What Computer languages are most frequently used in Game Design?
Well finally a question that is right up my alley as a Systems Engineer, and high level programmer… 🙂 The main language used in programming games is Microsoft Visual Studios C++. This allows code compilation , debugging and is a processor based language.(In other words the CPU in your computer uses it also so it runs really really fast when you do too) However, there is a great need to know a few other languages as well as this one so parts of games written in C++ call subroutines that are written in Microsoft’s Visual Basic. If you are going to have 3D graphics in your game…a must these days then for the scenes and graphic rendering we use MAYA, also called MEL (Maya Extended 3DScripting Language).. Last but not least…if your game will allow Internet play it has to use Sun’s JAVA scripts. Which also allows character movement based on user feedback, Improves graphic speed by using the host computers CPU instead of the internet servers …in the case of a game like HALO…
Most Games are created using C++ and C because these are system level programming languages. Besides this for 3d effect uses activex controls which RENDER the scenes in the game mode by utilizing the situations. They does this by recoding all needed information recorded in a database may be in excel,access or any other. Most of them uses Excel it is because data access is faster in it. They also created many sub programs which were included when the main game runs.. Some pre programmed and scences are created and sored at dll files. Which when need are extracted and rendered in the screen. To render the scenes they use DirectX or their own renderer. Besides for Games those are played on internet are mainly developed in Flash. It is because Flash uses vector technolgy which refers to small program and picture with high resolution and fast loading. Also Java Applets are used. Some small games are also created in Visual Basic,C sharp but they performs slow…
If he/she is an youngster, he should try developing “mods” for popular computer games, rather than jumping into game programming. Most popular games come with their own level/model editors. Generally, 3D Studio MAX is the preferred tool for creating/manipulating models. There are other equally powerful tools too. For e.g. “Blender” ( free tool). If he/she is particular about programming, I would suggest Blitz 3D (BASIC langauge for games) . Lite-C is another successful game language. I wouldn’t suggest C/C++ for now, because it takes a long time to learn/understand these languages completely. Moreover, it is for those who want to create any generic application (computer games is just one of them). In other words these “general purpose” languages are too much for a kid. For developing games for the web, Flash and Shockwave 3D are preferred. — I love Zoo Land 3D www.zooland3d.
