How To Start Programming Games In Java...

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

Hi, I am totally new here as you may be able to tell, and I was wondering a few things about java before I decide to start programming games in it.

  1. Is speed reasonable?

  2. Is it pretty easy (by easy, I mean, simple to learn)?

  3. Is it easily deployable?

  4. What books should I get if I wanted to start, or what tutorials should I read?

I want to make an 3D ORPG or a RPG, and I was just wondering these things, if you could get back to me, that’d be absolutely great, because I really want to be as good as some of you guys!

#2

Yes

It does have a learning curve, and it helps to read about OOP to be able to understand java well.
You’ll learn that java becomes easier when you’re working on larger projects if you use java well.
When you compare java to VB6 for example, this is completely the other way around; VB6 is a little bit easier to get started with, but your VB6 program will be more and more difficult to maintain and expand when your project gets larger.

Yes and no. It depends on your goals and needs. There are some good discussions about this subject going on right now about this elsewhere on the forum.

I found Sun’s java tutorial pretty good. Also, this is pretty good: http://www.cokeandcode.com/spaceinvaderstutorial

The best advice is not to get too pretentious in this stage. Try something easy first, or you’ll get overwhelmed and frustrated.

#3

Thanks for the response :slight_smile: This helped a ton!

#4

also see http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Games/JeffFAQ

#5

There’s alot of cheap books about Java and Java game programming available. Try Amazon.com.

#6

I’d buy a basic java book first that’s just about programming and learn that first.

After you’re up to the stage where you can get a JFrame painted on the screen, you’re ready to have a go at a basic 2D game (they’re the best anyway :)). 3D is probably a bit ambitious, I think you need to be a real maths-head to make one. And don’t worry if your first games are really bad. My first games were super-crap - bullets never ‘hit’ anything, they just passed through your 2D ‘tank’ (rectangle), and so scoring was done using the honour system! (I think this made it better though, more social!) Since it was ‘multiplayer’ (with 2 people on the same keyboard) the best startegy was actually to jam the keys rather than fight properly… awesome

Your best resources will be the API docs, the Java Tutorial, Google, and these forums which are the best catch-all for weird snags & design issues. Unlike the Sun Java forums, most posts here actually get answered properly (& there’s a much better vibe 8)).

#7

Yah, I was wondering, what is the best Java IDE to use if I want to start programming games…?

#8

the one wich rubs you the right way.

#9

I’ll recommend eclipse: www.eclipse.org

It’s free as in beer and it’s free as in speech. The default installation has everything you’ll need for now, the docs are decent, and the plug-in architecture allows it to scale. I’ve recently fallen in love with subclipse, the subversion plugin for eclipse. No more cvs for me!

As Mr. Light says, it is a matter of personal preference, but if you’re starting with a blank slate, I recommend eclipse for the short list.

#10

I’ll recommend Netbeans (www.netbeans.org) because of my personal preference (and maybe because I am writing an OpenGL development support extension for it ;))

It’s as free as eclipse.

#11

I recommend eclipse… anyways I beleave there are several threads flowing about right here.

@purpleguitar the OSGi ppl would enjoy you calling those ‘plug-ins’, bundles :wink:

#12

Which means its about 8 bucks a six pack??

Really, this idiom never made any sense to me,

For that matter, I dont see the connection between freeware software and free speach. Im sorry.
However much the people who see OS a as a religion might like to conflate the two, they are
TOTALLY seperate issues and concepts.

Freeware is about software where the authors are donating their intellectual property to the community.

Free speach is about the right to express an opinion.

Totally seperate things. You might have an OPINION about Freeware, and a society with free speach might allow you
to express that opion… but thats like saying paint is a farrari because I can paint a farrari.

#13

btw… I like Eclipse for large scale development support.

but I like Netbeans for its profiler integration.

I have yet to find one tool that does both equally well.

#14

Quite simple, really. It’s because the english language often has multiple independent meanings for a given word. e.g.:

free
adj. fre·er, fre·est

  1. Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty.
  2. Not controlled by obligation or the will of another: felt free to go.
  3. Without charge.

(actually there’s considerably more meanings than that for the word “free” - go find a dictionary).

If you want to be pedantic, “free” software doesnt mean much because there’s no way of telling, without context, which meaning of “free” is being used.

Hence … “free as in beer or speech”. Ask anyone the difference between free and non-free beer, and they’ll say “one you have to pay for”. Ask them the difference between free speech and non-free speech and they’ll say “one is controlled by other people”.

#15

Blahx3 summed it pretty well. Wikipedia has a couple good entries for the “…as in beer” & “…as in speach” phrases. Free software ( free as in beer ) is not always Open Source ( free as in speach ). Since English uses the same word ( free ) for both “gratis” and “liberty” meanings it’s often a good thing to clarify if one or both apply when discussing FOSS.

As powerful as both Netbeans and Eclipse have become the selection of one over the other often seems to come down to personal preference. Which one works the way you think? If you don’t yet have much experience with them, then maybe grab both and go thru a couple of the tutorials with each one. See which one just feels more natural to you.

To be honest, I started using Eclipse vs. Netbeans for two reasons. First, it is the basis for the IBM IDEs ( WSAD & RAD ) which are far from free but are the standard at where I work. Second, I just think the name is better than “NebBeans”. Rather shallow but enough to tip the balance for me. :smiley:

#16

Everything depends on your game… I’m doing a massive networked games and apart from my crappy graphic card slowdown is not on the Java side. (optimizations like JIT do the job pretty well).

I found so. I began with C++ and now that I’m with Java when I read C++ code I always “whooooooooooooooo what a mess ! how can they read that ?” ;D ;D

Java Web Start is pretty cool and works well (from what I’ve tested) but maybe for larger-scale projects you will need something like : http://www.izforge.com/izpack/ IzPack, which is just AMAZING. (I used it to deploy a demo of one of my older games).

As mentioned, Jeff FAQ is a pretty good starting point.

So cool you don’t want to do a MMORPG (I don’t know who said “Friends don’t let friends do MMORPGs”).

#17

As others said just your preference but I found Eclipse really, really, really great. Older versions were slow as swiss speech ;D but now it’s just fine (or maybe my PC has upgraded without telling me ??? :wink: )

(Isn’t “speach” spelled “speech” ??)

#18

[quote="<MagicSpark.org [ BlueSky ]>,post:17,topic:27665"]
(Isn’t “speach” spelled “speech” ??)
[/quote]
Uh…that’s the Double Super Secret L337 Haxor way of spelling it… ::slight_smile: 8)

#19

Uh…that’s the Double Super Secret L337 Haxor way of spelling it… ::slight_smile: 8)
[/quote]
4|-| 0|<3Y 6()Y

(Wow, was that ugly ??)

#20

http://ganjataz.com/01smileys/images/smileys/geek-speakinleet.gif