Flash or Console programmer?

[Niallmcfc]

Which do you guys think would be better? I've always thought I'd try to get into the video game making industry, but some flash games make more than enough money, and you're your own boss...

Discuss?

[Prome]

i think starting off from flash gaming is easier and better, then you can improve your business if you want.

[Wolfos]

May I ask, what's your age and when do you plan on making a living of this?

[Wolfos]

At 9/24/10 03:16 PM, Wolfos wrote: May I ask, what's your age and when do you plan on making a living of this?

Nevermind, I see you're 13.

I don't really see much of a future in making Flash games, maybe other things with Flash but not games.
For console games however, you can.

I see you're now learning AS2, and (if you follow my advice) as you're not going to stick with Flash for long you don't need to move to AS3.
First, learn more about Actionscript (I don't know your skills, though) then, when you're comfortable at writing your own code for it you can start with learning C++ (read through this and make sure you FULLY understand it).

When you've finished that Tutorial, you can start learning a framework (we're talking about games so I mean graphics framework) and because graphics frameworks aren't very different from each other I recommend starting on OpenGL.

To make the plunge from Actionscript to pure OpenGL will be very hard, though, so I recommend actually using an API in between:
SDL.

SDL will handle many things for you, like input and stuff, and if you use it with OpenGL you can easily port it (porting from OS-X or Linux to Windows is easier than porting from Windows to Linux or OS-X).

Start learning the basics here and you will be ready to write your first 2D game engine (or make a game on pure API calls, although that would result in unorganized code and probably a very slow game...).

So, that'll keep you busy for a couple of years.

Also, you'll notice that Actionscript isn't so different from C++ after all, and that it has learned you to do many things that are common in programming languages.

[Patcoola]

flash has never been good for games, historically it lags like hell has many security holes, etc.
seriously flash is an open format and can easily be decompiled.

flash is also a dead format with the up coming HTML5 standard which provides many of the same functionality. Developers have the game Quake 2 running in HTML5.

[IncendiaryProduction]

good luck in the game designing field. it used to be a good industry to go into, but in the next few years the jobs will fill up. if you were to ask a group of 100 kids what they wanna do when they graduate, like 70 of them would say be a video game designer.

[Genocide]

At 9/24/10 03:37 PM, Patcoola wrote: flash has never been good for games, historically it lags like hell has many security holes, etc.
seriously flash is an open format and can easily be decompiled.

flash is also a dead format with the up coming HTML5 standard which provides many of the same functionality. Developers have the game Quake 2 running in HTML5.

I lol'd. Do you think that the common developer is going to try and code an entire game in HTML5? No, it's impractical. HTML5 isn't supported on a lot of browsers, and it won't be for a while. On top of that, even when it is, scripting a game in HTML5 is a lot harder.

If you know how to make flash games, then you can (probably) move onto developing iphone/ipad games. It's amazing how much money you can make if you sell a game on the Istore for only 99 cents.

[Wolfos]

At 9/24/10 03:37 PM, IncendiaryProduction wrote: but in the next few years the jobs will fill up.

It depends on where you live, I live in Holland and the game industry here is just starting up.
There's a much larger demand than offer for employees that have a gaming degree (half of them not in game companies, though) and because most of these kids you talk about have a very different view on designing games than this guy probably has (this guy already knows some Actionscript so he'll know what he's getting into) most people that want to get a gaming degree already quit in their first year.

Let me give you an example: in my course, the final year students started off with 25 people, after the first year it was only 15 and now there's only 7 of them!

That's right, you need some determination but if you really want it you can get there.

[DP]

Well you will kinda be off to a slow start in flash games, but if you hit it big you could be set.

[dirtshake]

As many people have said previously, learning a console programming language ( or several ) and everything that goes with it will make you more successful in the long run than strictly working with AS3 and Flash. However, that's not to say you can't learn both.

If you learn AS3 and build a strong portfolio of games and applications as well as develop your skills in another language such as C++, than it makes you look better for the game industry. The industry tends to hire people who have worked on games, especially if they've made their own and in several different languages and frameworks.

