my earlier posts have disappeared. smf bug?

@ maximip: cool dude, looking into xna too but don't have visual studio yet. Trying to get the pro version through their dreamspark program.

@sweet pawn: my holiday starts on wednesday, will mail u.

@ world best: cool, looking forward to making some cool games. I'm don't have xna yet and I've got no knowledge of c#. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to contribute wherever I can. Game development is the same no matter the language we're using. We should list basic ideas to start with here or in a new post. I'll go looking for free models now. We could ask someone from the graphics section to help us with a personalized African character as the protagonist. Should we open a new thread to aid communication or should we continue here? How's your skills with blending animations, implementing jumps n stuff?

@gameaddict

Just google up "3D archives" you get links to free 3d models. I haven't used xna yet, I once tried truevision 3D. We can start a new thread when we have a number of people showing interest. I haven't even ventured deep in to game programming yet, I currently write web apps but I am familiar with C++, Phython. My C# needs brushing up. If we were to really begin this, I'd say we go with Orge because of its clean OOP structure, its free, its has a great community and its well documented. Although, it isn't a full game engine because it lacks other core components like audio, ai,physics(they are available via plugins). When I am less busy I will open up a thread where interested programmers can join this team. I am currently coding up a lite management system that will be completed in about a week and half. My naija brothers let's go there. Are u in?

very very old thread

why is this thread so deserted? Is it because we are talking about developing a game, i mean a really small game? Well currently i am developing a small system where we can manage this kind of project, it will be ready in about 5 days. This system will enable us keep track of what everyone is doing(like facebook). For now those interested should signify by typing 'AM IN' then we can begin to discuss other issues. I believe we can do this!

@ sweet pawn, maximip and world best:  cool. I've been posting a couple of things but they keep disappearing even though they appear in my last posts. check 'em out from my profile. Hopefully, this will show up.

EDIT: this showed up so I'm copying and pasting my previous posts below:


@ sweet pawn. I'm having my holiday by wednesday. Hoping for lots of assignments. cheers.

@ maximip

Cool!

Your words are spot on. The fact is Africans are suffering. We are suffering as a result of the combined consequences of colonization, imperialism, corruption, and ignorance. Everyone realizes this but all we do is complain and talk while leaving the task of correcting this issues to others. Your first comment about everybody talking was indeed true. It might even be motivation to do something.

The fact that Africans have fewer opportunities especially when it comes to tech is reason enough to do all we can to get more people involved. I started programming last year when my dad gave me his old laptop. I was 19 then but I wasn't bothered. I see it as a challenging and inspiring hobby. I believe there are Nigerians out there who are not really interested in the money but in the challenge and possibilities it involves. This is one of the reasons I like topics like this that involve collaborative projects and ideas. It creates opportunities to meet people and inspire each other. Moreover, newbies like me get to communicate with knowledgeable people and since this is the internet we're on, our ideas are preserved. Younger and curious minds will no doubt stumble upon these pages someday and may get inspired to do something. By starting now and facing the challenges, we make it easier for them thus eliminating the first problem.

You were also right about game design and graphics being obstacles to programmers. It's even more difficult for us Africans cuz few can afford the money for necessary apps like 3ds max not to talk of tutorials. For those who have, they have to find payment means since we have been branded negatively and paypal has banned the country. Anyways, thank goodness for open source and free stuff like blender. I'm currently looking for good and free tutorials to learn them now cuz my holiday starts Wednesday ( whoooooo ). You could try getting free models and stuff from the internet to mess with. You'll never know what game ideas might pop in at the sight of something. I think the programming section should sorta befriend the graphics section so we could collaborate on ideas.

