Hello i am idiot, could you advise me?

[Bayer]

Ah hello, i am wanting to start making a sidescrolling Beat-Em-Up \ RPG (is just for pleasure not for profit).

After some searching the internet i feel my main options are either learning of using GameMaker 8 or of SGDK2.
Although GM has very large user base and many tutorials i for some reason get better feelings from SGDK2, i like it but not for any intelligent reason.

I have some limited experience with RPG Maker (hehe i hear your 'lol'), but really it is a toy when compared to these development tools as no real scripting was involved.
From reading i have done GM has it's own (i think simplified?) language called GML, what does SGDK use? Is it this C++?

Because of how novice i am it would probably make sense to start with GM, the people there are very friendly, but i feel that place is more about competition.
My other concern is that GM encourages you to start using the basic Drag & Drop system, however for more advanced creation it becomes a hindrance.
It might be harder, but i would rather start learning to use tools that will be useful to me throughout, rather than spending months learning baby tools
and then having to restart learning again because i have to switch to GML.

I am not looking to create anything within weeks or months, i am expecting it to be just hobby to take time with and enjoy for what it is.

Here is type of game i would like to make.


I would teach myself in stages, beginning with the very basics (building a room) and taking it step by step untill i have built a working concept.

I am not afraid of learning complex scripting, but i would need somewhere to start. My preference would be SGDK2 over GM, what would be more suited to making a side scrolling bashy smashy game?

(i just realised the SGDK comes with actually decent help file so i will read through this, but i would still like opinions from people who know what they are doing and what i have ahead of me)

[bluemonkmn]

From reading i have done GM has it's own (i think simplified?) language called GML, what does SGDK use? Is it this C++?

SGDK2 is all C#.  The IDE itself is developed in C#, and the project framework code and custom code is all C#.

Because of how novice i am it would probably make sense to start with GM, the people there are very friendly, but i feel that place is more about competition.
My other concern is that GM encourages you to start using the basic Drag & Drop system, however for more advanced creation it becomes a hindrance.
It might be harder, but i would rather start learning to use tools that will be useful to me throughout, rather than spending months learning baby tools
and then having to restart learning again because i have to switch to GML.

That's encouraging!  I can't speak for GM, but yes, C# is a "real" language very popular in full scale professional application development today.  The SGDK2 IDE is limited in editing and debugging features related to C#, but it does generate Visual Studio projects which can be loaded into Visual C# Express (free download from Microsoft), which does provide much nicer editing and debugging features.  I wouldn't recommend *developing* your SGDK2 project in Visual C# Express (after generating the Visual Studio project from SGDK2) because then you won't be able to view/edit it in SGDK2 any more.  But you can certainly write significant blocks of code in Visual C# Express and copy them into SGDK2, and do some good debugging too.  Also, I would point out that SGDK2 is not limited in the C# language features it supports.  It's the full .NET-based C# language.  It's just limited on the editing features it provides in the IDE (no Intellisense on context-sensitive language help).

I am not looking to create anything within weeks or months, i am expecting it to be just hobby to take time with and enjoy for what it is.
...
I would teach myself in stages, beginning with the very basics (building a room) and taking it step by step untill i have built a working concept.

Well, I hope you will share your results with us -- let us see/play your projects in the project listing or write up what you learned into tutorials where you figure things out that haven't been documented yet.

I am not afraid of learning complex scripting, but i would need somewhere to start. My preference would be SGDK2 over GM, what would be more suited to making a side scrolling bashy smashy game?

Fortunately, the intent is that SGDK2 can be just about as complex or as simple as you want.  You can assemble a game from existing components of other games or templates (importing sprites and using them), or get into the rule editor to change what rules affect sprite behaviors at a high level, or get into the code editor to make your own rules or change how existing rules actually work at a low level.

(i just realised the SGDK comes with actually decent help file so i will read through this, but i would still like opinions from people who know what they are doing and what i have ahead of me)

Yay -- someone appreciating the help file!

[Bayer]

ah that C# sounds alot more practical than GML, also if other programs can use it i think this would make it more flexible\interesting. I like this program, there is alot to learn so i will start by slowly going through the help file and tinkering with the sample projects.