How to go about it?

[Ooze Orbs]

I am planning on programming an arcade game in my spare time. The game artitecture will be similar to "in the groove" which is simply a normal pc game running on top of linux. I have read the entire getting started guide and have decided on a desktop based arcade. I woul like advice on where i should go from here, which programming language is best suited for the job, and any other advice you can give me.

Sincerely,

Ooze Orbs

[Ginsu Victim]

What kind of programming experience do you have?

[knohbody]

Which programming language is best suited for an arcade game? I'll say that C++ is probably the most popular for video games of any type, though since you're doing a stand alone arcade game, it would really come down to whatever you're comfortable with. As long as you know what you want, and how to access the output and input of the computer, you could program in PASCAL, or BASIC, or whatever, and still come up with something decent. That being said, C++ is popular in video games for a reason, and a lot of information is available for it.

If you don't have any programming experience, know that it's gonna be a challenge. Start with a detailed plan of what you want the program to do, then take baby steps towards your goal. Look at the way other games are structured and try to break the structure down into simple steps (i.e. when starting game, display a title screen; wait for coin input, when there is coin input, make this sound, then wait for start button).

I would start with the programming before putting the time and effort into building the cabinet, unless you're planning on using the cabinet for something else until the game is done. If you're trying to do both at once, you'll probably stretch yourself too thin and get frustrated and burned out on the project.

[RayB]

www.gamedev.net