Programs needed to make a game.

[MatijaB]

OK, so you have an idea. It's the only thing you have.
Time to prepare your workstation (computer) for what comes next.

Here's what I'm using:
Writing: MS office (couldn't find a worthwhile alternative)
Art: GIMP, some Paint as well
Music: Horribly outdated FL Studio 6, some Audacity
Programming: Jedit, Notepad++

Are any of these worthwhile, or should the aspiring creator reach for the wallet?
Also, is there free project management software that is any good? (like Collabtive or something similar)
Anything to add?

[TrickWithAKnife]

I'm doing a bit of everything except character art or music, so I'm slowly figuring out what I need. Here's what I have so far:

Audacity: Sound editing.

Photoshop: Photo editing (for background art).

Paint: Figuring out locations in images. It's the fastest way.

Excel: For organising the massive amount of information before it's added to the game (this game will teach some Japanese, 1,600 words including meanings have been added so far).

DropBox (PC, iPhone and iPad): To keep track of things I'm working on, any time, any place.

Notepad: Random things, but notepad gets used quite often.

Twine: Keeping track of the general story.

Twine and DropBox are free, Paint, Excel and Notepad came with Windows, I can't remember if I'm using a free version or a demo of Audacity.
This means that the only thing that isn't free is Photoshop, but there are a few good programs that are free with reduced functionality, such as Paint.net.

Oh, and I bought an iPad 2, which means I can work on the story while I'm not at home, but of course it's being used for a lot of other things too.

[Guerin78]

You have a pretty good basic suite there, MatijaB. I would add some sort of planning software--either a mind-mapping program like FreeMind or FreePlane, or a program that allows you to work with virtual index cards. (I use TextBlockWriter for that, but TBW's homepage is dead now. Scrivener is much more advanced, but it's also a paid program, unlike the rest of your suite.) Twine, as mentioned by TrickWithAKnife, also looks interesting--I'll probably check it out myself at some point.

Other things you might want to add are some sort of version control software (too many choices to list, though I personally use Bazaar), Dia (for generating walkthrough flowcharts), and a program that will do proper music notation engraving (MuseScore is easier to use; LilyPond produces better output.)

One other thing I've found useful in the past, though it's not necessary in my current project, is to run any names with odd spellings (you see a lot of these in fantasy and science fiction stories) through a text-to-speech program. However the program pronounces the names is probably close to how your audience will read them. If it sounds wrong, change the spelling until it works.

[Reikun]

Writing: MS office (couldn't find a worthwhile alternative)

An alternative to Microsoft Office is OpenOffice. Pretty much the exact same functionality.

[Sharm]

I've been using Celtix with the comic formatting for writing. I do comic scripts for Screnzy every year, so it's a style I'm used to, and I like how it keeps track of my characters for me.

[OokamiKasumi]

The tools I use:

• Renpy
• Photoshop for making graphics. Gimp is a very worthy free substitute.
• Word for story composition. OpenOffice is a top-notch free substitute.
• FreePlane, a mind-mapping program, to organize and pre-test the multiple branches of my story.

I get my music, sound effects, and the base photos I use for characters and backgrounds from royalty-free sites.

[nyaatrap]

Writing: Jedit
Art: SAI
Art editing: Phtoshop and Xnview
Logos and GUIs: Gimp
SFX animation: Gimp and Particle Illusion

To be honest, a pencil and papers are top tools I used to make my game (´∀｀)

[jmclark]

I don't do much of anything outside of music, but for music I use Sibelius and Cubase (with LoopBe, they can talk to each other). From there I've got a whole mess of VSTi plug-ins and effects that I use.

That being said, FL Studio is a good starting point; and it should be fine unless you really want to start taking the music side of things really seriously. I don't like Lilypond and MuseScore, but I know a whole mess of people who do -- if it works for you then use it, but don't worry so much about how the music looks on paper because the end result is the MIDI performance (unless you have a live performer for something) and not the printed parts. Graphical notation is really useful for keeping track of your thoughts (I've gotten to the point where I can work directly in MIDI piano roll editing, but I'd still rather use notation).

