Newish to programming - Looking for language choice for Android platform

krauserkrauser · 03-23-2011, 03:57 PM

So I've started on the journey to make games a bigger part of my life and am looking at getting a bit of programming under my belt.

Like all aspiring game makers posting on these forums I have ideas that I want to start making but, aside from a bit of C++ in high school (10+ years ago) and some basic VB in college, I don't have much of a programming backbone.

I would like to make games that I can run/test on my Android and I am looking to get some help on choice of language with which to start experimenting.

Does anyone have experience in programming within the Android framework and would be willing to share some pearls of wisdom?

I've started reading up on game design, theory, etc and any suggested programming books could easily be thrown into the mix. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to joining in our shared quest for gaming excellence.

ndimucci · 03-24-2011, 05:09 PM

Java.........

krauserkrauser · 03-25-2011, 02:40 PM

Yeah, thanks for the reply. Did a bit of google research and found that to be the case.

Going through some basic training now in the hopes of putting code to the page soon.

Currently writing my first game design document and am so far thoroughly enjoying the process. I'm sure that when I'm trying to code this idea I have in my head I might think otherwise, but for now, I'm optimistic.

TheeCakee · 04-03-2011, 05:33 PM

I am still learning programming myself, and have not even touched Java so I don't know much about that. So anyone can correct me if I am wrong.

From what I hear, you can use C# to script for the Unity Engine which has some similarities to C++. http://unity3d.com/unity/publishing/android

I assume learning C# won't be that hard if you know C++.

You will need to throw out $400 though for Unity on Android.

jose2090 · 04-05-2011, 08:19 PM

I'm also working with Unity3D. It's a great platform. The only thing that can be a problem for newcomers is the fact that is, practicly, an only-3D game engine. And yeah, you can use C# in Unity3D, whats better, you can also use JavaScrpit or Boo (wich is an object-oriented lenguage with Python syntax).

To krauserkrauser:Android development only works with Java. Unity3D let's you import your games to Android phones, but like TheeCakee said is not for free. My advice: if you are interested in Unity3D, then first learn Java and object-oriented programming. Then JavaScript (wich is like the same thing lol), then buy a good book about Unity3D (Unity Game Development Essentials is a good one, I have it in .pdf)

Some people may be thinking "Java? that's more for enterprise software than for gam dev..." and that may be true. "Hardcore" game dev is made with C/C++ usually. If I'm not wrong, the reason is the lack of a virtual machine let C/C++ take more advantage of hardware (that's what a teacher told me)...also the "popularity". When Sony bought Naugthy Dog, they forced them to change to C++ programming in order to share code. (funny thing: the last reason is likely to be the strongest one). There are good Java based games thou, RunScape is an example.

Anyway, is you are thinking C/C++, then XNA is one of the best choices.

Hope this helps! I'm not an expert or anything though! lol

Joe2 · 04-10-2011, 12:28 PM

Yeah, you're stuck with Java for now.

EccentricDuck · 04-10-2011, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jose2090

My advice: if you are interested in Unity3D, then first learn Java and object-oriented programming. Then JavaScript (wich is like the same thing lol), then buy a good book about Unity3D (Unity Game Development Essentials is a good one, I have it in .pdf)

Java and Javascript are nothing alike aside from both having their syntax based, to some degree, upon C. Javascript is a scripting language that is typically interpreted by web browsers and allows for more programmatic control in web development whereas Java is for large scale object-oriented software development. They are entirely different beasts (which probably shouldn't share the term Java).

Quote:

Anyway, is you are thinking C/C++, then XNA is one of the best choices.

Also, XNA uses C#, not C or C++. C# is actually very similar to Java (only more powerful in some regards, while trading off the breadth of available Java libraries and multi-platform development since it's limited to Windows and the Xbox 360).