I've also heard that some game developers and companies make prototypes of their games or certain key elements of their games in Flash for presentation and marketing purposes because it's generally easier and faster to do so in Flash. You can mimic quite easily what you want the final product to look like and use it as a reference when you start working on the final project.

TL;DR -- Learn as much as you can.

[Damien]

At 9/24/10 04:28 PM, dirtshake wrote: As many people have said previously, learning a console programming language ( or several ) and everything that goes with it will make you more successful in the long run than strictly working with AS3 and Flash. However, that's not to say you can't learn both.

If you learn AS3 and build a strong portfolio of games and applications as well as develop your skills in another language such as C++, than it makes you look better for the game industry. The industry tends to hire people who have worked on games, especially if they've made their own and in several different languages and frameworks.

I've also heard that some game developers and companies make prototypes of their games or certain key elements of their games in Flash for presentation and marketing purposes because it's generally easier and faster to do so in Flash. You can mimic quite easily what you want the final product to look like and use it as a reference when you start working on the final project.

Yeah you're very right about this. It's all about the conversion.
Being able to release games on different platforms seeing as the game industry has a lot of variety at the moment.
But if you're just getting started then Flash is a very good jumping platform. Although I doubt OP has put a lot of consideration in such things.

TL;DR -- Learn as much as you can.

Don't give me that TLDR bullshit. I read every word you said motherfucker.

[Niallmcfc]

At 9/24/10 03:35 PM, Wolfos wrote:
I don't really see much of a future in making Flash games, maybe other things with Flash but not games.
For console games however, you can.

I see you're now learning AS2, and (if you follow my advice) as you're not going to stick with Flash for long you don't need to move to AS3.
First, learn more about Actionscript (I don't know your skills, though) then, when you're comfortable at writing your own code for it you can start with learning C++ (read through this and make sure you FULLY understand it).

When you've finished that Tutorial, you can start learning a framework (we're talking about games so I mean graphics framework) and because graphics frameworks aren't very different from each other I recommend starting on OpenGL.

To make the plunge from Actionscript to pure OpenGL will be very hard, though, so I recommend actually using an API in between:
SDL.

SDL will handle many things for you, like input and stuff, and if you use it with OpenGL you can easily port it (porting from OS-X or Linux to Windows is easier than porting from Windows to Linux or OS-X).

Start learning the basics here and you will be ready to write your first 2D game engine (or make a game on pure API calls, although that would result in unorganized code and probably a very slow game...).

So, that'll keep you busy for a couple of years.

Also, you'll notice that Actionscript isn't so different from C++ after all, and that it has learned you to do many things that are common in programming languages.

Thanks. A lot.

I think I've decided to just do flash games, while learning some C++, because I often learn a lot from making games. Thanks for the help and the advice!

Can I just ask one thing, and that us: I'm thinking on getting a new computer, should I get a Mac or a Netbook, i.e. Should I go into OS-X or stay with windows?

Thanks for all of the help, guys!

[Wolfos]

At 9/25/10 04:47 AM, Niallmcfc wrote: Thanks. A lot.

I think I've decided to just do flash games, while learning some C++, because I often learn a lot from making games. Thanks for the help and the advice!

Can I just ask one thing, and that us: I'm thinking on getting a new computer, should I get a Mac or a Netbook, i.e. Should I go into OS-X or stay with windows?

Thanks for all of the help, guys!

Well, I can see a hole in the market for OS-X games (roughly 10% of gamers on Steam has a Mac but there are nearly no games, so you can make some good profit there).

A netbook is not an option at all for you, I say go for the Mac, because it has awesome design functions (and because of the hole in the market) but dual boot it with Windows.

[headphenomenon]

Just look at how well these guys did from starting with flash.

[The-Great-One]

At 9/24/10 03:03 PM, Rummy0 wrote: Get a real job.

Oh boy here's a laugh. What would you consider a real job?