[Anna]

Programs I use:

Writing: Twine, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Microsoft Word (the latter wins because of automatic wordcount in the bottom though)
Art: Painttool SAI + Photoshop (latter is used for edits)
GUI: Photoshop
Music: FL Studio
Sound effects: Audacity

That's pretty much it. I guess I also use notepad++ if I'm coding, but... I don't really code all that much >_>;.

Graphical notation is really useful for keeping track of your thoughts (I've gotten to the point where I can work directly in MIDI piano roll editing, but I'd still rather use notation).

Wait... working directly in the piano roll is not the norm? :D... then I might have made things unnecessarily hard for myself.

[Guerin78]

I don't do much of anything outside of music, but for music I use Sibelius and Cubase (with LoopBe, they can talk to each other). From there I've got a whole mess of VSTi plug-ins and effects that I use.

That being said, FL Studio is a good starting point; and it should be fine unless you really want to start taking the music side of things really seriously. I don't like Lilypond and MuseScore, but I know a whole mess of people who do -- if it works for you then use it, but don't worry so much about how the music looks on paper because the end result is the MIDI performance (unless you have a live performer for something) and not the printed parts. Graphical notation is really useful for keeping track of your thoughts (I've gotten to the point where I can work directly in MIDI piano roll editing, but I'd still rather use notation).

The OP seemed geared toward free (as in beer) software, which is why I suggested MuseScore or Lilypond. If you already have Sibelius, then absolutely use that.

There are actually three reasons I suggest notation, rather than piano roll, unless you're already an experienced musician:

1. It allows you to see all voices at a glance, which many DAWs can't do, or can't do very well. (The only free one that does, AFAIK, is SynthFont--and that's not really free, since a lot of its features are locked off unless you pay.)
2. Because notation programs allow the export of raw MIDI files, as opposed to DAW project files, they make it easier for multiple musicians to collaborate on a single track, even if they're working in different programs. (In an absolute worst-case scenario, you can exchange the sheet music rather than audio files.)
3. If you have friends who play instruments or sing, you may be able to get a track or two done on real instruments, either free or for the cost of a reasonably nice dinner. Unless you already have pro-level instrument packages, this will almost always sound better than the synthesized version. (And sometimes even then, depending on the instrument and your skill with MIDI automation.)

(Plus, though I wouldn't call this a reason exactly, the sheet music of any piano solo tracks, or the tabs for guitar solo tracks, would make decent extras to throw into the distribution package. You might even get people covering your music on YouTube, which is free publicity for your project.)

On an unrelated note, I've now tried TWINE, and I think its usefulness really depends on your workflow. If you're a discovery writer, you'll absolutely love it. If you're working from an outline, and you work from the beginning when you get to the writing stage, you'll at least find it useful. If you use an outline, but you tend to write in any other order, you'll probably get frustrated quickly by the fact that while it will happily highlight passages with broken links, it doesn't--as far as I can tell--mark passages with no incoming links. For the same reason, I'd recommend against using it to create your outline.

[Anna]

I wouldn't use Twine to create an outline either, its main use is to give you a cool overview of how your story branches (if it does). If you're writing a kinetic novel, it's pretty useless.

Also, Guerin, do you know any good programs for notation then? Because I find notation a million times quicker and easier to do + I have musician friends and FL Studio can import MIDIs~

The only one I know of is finale songwriter, but it isn't free.

Edit: ah! So the ones you already mentioned really are for notation, oops, never-mind my question then!

[Obscura]

I'm a bit of an app junkie. I tend to buy stuff even just to try it out. I had about 50% of these things before I started working on my VN this year, and the rest I purchased because I plan to continuing making VNs.

