Hey all,
I want to get myself into game development that simulate the reality, but I'm only a beginner and I wanted to know what knowledge I need to build on? Is computer graphics is enough, or does it also require knowledge of computer vision and AI?

Is it better to use 3D tools like Maya or DirectX and opengl?
Thank You!

You need some knowledge
1) 3D modeling, making high res model ( Zbrush), texturing, rigging, animation.
2)C++ ( or what language is the engine that you use )
3) Engine understanding, get used to the tools that build up the game every engine have some building tools like:

World builder, GUI editor etc...

There are lot of things to know but ... i think only one you must choose:
Art or coding ... yeah you could learn the two but it will be hard to be very good at the two.
I have some knowledge @ modeling also @ C++ but @ C++ i'm newbie if i compare my 3D skills with my C++...

It depends...

Good luck!

p.s I'm pointing @ game industry as well!

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Art Director
www.sevenbullsgames.com

Thanks for the reply Coldwave. One of the things I wanted to know is whether 3d software (Maya(including MEL scripting),ZBrush,other) or DirectX/openGL is better for making real looking Games with complex features? Is Maya good for games as it's for animation movies? What's the difference between DirectX and openGL in their power excluding the platforms they support?

simulate reality?
like... ragdoll physics? or particles? or reality as in making your models look real?

as far as i can tell (and maybe someone (MIKE!!) can comfirm this?) the models, animations, textures, lighting, and particle effects are all done by different people (assuming it's a BIG game, if it's small then the work will be shared)

as for knowing more than 3D, knowing C/C++/C#/whatever-the-heck-the-game-engine-requires that's proabbly not really something you need unless you're having to do programming. let the developers develop the AI, UI, and other things that require programming

as for knowing openGL/directX i wouldn't think it's required by a designer either. that too is for developers. from all the behind-the-scene-type videos i've seen you always see the designers using Maya or XSI (eg God of War and InFamous)

knowing AI and computer vision if all you're doing is the graphics is not important.. (i don't think so anyway O_o)
and as far as i know the only games that would probably use computer vision concepts are the things like the eye toy, and those games don't seem to be around anymore.


basically the question is... what are you more interested in... development or designing? (that's what i was told... i took the 'or' as inclusive and try to do both... needless to say i suck at both since i didn't start doing stuff when i was 6 like everyone else..... :\ )

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

Thanks Chirone. Sorry I didn't mention I'm a programmer. But this time I want to do game programming. Don't you think Games need some level of programming for doing animation and texture? What's the role of a programmer in games? If model,animation, lighting and texture... can be done with just engines using the mouse and keyborad, what's the use of DirectX/OpenGL? Why do pple need to do a lot of coding to texture and light?
Thanks

i talked a little bit with a friend who works for a game company in NZ (yeah, i'm surprised too, such things exist in this country )

depending on the company you work for you may or may not use middleware to sort out the opengl and directx stuff, so middleware can be things like game engines. unless you're working on teh game engine you don't really need to know anything about physics, opengl, directx, etc (although some kind of physics knowledge can help)

if you're a developer for games though you should know AI. Depending on how cool your AI is you might need to make yourself a neural net or CBR (if your system learns) but definitely need to know real time planning techniques.

the guy i was talking to was working on doing things like the UI and Wii input and build system (compiling all the resources together), and metrics

a lot of the animation, textures, models, etc should be done by the art team and should be streamed through the pipeline so they are ready for the developers to use... although sometimes doing some hax is required



when you say you're a beginner, what do you know?

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

Thx a lot Chirone. Now that you made clear what are the roles of a programmer in games, I'll take my question one step up. My final objective is to do some simulation to the game. Like if it's a race game, it would not be just a racing game but the player should feel like he's driving the car. So it can also be used for teaching purposes.What tools/engines will be useful for this so I can buy them and get familiar with them? Is Maya good for this purpose as it's for animated movies? If so what other tools do I need to use with Maya for easy modeling?

When u wake up as a beginner everything is hazy

well... if you want to make a serious game that teaches driving then you'd want an engineer to make you a giant box like those driving simulators in arcades

(games that are used for teaching purposes and aren't for kids are called serious games)

after all, picking up a wheel and getting feedback on crashing into a pole in your seat is more educational than picking up a controller and getting vibrations when you crash

BUT, since that answer doesn't help you at all....

there is XNA, i know of it, but i've not had time to play with it, it's a microsoft thing (i think it's a game engine) that you can build and port games to your computer and xbox.
XNA will allow you to bring in models you made from maya pretty easy, and there appears to be a lot of learning resources out there for integrating maya and XNA (it's microsoft, you'd expect as much right? )

the only thing is, XNA uses C#, from what people say it's a lot slower than C++, and being slow is BAD for games, considering how much stuff they have to do. but then they also said that about java when it first came out...
that and i'm not sure of how accepted XNA is yet, whether it's used by industry or just by wannabes and hobbyists

if you get yourself the xsi mod tool you can learn how to use xsi for free non-comercially and it integrates with the gaming world really well

as far as i can tell each company is quite different so the game engine depends, so learning one isn't going to be so great... but then again, trying to learn all is just crazy. learn to learn how to program and in theory you'll be able to take on any game engine (so the rumour goes)

not sure of any racing game engines out there, see if google can bring up anything useful

you could try Panda3D too, it's for python, developed by carnegie (can't spell) melon university (CMU), i was about to try it once but then time issues forbid me learning too many new things at once so i stuck with java..

i think any 3D package will be good, it just so happens that Maya, XSI, and 3DS are just more giant and recognized than the others.
but learning that is like learning a programing language, once you learnt one the other follow reasonably easy.

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

A true driving simulators a pain in the proverbial, the engineering behind the feedback system is a right callenge. We've been thinking of looking at it with our auto dynamics dept.

XNA's prettygood actually you could probably mod a 3d shooter type game to become a racer using one of the download packs on there or cobble together a few tutorials into somethingthat you want.

It intergrates with maya using the FBX format.

as Chrone said once youve learnt one programming language its pretty easy to move between them, you just have to remember the syntax (which I can never do!! haha! for an hour or so!)

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

I heard Zbrush is good when it comes to modeling?? Do you think having Maya and XNA is enough for serious games or are there other sophisticated tools?
Thx

when it comes to models in games you want to make models that have a low polygon count. the reason is... well.. less polys to process means the processor(s) can spend their time doing other things as well that need to be done

what zbrush does is it makes meshes with very very large poly counts and then you can create texture, bump, normal, and displacement maps from that

you could get away with just using Maya and XNA to make serious games, but you probably would want to have another tool like photoshop or zbrush to help out and make things look more believeable

---

that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

Chirone Thx ...will get started soon.

I forgot to ask what kind of Graphics card will I need for better support of shaders and all? And I read AXN doesn't support Multiplayer functionality...is that true?
Thx