Hi im new to game developement but ive worked with 3ds max, Maya Photoshop and many other and i want to ask you if u know a tutorial or smth like that where i can start learning Ive read lots of articles and i know a little c++ and php and can u really make a game with the unreal 3 engine??

Ime really confused so help pls :rolleyes:

Well, I got started out with GameDev when I learneed the Win32 API... which APIs do you know, if any?

Well ... none :o i just know a little bit of c++ but i cant really make a working program(that can do anything useful :D ) i found some good mmorpg game engines but they are all commercial :confused: and i need smth that i can learn from in the first place- smth free :)

Well.... how much do you know of the language then? Do you know pointers, classes, etc?

First off commercail game engines like unreal are 10,000 and up, if you have that type of money. You could always spare it to me XD jking. I think it would be smart for you to try building a easy tetris game first, if you dont succeed doing that, then you really need to keep practing c++ for a while more.. Then try again. As for a graphics language myself i find DirectX to be easiest. Plus they have alot of cool stuff dedicated for newbs to start learning like microsofts coding4fun. But its up to you.

Well, there's an engine I just found out about a couple days ago called torque. It costs $100 for an Indie license, but the best part is that it has it's own language and comes with a thick book describing everything lick of code in the engine. (google it, I can't remember the address)

I don't know whether or not it has the abilities to be an mmo, but it is used by several professional industries, so my guess is it has some network capabilities (I'd try it myself but I don;t have the money).

The extra work would come from programming a servers. While c++ is the industry standard, it is very buggy. Many mmo companies prefere to use java simply because it is nearly hack proof, when programed right.

But the easiest, I think, would have to be simply using shockwave. Right know I'm making a shockwave 3d based mmo that will run through the shockwave multiserver during its beta and upgrade with a more professional version. Although the lingo in shockwave is very detailed, it can sometime be hard to figue out the coding equivlant to a code in c++ or java.

That's my $.50 [end]

Uh... neither C++ nor Java are buggy by themselves, it's how they're used. I think you're referencing Java's ability to garbage collect automatically, something C++ doesn't have (but it's not really necessary, freeing memory is done manually).

As for being 'hack proof', I'm pretty sure it's how you program. Neither language by itself incorporates 'anti-hacking' routines or techniques. After all, the network library you use to transfer data is what'll determine how your data is being sent.

At least... I think :P

As for being 'hack proof', I'm pretty sure it's how you program. Neither language by itself incorporates 'anti-hacking' routines or techniques. After all, the network library you use to transfer data is what'll determine how your data is being sent.

I suppose one can argue that anything is hackable, to one degree or the other. Most games can be 'hacked' using hex/memory editors to change in-game values. Games that use bytecode (a la Java and .NET MSIL) are even more easily decompiled to a semi-readable form, and can be interpreted (and even edited) by a user.

This shouldn't be an issue though, since any online game worth its salt keeps all important game data on the server, not the client. As long as it's the server that ultimately calls the shots, you should be reasonably safe from the majority of 'kiddie hackers'.

I was actually refering to server side. For instance (although I'd rather not mention this atrocity) Runescape server is built on Java, and run on a linux OS. Even without the os, on a server developed with Java, a delanquant would have a much harder (if not giving up) time trying to trick the server with false variables, since most methods can be properly be programed to work with its own set of variables. However, C++ has been known to contain many holes that any cheat hacker could use as a back door to trick the server. But it's only what I've heard, and like it's been said, nothing is hack proof, it's all determined by how far the hacker is willing to go before giving up or getting in.

edit:
Also, my space game engine is starting to turn out to be very dynamic ad easily editable. I've even had the thought about releaseing it to the public once I get my full game running. But, to be honest, I'll probably be working on this for several more months.

Even without the os, on a server developed with Java, a delanquant would have a much harder (if not giving up) time trying to trick the server with false variables, since most methods can be properly be programed to work with its own set of variables.

What do you mean by "trick the server with false variables"?

However, C++ has been known to contain many holes that any cheat hacker could use as a back door to trick the server.

What do you mean? A programming language can't have 'holes' or backdoors. I'm not sure I'm following you.

Space Engine? 2D or 3D? Because I'm working on the same thing, and I'm having trouble with a few things. What language are you writing yours in? I'm guessing Java... and what library you using?

I'm actually developing a space game in Shockwave 3d. I'm prety much enjoying using shockwave 3d because the engine is already there, and it can run on a page along with Google ads (for the purpose of supporting the server, money wise). Not to mention the Shockwave multi-user server I can use as a pre-alpha server.

