Noob to develop a game

Hello!

I have no coding skills, no programming experience. I come from a healthcare background. I also have some artistic talent. But I’m not totally computer stupid (although compared to the majority of you guys, this will be questionable).

My question: is it possible for me to develop a game using Monogame? I plan to learn while I create. I don’t have the need for complex animations, no physics simulation will be needed. Think of a game with a complexity similar to Papers please.

I’ve thought about using some engine with drag and drop capabilities, like GDevelop, but I’m afraid that this kind of engine will not give me the customization options that I have in mind.

I’m being too ambitious? Can I find quality tutorials/manuals online?

Thanks for your help!

Well this is kind of a tough question.

I have no coding skills, no programming experience.

You would most definitively have to learn them.
How is your math skills this is not requisite but it might help.

My question: is it possible for me to develop a game using Monogame? I plan to learn while I create.

You would be learning c# using monogame which itself basically wraps open gl and dx. You would be learning a lot of things at once i dunno if that is good or bad.

Monogame was derived from Xna which was made for indie or individuals primarily who wanted to learn and do graphical programing under c#. Which is itself a language that is fairly fast to develop with.

Think of a game with a complexity similar to Papers please.

This game may not be as simple as you imagine.

I’m being too ambitious?

Only you can answer that.

Can I find quality tutorials/manuals online?

You can recently a fellow here did a huge video series geared at teaching by making a game from scratch. This should give you a heads up at all the type of things that would go into using monogame before you commit.

There are 56 parts he made so tons of info.

Besides videos there are tools and tutorials websites and blogs github and forums there is a discord chat and posts with code.
It could be more the question to ask can you filter out information overload.

Thanks for your kind reply

I will definitely check up those videos.

You’ve helped me realize that I need smaller steps first, I’m inclined to start with Lua (using Löve framework).

Probably average, I’ve never considered doing anything math-related at College.

You’re likely right.

You see, I don’t even know how the industry works yet, I’m just an enthusiast that is coming from a very different background.

Thanks again for you insight, that’s very kind

I like MonoGame because as an avid coder, I’m happy to roll my own solutions for just about everything. However, this same attribute makes it a poor choice for a complete beginner with no programming experience. I’m currently recommending that beginners without coding abilities start with Godot or Unity which will hold your hand more and offer more pre-baked functionality out of the box.

Even if you don’t stick with them, they are more gentle introductions which will teach you a lot. You can always swing back to MonoGame or something else at a later point as you like.

Wrong question. It is definitely possible for you to make a game in Monogame. Eventually.

The actual question is: should you do it in Monogame?

My answer is an absolute no. Before any smartass jumps in and starts describing how cool, versatile and simple Monogame is - it is not for beginners. With game engine you just need to make a game. With Monogame you’ll have to develop your own little engine and only after that make a game. No way around that.

I recommend actual game engines like Game Maker, Godot or Unity.

If you question if “tool X” will be enough for your very first work – your abmitions are currently leaving Earth atmosphere at MK II. Start small, make tiny dead-simple games. Whatever you dream of right now probably will be too big for a first game. Especially in Monogame.

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Why do the rabbit holes begin when I take a break?

Hello @Wafth and Welcome to the forums…

The question you should have started with, was:

How much investment would I require to get started with MonoGame to develop a game?

But seeing as you were unprepared to put that together, let me explain briefly, well, I shall attempt to keep it brief… Said the guy who types 2,000~ words every 15-20 minutes or so…

First up, let’s begin with the elephant in the corner, you come from a background which comprises of years of study and practice before you are allowed out into the world to earn Starbucks credits, OK, so, what’s the similarity there?

Well, fundamentals aside, [Basic language skills, English being a handy one no matter where you are from, Maths, no, honestly not as advanced as you might think for now, you can always revisit it in future, and some Logic understanding, square peg in square hole etc.] You might want to brush up on C and C++ using some books from a local library, and I would suggest a basics of programming and then to get familiar with how C# works, take a short walk through Visual Basic, then hit a basics C# book, I would say, considering your day job, roughly 1-3 weeks per book.

After all that I would suggest going for an in-depth book on C# where you just absorb [and code test the examples] before looking into building a game engine.

Feel welcome to ask me for a recommendation list of books, I have plenty to suggest, as I went through a bunch of them myself, still have them on my bookshelves, you don’t need to remember everything, just tag useful code to hop back to for reference.

MonoGame comes set up with a basic engine that you can build upon, as you learn how to create functions with C#, you should easily understand how to put together simple applications/games together.

Note: Making a game and a productivity app are usually completely different, unless your productivity application involved a game engine, though, theoretically they still carry similar functionality behaviour. [They both call functions and they both react to inputs]

Anyway, before I jabber on, Welcome to the world of coding!

Happy Coding!