Hi everyone :)
Let me start out by giving everyone a little description about my self and my current situation.
I am currently 18 years old and will be starting my first year of college this fall. I plan on getting a bachelors in Computer Science :)
I have always been interested in computers and technology and everything in between, I would consider it my passion! Another one of my interests has been text graphic multiplayer browser games... I do not know the correct terminology for the games I am interested in, but I am sure everyone has either played one of knows of one. My favorite genre of these games would be gangster/criminal.
Anyways, on to the point. Along my studies I want to start a side project. I want to create my own game like the one I have descibed! I do not plan on this being a couple month project but more of something that I will do ALL throughout my 4 years in college. I am not really concerned with having it published at any point yet, I just it to be online for my eyes only and for me to play with and continue to build and modify. This project is not about wanting to make the best game ever or anything, but it is really just a project for myself. I have been playing games like this forever and NONE of them have been anything like I want, and most of them are just complete duplicates. Now don't get me wrong there have been a few games I have come across that stand out from the rest, but they are still nothing like I want.
I know the basics of HTML and CSS, and have played around with PHP before, and also messed around with C (probably will not be using C for this project). I am definitly no expert and would not take any advice from myself on these areas. Though, I will do whatever it takes in order to take on this project of mine and want it to be a learning process as well. Basically, all I need is someone to point me in the right direction.
I have downloaded a game engine before and when I saw all the files it just put me into a world of confusion. (whats this file for/why is that file named that/does this file do anything/what do i do with these files/how do i modify them/etc) I have used a web host before, but did not really mess with it directly, I mainly did stuff through wordpress which is pretty beginner.
Here is what I want and would like some feedback to show me what to do in order to get:
- I want a foundation that I can use to view and build my game from.
- I want to understand the bare bones code that will be used throughout my game.
- I want to know which languages I will need to learn and how I could learn them to pursue this project.
- I want to know the initial costs (if any) for taking on this project.
- I want to know the easiest possible way I could go about taking on this project considering I am a complete beginner with no experience.
- Any other helpful tips or info would be kindly appreciated :)
Thank you :)