Primarily, all I have to build is the game engine, which pulls data from a server side database and constructs the 3D world. Right now, I have parent scripts that called to construct planets and moons, and in the midst of programming name tags that would appear above distant planets and above player's heads.

What I aim to create is an Online Game that replicates the scale of our solar system, to an acurate size of planets and space. Of coarse, the background will take place in the distant future, so that I can add things like hyper gates for inter planetary travel, and jump gates for the purpose of adding new systems, later on.

In the end, the game engine will be so dynamic, that with out any change to the "lingo" (director's own easy to learn programming language), all map coordinates and what image maps and 3d files to load will be referenced in the database.

PS: I'll try to post my unplayable extreme-pre-alpha/non-server version online, when the basic game engine is complete. (Just a couple more weeks)

What I aim to create is an Online Game that replicates the scale of our solar system, to an acurate size of planets and space. Of coarse, the background will take place in the distant future, so that I can add things like hyper gates for inter planetary travel, and jump gates for the purpose of adding new systems, later on.

Wow, thats a BIG map youre talking about. I would suggest not even bothering with a map that size. Just use the hyper gates and stuff, or at least SUPER fast ships, because if youre serious about the map being to scale... I mean, Plutos average distance from the sun is 5,913,520,000 km. Thats just the radius of the entire solar system. If a player had a ship that travelled 1,000,000 km/sec, which is like... you know... over 3 times the speed of light, it would take them 5900 seconds, or roughly 100 minutes to get to Pluto from the Sun.

Good luck with that. :(

I know that's is big, but to reduce the map to sectors would greatly reduce the imersive experiende I'm trying to achieve.

Simple ideas of the game:
--Hyper gates would provide abnormal speed in between; thus, one could actually cover the entire system in minutes.
--By making faster engines only available to players of more experienced level, newer players are tempted to stay close to the main hyper-gate high-ways.
--As the player gains access to faster engines, he could develop his own direct shortcuts through the system, not having to rely on hyper gates.
--As the size of the world woulbe so vast, it leaves players to explore and follow clues from NPC to find places that provide great advantages and great mining spots.
--And in the case of size, I want my game to feel enormous, so a 30 to 45 minute trip from Murcury to to Pluto to be average, if not longer. I want the players to earn and feel the distance.
--Also, as an extra, the murcury region will be a heat danger region, requiring players to equip special heat shields to prevent heat damage.
==Also, while the planets and distances will be to scale, the ships and stations will be a bit largly out of scale.

**I have a whole list of ideas, that I can't really post right now, but just wait.

note: I'm making such game as a new space game concept
note2: The game is far from complete, but the vast sizes are possible, since the planets are dynamically loaded from a text style file, rather than a 3d map file.

Also, this thread started off as a discussion on "how to make an mmo" we should really get back to topic.

Edit: Also, there are now 10 planets. Discovered in 2002, astronomers determined that it's orbit is so vast that it only has a 75 year viewing distance from earth. == I will not, however, be including this planet in my game. Attempting such will ultimatly make the system too large.

Please do your research before posting.Programming languages are not the game they do not have wholes in them.The game itself may have holes in them due to the fact the programmer made an error.Second of all Java can be decompiled which is a very bad thing and I doubt anything is hackproof and people stop hijacking the post.* cough cough* ncyphe

Second of all Java can be decompiled which is a very bad thing

I've seen decompilers for just about any programming language out there, so this isn't just a problem with Java. In fact, Java has a mechanism to counter decompiling called Obfuscation.

Obfuscation modifies your source-code by replacing all varialbe / method / class names with random codes (something like dk37912). Further more, the more advanced obuscation toolkits also add bogus code, which doesn't really do anything but does run through all your classes. These two things combined make decompiling no more difficult then before. But after you decompile a sufficiently obfuscated Java program it is next to impossible to actually understand the resulting source-code.

And now back to the original thread.

Mark

what I meant by holes in programming languages is that most languages, based on how they are developed, can have loop holes in which hackers can exploit.

C++ has, for example, global variable that when used misproperly can become easily edited.

What I am saying about Java is that in most cases it is the easiest to secure your code, in the shortest amount of time. And the reference to "holes" that I am using is not the same as holes in a program, just conflicting problems in a programing language that can cause "info leaks" that a hacker can use to alter the program.

Reference about the thread High-jaking, I merly replied to a guys comment, as I do a lot. Threads don't turn into somthing else on purpose, they go in a different directions on their own.

I agree to get back on topic, let's go.

Leaks aren't caused by the programming language itself there caused by the programmer making a mistake in allocating memory.