You said you're now using xna. How is the learning curve. I've got the installation file but it quits because I ain't got visual studio. I use dev cpp. Last week, I tried Microsoft's dreamspark program for a free visual studio and they helped me verify my student status. The only problem is that it's a 2gig download and thats WOW for my internet connection. Could take a day or two. Could you tell me what tutorials or books helped you. Maybe we should have a newbie guide topic on nairaland with links to sites with good starting tutorials. I understand nairaland has some tutorials but programming is not a static field. Today, your code is great but tomorrow, all the main parts are deprecated. This is a frustrating problem. I brought black art of java game programming last year at about 3k only to find out most of the examples had deprecated parts. I decided to leave java then and move to c++. Luckily, I've just gotten a new ebook thats not too old but I can't tell till I download the latest java SDK. What kind of programs do you write now? The only thing I do aside gaming is learn web development. It seems an interesting field. I got bored with downloading and customizing scripts like joomla and others. Tryna to learn how stuff works.


@ world best: cool, looking forward to making some cool games. I'm don't have xna yet and I've got no knowledge of c#. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to contribute wherever I can. Game development is the same no matter the language we're using. We should list basic ideas to start with here or in a new post. I'll go looking for free models now. We could ask someone from the graphics section to help us with a personalized African character as the protagonist. Should we open a new thread to aid communication or should we continue here? How's your skills with blending animations, implementing jumps n stuff?


I'm suggesting a new thread instead of a project system for now cuz it saves us time getting people involved and coming together with ideas and game plan. We can implement the system when things start getting more interesting and feasible. What ya say? Anyways, I'M IN!!!!!

@gameaddict

Cool. All we need now is to know who else is interested, i will open a new thread asking those interested to join us. Then when we have a reasonable number of individuals we can discuss further, Mainwhile, the system is underway, cheers

@ gameaddict

Just what I think is the right path at this stage, forget 3d and stick to 2d. Not even side scrollers but fixed screen puzzle like bejewelled, chuzzle,

peggle, zuma, etc.

That way the graphics and programming is simpler.

You need Visual studio to use XNA and know either C# or C++ for windows apps

@ maximip:

Thanks for the advice. The main reason I'm into 3d games right now is because the tutorials were easy to find and learn from. When I first decided to jump to win32 programming, I could not find tutorials and at that time I didn't have a good internet connection to find any. I downloaded both SDL and the allegro library but could not get any book or tutorial to learn from plus I gained admission to school and had to concentrate on other things. Along the line, I stumbled on game engines and realized how took to them because of how easier they made things. They've taught me not only the basic ideas and concepts of both 2d and 3d but also certain techniques to go about structuring and implementing them. Nevertheless, I've realized that lack of knowledge on certain aspects of programming, mathematics, physics and others can hinder me, hence, I intend to strengthen my knowledge of this areas little by little. Alongside experimenting with game engines this holiday, I intend to do what I can to strengthen the above mentioned areas and hopefully become much better. Hopefully, I'll be able to apply what I learn from both areas to each of them.

@ world best:

Cool! now for a start, what kind of game shall we work on? action, shooter, puzzle, adventure, ? What will make people want to play it?

@maxim
Nice, but we wont have to think of graphics if we had 2d grahics experts. They are in abundance in the graphics section, we just need to get them to join us.

@gameaddict
I thinking of a fps with a really short but interesting storyline. If we are able to pull this off, then we could plan to do larger ones. What do you think? Mainwhile, i'm going ahead to create that thread.

The thread has been created.
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=471237

If only it could show up in the front page.

problem fixed,.

HI GA!
GUESS WHAT? ITS WEDNESDAY!!!
SO LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

I WANT YOU TO RESEARCH ON THE GAME 'BATTLE SHIPS'. READ ABOUT IT. IF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND IT FULLY YOU CAN ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT IT, THEN TRY AND THINK OF HOW YOU CAN MAKE A PC SIMULATION OF THE GAME WHERE THE USER PLAYS WITH THE PC USING ANY PLATFORM THAT BEST SUITS YOU!
YOUR TIME STARTS NOW!.

