Developer Newbie looking for a guidence

Hello all,

I`v been working in the Production Infrastructure area for many years, and been looking for a change,

my “developer” knowledge is mainly a lot of PowerShell.

i`m looking to learn how to code, and to create a multiplayer card\table game.

the game i`m looking to create is Backgammon, such with a Lobby Game server, where players will use a client & html5 to connect to the lobby and play against other players in different tables for play money.

As this will be my entry project, i`m not sure what language should i use.

i was offered to use C Sharp & MS-SQL
and also NodeJS and Javascript.

i would love to hear from you guys what should i use in order to learn and create the game i`m looking for.

thank you !

Greetings,

Microsoft .NET as well as C# have all the infrastructure to build robust game engine, there is a free version of most popular tool and IDE Visual Studio but in commercial use cases you will need to pay a licence. Learning curve for C# and ASP.NET is not easy.
On the other hand Javascript is fairly easy to learn (at least basics), it is native to all browsers and NodeJS is a good addition so that you can also use Javascript for both server and client. Javascript have many popular libraries and frameworks that can get you up and running quickly like jQuery and others. Trick is that, even though it is easy to start with Javascript it is extremely hard to grasp it to some let say advanced level often needed for serious commercial use. Despite freedom you get with Javascript (no strict typees for example) source of bugs increase and debugging is a real skill to have when working with Javascript. However, many people favor javascript stack and its free, with no rules or boundaries when it comes to programmer’s expression. I suggest Javascript because it is a language of the future.

1 Like

Wut? I think you misunderstood.

The limitation is in the number of developers/users using Visual Studio Community. — not in the number of users using the website you developed using VS Community.

1 Like

@owel Maybe, thanks for correction. I will check the limitations of VS Community is it just number of developers restriction. I thought that some commercial use restrictions apply. Thanks again.

@godanubis

An important consideration is where will the game be hosted? On-Premise (You manage everything), Shared Hosting or Cloud (Someone else manages the infrastructure).

If you going to use MS SQL Server, ASP.Net (WebForms or MVC), and C#.

  • Then, your will need to run a Windows Server.
  • Depending if you use On-Premise there might be a cost for licenses for MS SQL and Windows Server.
  • Microsoft licenses can be expense.
  • The learn curve is similar to learning any programming language.

If you use an open source language like Node.js Express.js, Ruby on Rails, or Python Django or Flask.

  • The cost is lower to run and manage the infrastructure including hosting the game.
  • The learn curve is similar to learning any programming language.

No restrictions on individual developers.

If you’re a company (a design shop, for example), you’re limited to using (5) licenses of VSC. i.e. a small design shop. If design company has more than 5 developers using VSC, need licenses.

If you’re an enterprise company, you’re not allowed to use VSC. Period.

But If company is working on an open source project, there is no restriction (i.e. the 5 license limit is not applicable) and you’re allowed to use VSC.

— I’m not a lawyer, I just play one on TV but that’s what the MS license basically says.

Thank you everyone for the great answers.

i think i would start with doing a client (standalone, no game server yet) and better understand C#