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Absolute beginner looking for advice.

AerialSnack
Honored Guest
So, I just learned of the oculus rift, and I plan on purchasing it as soon as able (in a month or two), and really want to participate in making the next generation of games. I have pretty much no experience in game making, and was wondering where I should start. I have UDK (I have always been a fan of Unreal Engine), and was wondering which program I should use to create custom material?

Also, I heard that a new version of the Oculus Rift was going to be available for purchase soon. Should I get that, or just stick with the current one?

Any advice is welcome, I hope I can make a game in less than a few years. Thanks for the help!
11 REPLIES 11

MrMolecularyMan
Honored Guest
For the game making I would recommend downloading the UDK looking up tutorials for the UI and then learning C++ after you learn C++ you should move on to UnrealScript which is what UDk uses, C++ is very similar UnrealScript, then for the new version, if you are a developer or about to become you should just go ahead and buy the DK1 if you are a regular consumer and not really interested in developing too much you should wait for the Consumer version or the DK2

AerialSnack
Honored Guest
"MrMolecularyMan" wrote:
For the game making I would recommend downloading the UDK looking up tutorials for the UI and then learning C++ after you learn C++ you should move on to UnrealScript which is what UDk uses, C++ is very similar UnrealScript, then for the new version, if you are a developer or about to become you should just go ahead and buy the DK1 if you are a regular consumer and not really interested in developing too much you should wait for the Consumer version or the DK2


Thanks for the help! I wasn't expecting to get exactly what I was looking for right off the bat xD

I think I have a few books for C++ buried somewhere, so I'll start looking for those. I'm also pretty sure there are online tutorials. I've never heard of Unreal Script, though it makes sense that there is one, considering it has to have code xD

How much more difficult is it to make a game for the Oculus compared to regular games? Also, anyone know of any limitations to the oculus?

Some of my questions may be stupid, but I just want to make sure I know all I can before I jump into this. I'm so excited too get started!

ftarnogol
Expert Protege
"AerialSnack" wrote:
"MrMolecularyMan" wrote:
For the game making I would recommend downloading the UDK looking up tutorials for the UI and then learning C++ after you learn C++ you should move on to UnrealScript which is what UDk uses, C++ is very similar UnrealScript, then for the new version, if you are a developer or about to become you should just go ahead and buy the DK1 if you are a regular consumer and not really interested in developing too much you should wait for the Consumer version or the DK2


Thanks for the help! I wasn't expecting to get exactly what I was looking for right off the bat xD

I think I have a few books for C++ buried somewhere, so I'll start looking for those. I'm also pretty sure there are online tutorials. I've never heard of Unreal Script, though it makes sense that there is one, considering it has to have code xD

How much more difficult is it to make a game for the Oculus compared to regular games? Also, anyone know of any limitations to the oculus?

Some of my questions may be stupid, but I just want to make sure I know all I can before I jump into this. I'm so excited too get started!


LOL broad questions you are asking, my friend 🙂


It would need a TL;DR reply.

In short, VR has its particularities when compared to non-VR software design. Limitations? Tons, but it's because were are at the new dawn of this tech. But I'd rather call them challenges than limitations, since in time we'll overcome them 😉

Take some time and browse the forums and wiki. You'll find every answer to any beginner questions you may have.

The MTBS3d.com forums are also another great source of information

AerialSnack
Honored Guest
"ftarnogol" wrote:
"AerialSnack" wrote:
"MrMolecularyMan" wrote:
For the game making I would recommend downloading the UDK looking up tutorials for the UI and then learning C++ after you learn C++ you should move on to UnrealScript which is what UDk uses, C++ is very similar UnrealScript, then for the new version, if you are a developer or about to become you should just go ahead and buy the DK1 if you are a regular consumer and not really interested in developing too much you should wait for the Consumer version or the DK2


Thanks for the help! I wasn't expecting to get exactly what I was looking for right off the bat xD

I think I have a few books for C++ buried somewhere, so I'll start looking for those. I'm also pretty sure there are online tutorials. I've never heard of Unreal Script, though it makes sense that there is one, considering it has to have code xD

How much more difficult is it to make a game for the Oculus compared to regular games? Also, anyone know of any limitations to the oculus?