(I AM HAVING A BAD TIME WITH MY PC NOW. WHEN ALL'S WELL I WILL RELY TO YOUR EARILER MAIL. CHEERS!)

nice guys, just don't let the steam die down. me i'm a lisp guy presently,

Come on guys, hope you guys arent backing out just when we are about 2 get started on something. I have opened a seperate thread "Game development: Join the team" https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=471237 where we are supposed to recruit ourselves. Lets start from there.

@seun
Please oga, we would like to have our recruiting thread up in the homepage. Here is it https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=471237 . Thanks in advance


Lets go there!

@ world best: signed up. cool idea for first project. We can start brainstorming on a simple storyline and setting. These two need to correlate. For example, A simple maze in the form of a jungle. The player will not only face the task of terminating enemies but they'll also have to master the maze so they won't get lost. We can add a timer to see who completes it in the shortest time. As we develop the story, we should also concentrate on AI which will depend largely on the nature of enemies we decide to use. What do you think?

@ sweet pawn. Lots of talk about battle ships on the internet but I'm guessing it's the one where players place ships on squares and randomly choose squares hoping the opponent's ship is on it. If the result is positive, BANG! Is that it?

YES SIR! THATS THE ONE!

@ sweet pawn: okay, will start in the morning. Thanks.

Yes, think we should begin to talk about a simple but interesting storyline. We also need to decide what kind of game its going be. Personally, i would not want to make a 2D game, i would want us to do something simple, a game that we can complete in a short while, one that gives us an idea of how real games are made.

I say we make a first person shooter 3D, some engines like irrlicht, truevision3d have got great examples. If we can pull this off, then we can go ahead to do something big. I like gameaddict's storyline, simple. While making this simple game, we can implement basic stuffs like fighting,jumping,crouching,running,cover etc to help build our knowledge for the big one.

My suggestion is that we wait till we are atleast 10 of us before we conclude on a storyline. For now lets talk about the game engine we intend to use. I want us to see this first project as one where we gain knowledge. I would suggest we read up about Ogre, its more of a graphics engine not a game engine, its has all we need to create our own little engine and its has got a great and friendly community, even the owner answers questions.

Lets hear your own views.

HI, GA!
LET ME KICK START YOUR GAME MAKING QUEST BY HANDING YOU A LIFE LINE!

YOU WILL MAKE A SMALL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BATTLE SHIP GAME.
I WILL ASSUME SINCE YOU ARE MOST COMFORTABLE WITH C++ WE WILL MAKE A
TEXT-BASED VERSION OF THE GAME.

HERE IS HOW IT WILL WORK:

---

GAME : TEXT - BASED BATTLE SHIP VERSION 1.0
PLATFORM: C++
INTERFACE: TEXT
NO PLAYERS: PLAYER 1 VS PC


GAME PLAY OPERATION:
THERE WILL BE TEN 'BOXES' WHICH WILL BE REPRESENTED BY THE LETTERS A TO J

AT THE START OF THE GAME BOTH THE PLAYER AND THE PC WILL FILL IN THE BOXES WITH 5 'SHIPS'

AFTER FILLING OF THE BOXES THEN THE GAME BEGINS BY EACH PLAYER TAKING TURNS IN
MAKING A GUESS AS TO WHICH OPPONENT'S BOXES IS FILLED WITH A 'SHIP'. IF A GUESS IS
CORRECT THEN THAT PLAYER GAINS ONE POINT.

THE FIRST TO REACH 5 POINTS WINS!

