Game Making Software

I don't really know squat about the gaming world, but...

Any "game making software" out there is going to be pretty basic stuff. Game studios don't spend the time and money on developing their games that they do just for the hell of it. To produce something of retail quality (Halo, as you mention), is no small task, and I can't possibly imagine anything close being achieved with some crappy game making wizard software. It's complex stuff!

 

Halo is likely programmed in a programming language called C++ and the 3d rendering is done using something called OpenGL. I can't vouch for Halo 2 which very well could be DirectX but I'm unsure so don't quote me there.

If you want to learn to program I suggest Deitel & Deitel - C++: How to Program. It is an EXCELLENT C++ book and will definitely steer you in the correct direction. Once you learn that you will then want to pick up something on OpenGL, which i have done very little in so I can't give you much info, i could make a 3d cube and rotate the camera around it, but that was all. For some info on this goto http://nehe.gamedev.net they have a ton of great OpenGL tutorials that you could probably get started on once you have discovered the horridness that is C++.

C++ is powerful, but it's PITA sometimes. Then again, Obj-C's memory management system of "retain" and "release" drives me bonkers too. Once you learn a bit, you could probably read apple's documentation on OpenGL in cocoa apps and probably be able to make native apple games easily.

You can also use SDL (http://www.libsdl.org) which definitely makes things easier in this front. If you are going to program windows only DirectX is what you may wish to look into. However i recommend using OpenGL or SDL (which uses OpenGL but makes things a bit easier for cross platform apps).

Any other questions, just ask.

EDIT: btw... read the credits for Halo, notice how many people were involved? Good luck making a game that large or that high quality alone and on your first try.

 

Rather ironically, games are one of the most challenging areas of computer programming. Games like Halo can contain up to 700,000 lines of code, perhaps, and some have even more. Hundreds of people are involved in writing the engine, creating the 3D models, writing the script, designing the levels and articial intelligence. If you think you can accomplish programming a game like this with a game maker, you are sadly mistaken. Halo was programmed in C++, with some assembly (low-level computer language) for performance optimizations. I think it uses DirectX but games like Doom 3 use OpenGL. Both libs can get very complicated when you start to do 3D graphics. You would need to spend many years to become proficient in C++ and a graphics library.

Since you are interested in RPGs, I should say they are one of the hardest and most time-consuming types of games to develop. The reason for this is that they contain so many items like weapons and spells and upgrades that need to be perfectly balanced, and each requires its own set of graphics and stats. Programming wise, they are probably not as difficult as FPS's, though. I don't know if there are game makers that require no scripting, but there are a couple that could make a simple, generic 2D RPG for you with a little effort on your part (Gamemaker, RPG Maker, etc.). There is nothing out there that is going to make you a 3D RPG. Even if there was, are you a 3D modeler? I doubt it, so how were you planning on getting the graphics for this game?

My suggestion: learn to program if you want to make games. If you don't want to learn to program, you're not going to be able to create a game that anyone will find worth playing.

 

like pervious posters have said, Halo was programmed with C++ with some assembly for optimization.

if you want to make some simple games, i would recommend RealBASIC or BlitzMax (both are based on the BASIC programming language). however, you still need to know how to program to make any sort of game. there arent any "drag-and-drop" game creators out there, but i could be mistaken.

learn some simple programming skills, and the rest will come over time. and if you have a buddy who is good with graphics, you might have to recruit him/her to hive you a hand.... i made a couple of simple games and i spent 80% of my time in photoshop rather than coding because i am a photoshop hack.

hope this helps.

 

I dunno if you can still buy it (you probably can on the internet somewhere), but there is a games maker called The Games Factory, which lets you create any kind of game you want (2d only) and no programming experience is required. Its very easy to achieve great results.

http://www.clickteam.com/English/tgf.htm

 

I believe that either DOOM or Quake source code was put into the public domain a while back. Depending on your coding ability, this might be a good place to start or too much too soon. I would suggest first writting a pong type game. Then move to a 2D style game and so on.