Some of my questions may be stupid, but I just want to make sure I know all I can before I jump into this. I'm so excited too get started!


LOL broad questions you are asking, my friend 🙂


It would need a TL;DR reply.

In short, VR has its particularities when compared to non-VR software design. Limitations? Tons, but it's because were are at the new dawn of this tech. But I'd rather call them challenges than limitations, since in time we'll overcome them 😉

Take some time and browse the forums and wiki. You'll find every answer to any beginner questions you may have.

The MTBS3d.com forums are also another great source of information


Thanks! I find MTBS3d.com to be a bit confusing for me navigation wise, cant really find anything I'm looking for, but I'll keep looking. I can't wait for this to progress! Also, which particular wiki should I be searching?

geekmaster
Protege
"AerialSnack" wrote:
Thanks! I find MTBS3d.com to be a bit confusing for me navigation wise, cant really find anything I'm looking for, but I'll keep looking. I can't wait for this to progress! Also, which particular wiki should I be searching?

Yeah, I even have a hard time finding my OWN posts over there (and here at oculusvr too)!

We had that same problem with the massive collection of great content over here, which I took upon myself to create a Master Index, and add content until it took on a life of its own. It is now a community maintained resource, and it contains all the best stuff at those forums:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180113

We need exactly that here in these forums too. The reason all the links are in a wiki is so that anybody can add to the Master Index. We can (and should) do that here and at MTBS3D too...

Not only does that bring deeply-buried wonderful lost content back to the surface where it can be useful, but it also helps reduce duplicate posts and cross-posting, and Frequently Asked Question are pre-answered so that a simple link to the Master Index can satisfy many requests for help.

AerialSnack
Honored Guest
"geekmaster" wrote:
"AerialSnack" wrote:
Thanks! I find MTBS3d.com to be a bit confusing for me navigation wise, cant really find anything I'm looking for, but I'll keep looking. I can't wait for this to progress! Also, which particular wiki should I be searching?

Yeah, I even have a hard time finding my OWN posts over there (and here at oculusvr too)!

We had that same problem with the massive collection of great content over here, which I took upon myself to create a Master Index, and add content until it took on a life of its own. It is now a community maintained resource, and it contains all the best stuff at those forums:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180113

We need exactly that here in these forums too. The reason all the links are in a wiki is so that anybody can add to the Master Index. We can (and should) do that here and at MTBS3D too...

Not only does that bring deeply-buried wonderful lost content back to the surface where it can be useful, but it also helps reduce duplicate posts and cross-posting, and Frequently Asked Question are pre-answered so that a simple link to the Master Index can satisfy many requests for help.


An index of problems that have been solved and questions answered would be great, considering there will be a large amount with how new this is. Would make things a lot simpler for all of us newbies!

RobbyKraft
Honored Guest
I feel like I'm in a similar boat. Building the demos in XCode works great, the minute I try to build a blank project up from scratch things explode- I may or may not have properly importing this C++ lib into Objective C land- I'm seeing EXC_BAD_ACCESS run-time kind of errors. I'd be excited for some resources in assisting developers getting the libOVR properly imported into major development environments. (+1 to XCode) 🙂

jherico
Adventurer
"RobbyKraft" wrote:
I'd be excited for some resources in assisting developers getting the libOVR properly imported into major development environments. (+1 to XCode) 🙂


I've created CMake files for the SDK here: https://github.com/jherico/OculusSDK

You can look at how the CMake files for the examples reference the CMake files for the LibOVR library, and either copy or build a template on that. You can then use CMake to generate XCode project files.

I also have additional examples of creating example applications that depends on the Oculus VR library using CMake config files here: https://github.com/jherico/OculusRiftInAction

Also, buy my book.
Brad Davis - Developer for High Fidelity Co-author of Oculus Rift in Action

fungusman
Protege
As much as I like UDK, unity is cross platform. Being a Gnu/Linux fan myself, it would be nice to see the already growing support for the platform expand more.

Go with Unity 😉