What language to choose?

[bob]

Originally Posted by yaustar

Languages that are commonly used in the industry now: C++, C#, Lua, Python. In terms of libraries, whatever you want really.

Don't try to learn too much at once and excel in them. Bear in mind that in 6 years time, things may have moved on from now.

Working on a small 2D game would be a good start, something like a Space Invaders clone using C++ and SDL or SFML.

Yaustar,

Your inclusion of Python up there caught my eye. I'm learning it in a comp sci course right now. I'm curious if what I'm learning here could eventually be directly put to use if I end up designing games somewhere. Is it used by designers or programmers more? And to what extent has its use proliferated throughout the industry?

Thanks.

[tsloper]

Originally Posted by bob

I'm curious if [Python] could eventually be directly put to use if I end up designing games somewhere. Is it used by designers or programmers more? And to what extent has its use proliferated throughout the industry?

Python is a good introduction to programming. Go ahead and learn it, get good at it, and then move on to more advanced languages. All programmers have to learn numerous languages anyway. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...at+programming

[bob]

Tsloper,

I want to be a designer. Does your advice still apply?

[tsloper]

Originally Posted by bob

Tsloper,

I want to be a designer. Does your advice still apply?

My name is "Tom."
If you want to be a designer, why are you asking about programming languages?

Edit:
I looked back and saw that you're taking it in class, and that's why.
Python is a good introduction to programming. Go ahead and learn it, get good at it, and then move on to whatever else you need to study for your degree. Don't worry if Python will actually be used or not -- it might not be. That doesn't mean you are wasting your valuable time learning it in that class.

[yaustar]

Originally Posted by bob

Is it used by designers or programmers more?

Don't know.

And to what extent has its use proliferated throughout the industry?

Tools, websites, gameplay logic, frontends, etc. It is such a widely used language that it has pretty much been used for everything. Eve Online is the most famous for using (Stackless) Python for the majority of the game side code.

[Huogo Furi]

@bob

To my knowledge (atleast from what Ive read and seen) Designers aren't required to learn any programming languages, but agreeing with Yaustar and Tom I'd say still go through the class.

[bob]

Yaustar, Hugo and Tom,

Thanks, all of those replies were very helpful. I ask because I've heard of Python described as a script, not only as a programming language. In conjunction with that, I've heard that designers usually need to do some scripting. That's why I asked about it. My question should have been - is Python a good script for a designer to learn? Come to think of it, maybe I should have just started a new thread in the Design section. Anyways, thanks.

And Tom,

Why would you criticize a designer for learning Python just for the sake of it? Aren't we supposed to have knowledge of all the disciplines (one of which is programming) we'll have to bring together to make a good game?

[tsloper]

Originally Posted by bob

Tom,
Why would you criticize a designer for learning Python just for the sake of it?

WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!
I never criticized you.
I never said you shouldn't learn Python.
You have somehow totally misunderstood something I said!

[bob]

Tom,

I interpreted your question "If you're a designer, why are you asking about programming languages?" as implying that, under normal circumstances, a designer wouldn't be learning a programming language. I know it wasn't a criticism - criticize was too a strong a word. What did you mean, though?

[tsloper]

A lot of times, we get questions from aspiring designers who ask about programming solely because they are under the mistaken impression that they have to be programmers. It seemed that you might have been one of those (when you belatedly revealed that you were an aspiring designer).

And I was surprised that you threw a surprise twist after you got an answer. BTW, did you happen to notice that there was very little difference in my answer after you told me the surprise twist?

1. The answer I gave when I thought you were an aspiring programmer (since "which language should I start with" is a question usually asked by aspiring programmers, and that's the general theme of this thread):
"Python is a good introduction to programming. Go ahead and learn it, get good at it, and then move on to more advanced languages. All programmers have to learn numerous languages anyway. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...at+programming"

2. The answer I gave when you asked if the above still applied, given the new information you provided after getting the above:
"Python is a good introduction to programming. Go ahead and learn it, get good at it, and then move on to whatever else you need to study for your degree. Don't worry if Python will actually be used or not -- it might not be. That doesn't mean you are wasting your valuable time learning it in that class."

It sometimes happens that someone asks for advice, without providing information that might make a difference to the answer. Sometimes we give the person an answer and it's the wrong answer since we were missing the information. Sometimes I can't give an answer without the information, and have to ask for the information. Sometimes I just skip the information request and just give the answer I think fits, given the wording of the question, or its context. And sometimes after giving an answer, new information comes out that would change everything.

But not in this case. My answer was still essentially the same. But the new information, given the context, and given the fact that many askers mistakenly think that a designer is required to be a programmer, or doesn't even know what a designer is, made me reflexively respond the way I did.