2 or 3 years to learn AGK

Started by Pfaber11, September 21, 2021, 12:07:01

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Pfaber11

I have been using AGK for about 3 years now but took a 1 year break from programming so have about 2 years under my belt . It is only in the last few months that I feel very comfortable with AGK and feel I know how to use it . It seems for me to learn it has taken about one and a half years and I consider myself to be an average learner . There's still more to learn for me but I have the basics down and pretty much remember how to do things which really speeds up development time . I've completed 8 or 9 games in that time some ok and some not so good. I would say this to someone wanting to do this and that is give it a year or two and it gets a lot easier with experience. When I joined this forum I really didn't know that much but thanks to the members here and many hours experimenting I have come a long way and with each game I write I strive to make it better (technically) than the last . Happy days
HP 15s i3 1.2 upto 3.4 ghz 128 gb ssd 16 gb ram 15.6 inch screen. Windows 11 home edition .  2Tb external hard drive dedicated to Linux Mint .
  PureBasic 6 and AppGameKit studio
ASUS Vivo book 15 16gb ram 256gb storage  cpu upto 4.1 ghz

Pakz

I think I remember John Romero from Id software writing on his twitter that he learned by doing a (80's ?) game rewrite for every letter of the alphabet.

Pfaber11

I was thinking about looking at old spectrum games and rewriting them in AGK , not  copying them but taking the basic idea and trying to improve them . jet set willy , cookie , that sort of thing . It would be an ideas goldmine.
HP 15s i3 1.2 upto 3.4 ghz 128 gb ssd 16 gb ram 15.6 inch screen. Windows 11 home edition .  2Tb external hard drive dedicated to Linux Mint .
  PureBasic 6 and AppGameKit studio
ASUS Vivo book 15 16gb ram 256gb storage  cpu upto 4.1 ghz

iWasAdam

now... if I recall in many of your very early posts. the core suggestion I kept saying was to go back to the 80's and look at how simple arcade games operate. there is soo much to learn there and everything is based on what was started there.

OK. for an example. Take pacman - there are lots of sites that go into how it operates. but could you do a good version/copy.

You would need to understand how the map works, how the input works, but most of all how the ai (or lack of it) works - it's very subtle, very clever and very simple... but you will have to think really hard ;)
Plus how you wrap it all up with the graphics - not as simple as it first seems.

Be very carful of educational software - a lot of it is cheap and poorly written. with some big players capturing most of the market. Can you actually write something that is good and educational - and then get it used? If the answer is NO, or Maybe, or Not sure - then you would possibly be better served just continuing your own education.

TBH AGK is fine. But I do feel that going back to basics and beginning to learn how things work would really help you.

If you want to do 3d - then write a simple wireframe viewer yourself - even a rotating cube. just use drawline - and no 3d commands. you will soon find how much you don't understand...

Pfaber11

I agree with you Adam 40 years ago I got my ZX81 and loved it , but I really could not program it . When armed with only BASIC and nothing else no 3d commands or sprite utilities it really is very tricky even on such a basic machine . And yes drawing a cube on the screen and rotating it just using standard BASIC is not easy at all . Very easy in AGK though . One of the things that I think lets AGK down is the fact that it does not support all of the BASIC language unless it's hidden somewhere and I can't find it , however it does get the job done with minimal effort and I guess that is progress. I'm gonna try the cube but it's gonna take a bit of research .
HP 15s i3 1.2 upto 3.4 ghz 128 gb ssd 16 gb ram 15.6 inch screen. Windows 11 home edition .  2Tb external hard drive dedicated to Linux Mint .
  PureBasic 6 and AppGameKit studio
ASUS Vivo book 15 16gb ram 256gb storage  cpu upto 4.1 ghz


Ashmoor

Was it just AGK that took you this long or did you learn general programming concepts, math and physics along the way? Basically what I'm asking is were you versed in game programing in other languages before you migrated to AGK?


Pfaber11

I wrote 1 game on the bbc micro in 1985 and I did a bit with my atari st in the early 90's and I wrote a very basic game before I bought into AGK in blitz3d . Very simple game . So I knew a bit but not a great deal. I think the way to do it is got on a coarse for a year or so if one exists. it's not just the learning of AGK it's also learning Blender or whatever other tools I needed. Maybe I'm just slow at remembering stuff I don't know or maybe for the average person it is over a year. I am self taught and I did take breaks between projects but I think I have put in a good 18 months of programming . I guess before AGK I knew a bit of basic goto , gosub , for next loops , variables and their different types and a few more things but I didn't know that much . I don't know everything now and will probably be picking up new techniques for some time to come but I feel I could do most of what I want to do in AGK.
HP 15s i3 1.2 upto 3.4 ghz 128 gb ssd 16 gb ram 15.6 inch screen. Windows 11 home edition .  2Tb external hard drive dedicated to Linux Mint .
  PureBasic 6 and AppGameKit studio
ASUS Vivo book 15 16gb ram 256gb storage  cpu upto 4.1 ghz

GaborD

You said you made 8 or 9 games as practice while learning, that's actually a big achievement and likely taught you way more than just the basics.
Time well invested in my opinion, even if it took a bit longer than just memorizing the language would have.

Ashmoor

So you started almost from scratch :) I am guessing that what you've learned can be considered more as general game dev than AGK specific and can be ported with a bit of effort to other programming languages/engines. A very good investment IMO.

Pfaber11

Yes indeed I'm really glad I got this far and yes the knowledge I've gained would be transferable to other languages with some effort . I am now trying to get to grips with python as a second language and am right at the start . I intend to continue with AGK as it is very good for games and
I should imagine most other things and can produce games and other apps for Android as well . There were times when I felt like giving up after being stuck on something for days but managed to persevere and move forward . Quitting is not an option . Would be nice to know the success rate of people starting out doing this that succeed . The python thing I'm gonna take my time over and see how it goes . The worst thing I did was take a year off as getting started again was a major pain but a couple of weeks starting back and I was back in the saddle .
Have an excellent day.
HP 15s i3 1.2 upto 3.4 ghz 128 gb ssd 16 gb ram 15.6 inch screen. Windows 11 home edition .  2Tb external hard drive dedicated to Linux Mint .
  PureBasic 6 and AppGameKit studio
ASUS Vivo book 15 16gb ram 256gb storage  cpu upto 4.1 ghz