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Idea:

We need a path for beginners; the most logical step by step learning path to take the noob to proficiency in using DBP.

Being that I am noob I am asking for help, but this will help thousands of others get started, which should help build and sustain the TGC/DBP community. Its tax return time, and I have a budget to develop my game building skills and game development studio.

I Don't Want To Waste Time:

I'm very aggressive and want to learn a lot very quickly. I don't want to waste time not having professional direction and guidance. I want to fully acquire all direction and guidance that I can. At the same time, I want to organize and record that effort so that others do not have to reinvent the learning path and can jump right into my footsteps. This should help support TGC and keep them in business by reducing attrition from those who don't have the time, money, or other resources to get and stay involved.

Should I start with the 'Hand On DarkBASIC Pro Volume 1-2'? Does this cover all the concepts and commands? Is this up to date?

Is there a really good video series somewhere?

I would like to learn and understand all the DBP commands, but also more about game tech in general. Sometimes the help files and tutorials that come with DBP are helpful, however most of it lacks detail and creates more questions than answers ( my opinion ). For example, I really don't understand how to use MEMBLOCKS despite the help files and tuts.

So far I have learned these are important skills and to learn:

1.) Modeling
2.) Animating
3.) UVW Map creation
4.) Shaders
5.) Creating voices
6.) Creating sound FX
7.) Creating music
8.) Graphic art
9.) Computer Science / Computer Graphics ( How it works )
10.) Level / World design
11.) Story boarding
12.) General Art
13.) Basic AI

Software:

1.) TGC / DBP, plugins, etc.
2.) TGC / 3D World Studio
3.) Autodesk / 3DS Max 2011 v13
4.) FL Studio 9 Bundle
5.) Deep Exploration

Hardware:

1.) 2 Monitors

A good starting place is there already here:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=99497&b=10

Also, reading that you are already a n00b, feel free to shoot me an email if you want things answered quickly. I have a bit of a "teaching programming" fetish

EDIT: I'm being faceteous of course, but seriously. I love to help people learn coding and I have 12 years of experience to give.

Extremely helpful, thanks. I like to learn and teach myself. When I get proficient, I want to help others avoid all the hassel I'm going through.

I'm looking to compile a list of several things, not just tutorials.

1.) Software
2.) Hardware
3.) Concepts To Understand
4.) Skills Required
5.) Tutorials ( As you provided above )

This forum and its users itself are fantastic.

I'm open to trading mentoring for labor. I do have 3DS Max and have gotten decent with it.

Actually, I'm a bit of a 1 man army as I work as a 3ds max animator full time, but have done games programming on the side for the last 12 years

You sound quite dedicated to learning the subtle art of game creation, so a share of ideas is a decent trade for me. I've been working mainly on my procedural RPG, The Sword of Ahkranox for the last 18 months, if you want to read up on a decent sized indie games project.

As for your points:

1- DarkBasic Professional is a good place to start. Get familiar with it first in its bare form then start purchasing plugins to deck out your programming arsenal. 3ds max is a great tool for creating your 3d assets, and something like PhotoShop or GIMP is great for textures, menus, etc. Starting with those, you'll be up and running in no time.

2- As for hardware, you'll want at least a semi-decent box so that your computer is able to be tolerant of your programming experimentation. The first time you make a mistake and accidentally create 10,000 instances of your 50k poly model, your computer needs to be able to forgive you. But pretty much anything around or above a dual core 2.4GHz with a gig of ram and a 512mb video card will do. I'm running considerably more, but I also do the animation work with lots of HD rendering.

3- Concepts to understand is a tricky one. There are basic programming concepts that you will learn through reading tutorials like the one I linked you to, but when it comes to game design concepts, it really comes down to the sorts of games you want to create. Best to learn those on a case by case basis while you're experimenting and get feedback from friends or the community through demo builds, etc, of your game.

4- Skills required. An understanding of not just DBP, but the theories of programming in general will help a lot. With programming, especially games programming, you have to really pay your dues drudging through a heap of boring tutorials and grunt work to get a firm understanding of how things work before moving on to the tricker, but more rewarding stuff. I have a few tutorials stacked up from past students that I'd be more than happy to pass on to you!

5- Well... Yeah... Provided above haha but as I said. Shoot me an email. I always have about 3 to 5 students on the go at any given time, so you're more than welcome to jump on my teaching bandwagon! Especially given that you're so passionate about games! People like that really are a joy to teach. My direct email is [email protected]