I'm really interested in programming games and other applications for Windows/Linux designed for the Oculus Rift. What language(s) should be prioritized to become proficient in in order to do so? Any of you Rift developers?

What kind of programming experience do you already have?

I guess I'd say I'm at intermediate level in Java and C#.

I'm a complete noob at game programming though, so I don't even know where to begin. Should I be using an engine like Unity?

This post was edited by Voyaging on Feb 12 2015 10:32pm

Well, before you start trying to program shit for the oculus, you'd best just start learning some game programming.

Create something like space invaders, or minesweeper. Work your way up from there. There are a metric fuck ton of existing source files for those things, in just about every language imaginable, obfuscated or non obfuscated.

Don't need a fancy GUI - text based is fine, as long as the logic is there (for simpler games)



Once you feel comfortable doing stuff like that, maybe then you try to figure out the next step.



I can't really speak on Unity, but I do usually see the other guys in the forum recommend some kind of nice game-making utility for people who want instant gratification with little prior experience.

This is really helpful advice, I appreciate it.

Pick up the free version of Unity and do some work with that. It has built in support for the oculus rift if I recall correctly. As for languages C# is the choice if working inside unity although to does support javascript.

Unity is pretty simple to pick up once you read through some tutorials. Everything is based on in game objects and you bind scripts to them that allows you to make them respond to specific events or behave a specific way.

For example you can create a day/night system by binding a script that will rotate a directional light source 360 degrees by a fraction of a degree based on the interval of light and dark you want on your map. Then with this you can also bind a solar flare object to it which you can move along a set path to emulate a raising and falling "sun".

There are also many frameworks out there that are free (or paid) which are extremely useful. There is one that emulates a remote function call on objects where say your player object interacts with something. The user objects script will send out an anonymous function call with its parameters and any object that has that function will respond. This can be useful for say triggering lamps when it starts to get dark. The day night script will send a function call out for all lamps to enable their light sources, and the lamps will listen for that call and trigger upon receiving it.

You can probably pound out a small single person RPG within a week or two with basic of features if you spent about 4-5 hours a day on it, once you become proficient in the way it is setup.

Excellent help, thanks, I'll definitely try out Unity.

Be aware though that 3d modeling is an entirely different beast. It is simple enough to shit out a game concept but to make it look visually appealing you have to find someone with a bit of talent in 3d rendering/sculpting and texture rendering.

What about starting off with a 2D game? Do small teams (1-3 people) developing games tend to use an engine for low-tech 2D games (example: Binding of Isaac) as well?

This post was edited by Voyaging on Feb 13 2015 02:16am

Developing games on top of a framework is usually the best option now a days even for 2d games. This isn't 1993 where everyone was rolling their own 2d platformer framework. Plus the rift and a 2d game doesn't seem like much fun.

Plus even with a 2d game you are still looking for someone who can create digital art in different stances/positions for your characters. All be it easier, you still are going to need graphical talent.