My hardware and software:

iPad:
- I do the initial sketches either in Sketchbook pro or iDraw (a vector based program) with a tablet pen
- create melodies in Garageband
- outline iThoughts HD (a mind mapping programming, helps with story branches)
- ongoing writing in Writeroom
- I save anything I need to Dropbox

Macbook (2008), hooked up to a Samsung LED screen (the dual screens are invaluable)
- GIMP for all the art
- idraw for the Mac if I need to adjust any vectors before importing into GIMP
- Wacom tablet (Graphire 3?...it's a really old, cheap tablet I've had for years)

I would say the absolutely most helpful purchases have been:
1. The ipad (combined with a drawing program and pen...makes initial drawing way easier)
2. The Samsung external monitor. Doing art was a bitch on the tiny macbook screen. Dual monitors for life!

I'm not sure how I could make this VN without GIMP and Dropbox either.

[jmclark]

1. It allows you to see all voices at a glance, which many DAWs can't do, or can't do very well. (The only free one that does, AFAIK, is SynthFont--and that's not really free, since a lot of its features are locked off unless you pay.)

^THIS

Most DAW's notation features are near-useless, and it takes more time to get comfortable reading piano roll notation that it is worth. I always build my initial composition in notation and then export the MIDI to create the performance in my DAW (well, not always... but the exceptions are few and far between).

2. Because notation programs allow the export of raw MIDI files, as opposed to DAW project files, they make it easier for multiple musicians to collaborate on a single track, even if they're working in different programs. (In an absolute worst-case scenario, you can exchange the sheet music rather than audio files.)

Most DAWs can export MIDI data with better exactness than a notation program can. The main limitation to it is that a notation program is limited by notation, whereas a DAW can really get into the nuts and bolts of the performance and allows you to adjust the minutia of the music.

The easiest way to think about it is to compose in graphical notation (MuseScore/Lilypond/Finale/Sibelius) and perform in a DAW (DP/FL/Cubase). A little time spent learning to edit piano roll notation goes a long way to making you music sound that much better.

3. If you have friends who play instruments or sing, you may be able to get a track or two done on real instruments, either free or for the cost of a reasonably nice dinner. Unless you already have pro-level instrument packages, this will almost always sound better than the synthesized version. (And sometimes even then, depending on the instrument and your skill with MIDI automation.)

^YES

I've done several recording things for people for a couple of beers. You'd be surprised what you can barter for. If you have a commercial project, the other route you can go is hiring a digital orchestrator -- especially if you have music you want to use, but you'd like for it to sound better. Most TV shows and smaller-budget films will have a composer and an orchestrator on hand to do the music where the composer writes the music and the orchestrator is the one who does all of the computer wizardry in a DAW to get a good performance that syncs up with the show.

2. The Samsung external monitor. Doing art was a bitch on the tiny macbook screen. Dual monitors for life!

No joke!

[Guerin78]

2. Because notation programs allow the export of raw MIDI files, as opposed to DAW project files, they make it easier for multiple musicians to collaborate on a single track, even if they're working in different programs. (In an absolute worst-case scenario, you can exchange the sheet music rather than audio files.)

Most DAWs can export MIDI data with better exactness than a notation program can. The main limitation to it is that a notation program is limited by notation, whereas a DAW can really get into the nuts and bolts of the performance and allows you to adjust the minutia of the music.

The easiest way to think about it is to compose in graphical notation (MuseScore/Lilypond/Finale/Sibelius) and perform in a DAW (DP/FL/Cubase). A little time spent learning to edit piano roll notation goes a long way to making you music sound that much better.

I'd never checked, since I'm always working the other way around, but you're correct about MIDI export (though I'll have to take your word about how well it works.) The one notable exception is LMMS, which doesn't have any sort of MIDI export. (One more reason to be glad I moved off it, I suppose.)

With that said, I'd argue that that "limitation" is actually an advantage. The difficulty in twiddling with the minutiae (it can be done, at least in MuseScore, but you have to do it note-by-note) means you have to focus on the composition rather than the performance. The performance details are better done in your DAW, after you have instrument plugins picked out. (The way different plugins respond to different MIDI controllers can completely change what the ideal MIDI data looks like.)

(With that said, I'm hoping MuseScore 2.0 provides better support for certain performance-related notation. Having to edit grace notes and trills in by hand is a pain.)

[Showsni]

Notepad
Paint
Sound Recorder

Who needs anything else?