GAME PLAY EXAMPLE:
OKAY LET US TAKE AN INSTANCE OF PLAY BETWEEN A USER AND THE PC
BELOW IS THE GAME OUTPUT :

GAME START:

PLAYER 1 TURN:
SHOOT A BOX (A-J) WHERE YOU THINK THE PC HAS HIDDEN A SHIP!
ENTER YOUR SHOT? C
YOU MISSED! PC'S BOX C WAS EMPTY! YOUR SHOT GOES WIDE!
PLAYER NO OF HITS : 0

PC TURN:
PC PREPARES TO SHOOT YOUR BOXES
PC SHOTS BOX? . . .A
PC HITS! PC HAS TAKEN OUT YOUR SHIP IN YOUR BOX A!
PC NO OF HITS: 1

PLAYER 1 TURN:
SHOOT A BOX (A-J) WHERE YOU THINK THE PC HAS HIDDEN A SHIP!
ENTER YOUR SHOT? A
YOU HIT! YOU HAVE TAKEN OUT A SHIP IN PC'S BOX A
PLAYER 1 NO OF HITS : 1

PC TURN:
PC PREPARES TO SHOOT YOUR BOXES
PC SHOTS BOX? . . .E
PC MISSES! YOUR BOX E WAS EMPTY! PC'S SHOT GOES WIDE!
PC NO OF HITS: 1

PLAYER 1 TURN:
SHOOT A BOX (A-J) WHERE YOU THINK THE PC HAS HIDDEN A SHIP!
ENTER YOUR SHOT? F
YOU HIT! YOU HAVE TAKEN OUT A SHIP IN PC'S BOX F
PLAYER 1 NO OF HITS : 2


.
.
.
.
.

PC TURN:
PC PREPARES TO SHOOT YOUR BOXES
PC SHOTS BOX? . . .E
PC MISSES! YOUR BOX E WAS EMPTY! PC'S SHOT GOES WIDE!
PC NO OF HITS: 2

PLAYER 1 TURN:
SHOOT A BOX (A-J) WHERE YOU THINK THE PC HAS HIDDEN A SHIP!
ENTER YOUR SHOT? B
YOU HIT! YOU HAVE TAKEN OUT A SHIP IN PC'S BOX B
PLAYER 1 NO OF HITS : 5

PLAYER 1 WINS
GAME OVER!!!





THAT'S HOW THE GAME TEXT INTERFACE WILL LOOK LIKE.




NOTE:

THE GAME HAS 2 MAIN STAGES
1. THE SHIP IN THE BOXES FILLING STAGE AND
2. THE GAME PLAY STAGE WHICH I HAVE ALREADY DEMONSTRATED ABOVE

NOW YOU MIGHT BE ASKING : HOW WILL THE FILLING STAGE BE IMPLEMENTED?
OKAY I WILL GIVE YOU AN INTERFACE SAMPLE FOR THE FILLING STAGE:

CHECK OUT THE SAMPLE BELOW:

WELCOME TO BATTLE SHIP C++ TEXT - BASED VERSION!

TO START GAME ENTER ANY KEY


ENTER 5 UNIQUE LETTERS OF THE BOXES BETWEEN A AND J WHERE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HIDE YOUR SHIPS!
BOX 1? A
BOX 2? B
BOX 3? E
BOX 4? G
BOX 5? I

YOUR BOXES HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH SHIPS!

PRESS ANY KEY TO START GAME!

AND THAT'S HOW THE FILLING STAGE WILL LOOK LIKE!





NOW I HAVE GIVING YOU THE ALGORITHM TO IMPLEMENT THE GAME. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, POST!

REMEMBER THAT THE PC WILL ALSO RANDOMLY PICK ITS OWN 5 UNIQUE LETTERS BEFORE THE GAME STARTS.(THE USER NEED NOT SEE THIS.
YOUR CODE CAN RUN AT THE BACKGROUND)



WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS GAME PROJECT, I WILL THEN SHOW YOU HOW TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING BY BUILDING NEW FEATURES TO OUR GAME.
THIS IS JUST THE CORE BASIC PART YOU ARE DOING. ONCE THIS PART IS DONE THEN IT WILL BE EASY TO ADD THESE FEATURES.
THE EXPERIENCE YOU WILL GAIN FROM THIS PROJECT WILL ASSIST YOU IN YOUR FUTURE GAME MAKING PROJECTS!


WELL YOU WANTED HOME WORK AT YOUR HOLIDAYS SO HERE YOU ARE!