Resources

This page is created with an intent to give programmers the help and resources they need to make their own games from free content. Some of the content below I have created myself, some content has been taken from other webpages (which will be given credit where appropriate). In no case will data be linked to below which is illegal to use for free (as stated by US laws). Note: If you find any non-free/illegal material below, please email me at the address seen at the bottom of the page and it will be fixed.

Contents
Compilers and Languages
Must-have programs for the 2D and 3D developer
Texture Resources
Audio Resources
Music Resources
Tutorials and References





Compilers and Languages
Many people argue over which language is the best, the fastest, the most powerful, the least error-prone, and the best language for a beginner. There is no true answer to all of these. So, instead of saying a single language is the best, I will list the pros and cons of several languages I”m familiar with, and let you decide which one you want to use. All languages below have a free, powerful compiler that you can use.

C++
Recommended Compiler/IDE: Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 EE. Don”t forget to download the platform SDK as outlined on the instructions page!
C++ is considered fast because it is compiled directly to machine code. Don”t let that fool you, however. Just because you use C++ doesn”t mean your program will be fast; the speed of the program depends heavily on the implementation of the algorithms/functions used. C++ is considered the worst language for a beginner to learn (well.. I guess assembly would be worse). However, C++ is currently the industry standard for game-programming. One of the main problems with C++ is that is has a lot of undefined behavior (that is, it is notorious for crashing for no apparent reason), though some people argue that by using libraries/APIs such as the STD/STL and BOOST, that such undefined behaviors are eliminated. This is the language I primarily use, and I find that once you learn how to use it properly, it really is no different than other languages.

C#
Recommended Compiler/IDE: Microsoft Visual C# 2005 EE.
I”ll state right away that I have never used this language before. However, I have read tutorials on it, and I have read many opinions on the language. Overall, the language seems to be recommended to beginners, because of it’’s error-handling and feature-rich APIs. Some people claim that it is slower than C++ because it is compiled to an intermediate byte code, rather than to machine code. This is somewhat true, however, I”ll say again that algorithms do matter. Many parts of C# is just as fast if not faster than C++ because the creators of the C# standard have optimized all the standard API’’s so that they are fast and as powerful as possible.

Python
Compiler/IDE: Python Homepage
Python is probably the most recommended language for beginners. It’’s a powerful interpreted language that gives ease to game creation through other libraries such as pyGames. I”ve only used this language a little (mostly for plugins to other applications), but from opinions of other people, I can tell that it is the most recommended language to beginners because of it’’s speed, stability, and ease of use.




Must-have programs for the 2D and 3D developer

  • Audacity is a great, simplistic, audio editor. You can crop music, change/normalize the volume levels, amplify, and combine different pieces. This is a must have program for audio developers. It’’s just plain great at converting audio files too (use OGG!).
  • Gimp and Paint.NET are both great image editing programs that are entirely free. I use gimp extensively to convert and manipulate images, though some people prefer the interface of Paint.NET over that of GIMP. Give both a shot and see which one you like the best.
  • Blender is the feature-full program for 3D artists that don”t feel like paying for a commercial product. Blender is completely free, and once you get used to the controls, is just as powerful as any other high-quality commercial application out there.
  • For those of you just beginning 3D modeling, you may consider looking at Anim8or. It’’s simple, generic 3D modeling program with a basic rendering system built in. It works great with skeletal animations, and is incredibly simple to begin using.
  • 7-Zip is a must-have program when working with compression. Not only is it faster and more powerful that winzip/zip-format, but it is entirely free. On top of that, it comes with an easy to use SDK which you can embed right into your program.
  • Typhoon Labs created a nifty program called Shader Designer that allowed easy creation of GLSL shaders for OpenGL applications. Since their webpage seems to be down, I”ve created my own mirror: Click Here.





    Texture Resources

  • Download my texture pack here. It contains numerous textures including vegetation, brick walls, stone walls, ground (grass, dirt, etc), doors, and other variations of such. It’’s about a 40 MB file. All the textures in this pack were either found for free online, or made by me. If any textures are non-free, please let me know.
  • Amazing textures is a good website to get high-quality photos and textures for free. See their terms of use for details.




    Audio Resources

  • Findsounds.com is a great website to find short clips of sound effects for your program or game. Be careful, though, findsounds.com simply searches the internet for audio files – you may end up accidentally using copyrighted audio files.
  • Free FX include a large variety of various sound effect and music files. Many files on this website seem to be modern-day based, and are royalty free.
  • My sound effects are effects collected from various websites over the years. They aren”t very extensive, and include mostly sound effects for outdoor effects, but hopefully they”ll come in use for you.
  • theFreeSound Project has tens of thousands of free audio clips all with a clear license, the creative commons sampling plus licence, which allows for editing and freely using all audio for commercial and noncommercial use as long as credit is given. See the license for more detail. Great website, highly recommended.




    Music Resources
    Legal, completely free, music is very hard to find. However, I managed to locate a website that has some darn good music on it. The majority, if not all, of the music on the website is purely instrumental.

  • Royality Free Music I found a lot of good pieces on it. All of the music is created by Kevin MacLeod. I found some good pieces, and have included them for download below (which I converted to OGG format to prevent licensing issues).




    Tutorials and references
    Google is the best tool to find tutorials and references. I”ve also created a list of websites that I have found useful.

  • The C++ Reference is a great website for looking up common STL and C/C++ commands.
  • Gamedev.net has to be my favorite website for game resources. It includes numerous tutorials along with an incredibly helpful community that are always on the forums.
  • NeHe is a great website for any and all beginners trying to learn how to use OpenGL (Graphics API) in almost every language and operating system.
  • Wikibooks is a great website that features several tutorials on how to use blender. Great resource.
  • VTerrain is a great resource for terrain and sky rendering.
    And of course, feel free to post something on the forums on this website and I”ll help you as soon as I can.