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What programming languages should I learn for video game development?

A topic by Leo5258 created Dec 28, 2021 Views: 2,002 Replies: 9
Viewing posts 1 to 10
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What programming languages should I learn for video game development?  tellthebell

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If you’re using a game engine, learn the language(s) that it suppprts.

Otherwise, you can use pretty much any language for making games. In the industry, however, C++ is a common choice because it is fast and flexible, though not easy to learn. C# is a common alternative to C++; It is easier to learn and use, though you lose some of the speed and flexibility that C++ offers.

What you choose ultimately comes down to what kind of game you want to make. If the game is to have realistic graphics or large worlds, choosing a fast language will be necessary. On the other hand, if your game is going to have simple 2-D graphics or no graphics at all and isn’t going to have massive amounts of game objects active at once, easier to use (but slower) scripting languages could be used, such as Python or Lua.

Programming language choice will also depend on how experienced you are; If you have never programmed before, choosing an easier to use language like Lua will be a bonus.

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I pretty much agree with the entirety of this answer, and here's a list of game engines and the languages they're implemented and scripted with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines

I see a form of this question asked a lot in general software development, "What is the one programming language I should learn?" and I think it would be a mistake to plan on just learning one language. As you can see there are a lot of languages in use (sometimes in the same game engine) and it would expand your options if you're open to learning more than one, and while some languages are pretty similar, others have much different styles and approaches to programming, so kind of like learning multiple human languages, it'll expand your brain.

Moderator(+1)

Learn whatever language you like and helps you make games. Of the stuff I have on itch.io right now, most is made in Python or Javascript, but also Basic, And does the SugarCube story format in Twine count? Because I've seen people asking if having made a game in Ren'Py meant they're now proficient with Python. (The answer is probably no, by the way, but it's a start. You have to start easy.)

Moderator moved this topic to General Development
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Learn scratch programming language as the easiest one, and you can get some courses HERE,

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Hello, Leo5258,  
In my opinion, BASIC is an easy programming language. It is easier to learn than many other programming languages as BASIC's commands are similar to English and it has a simple set of rules. Nowadays there are many BASIC dialects which are suitable for game development. Many of them are free of charge!!!

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You can learn python, because it is easy to learn or you can learn unity, because a lot of people use it for game dev

me myself use unity for all of my games

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Pretty much all video game development will need some programming knowledge. Whether you are using C++, gdscript or the scripting options in RPG Maker. Learning the fundamentals of programming gives you a lot of flexibility. I know someone who was playing with Godot and he could follow tutorials but had a hard time going beyond them. I believe that was due to his lack of programming knowledge.

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You should learn the language that works for you, if you wanted to make an RPG then an engine like RPG maker would work just fine, but if you wanted to make a platformer, then that wouldn't work too well. Use the engine/programming language that caters to what you want. I personally recommend Unity because even though it's difficult at the start, it can make just about anything you want, and it's not a pain to use once you're acquainted with it. Not to mention, C# is a language I feel does an excellent job of being both useful and easy to learn, I was able to pick it up in no time at all, and I'm sure you'll be able to as well if you wanted :D And, even if you're hoping to use, say, Godot, but you don't want to use GDscript, it's still worth it. When I first was choosing a game engine, I picked unreal engine, because it used C++, the language I wanted to use, but, it was much to complicated an engine for me, and I ended up selecting Unity, which worked out so much better for me, programming is about using the right tools for the job, and sometimes, you just have to deal with the fact that you get to use a programming language or whatever it is you get to use, even if you don't want to, and that's okay :)

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Also, don't use scratch, I apologize to those who recommended it, but it's just not that useful as an engine, in fact, I wouldn't even call it a game engine. If you want to make a game without needing to know how to code, you should use GameMaker studio 2's engine, they have support for that, and do a much better job with it in my opinion. But if you want to make games, you really should get used to using a normal programming language.