Programmer:

A review of the programming tools and languages available on the platform:

Unity:

Unity Technologies' toolset is the "most widely used game creation toolset and engine in the world.
It’s so popular because it’s based on the idea of democratising game development." Unity allows for
code to be "automatically converted, and just polish and optimisation for that specific platform
needs to be added. But all the other stuff the art, the game logic, artificial intelligence, sound
everything else, remains the same.”

Havok:

Havok's popular physics engine -- which many saw in a demonstration during the system's
unveiling -- is available to developers.

Enlighten Engine:

Geometrics' Enlighten lighting technology is "packed full of time-saving workflow features and a
lightweight runtime," and is "the only solution proven to deliver fully dynamic lighting on today's
PCs, game consoles and mobile platforms." You can see it in action in Battlefield 3, Medal of
Honour Warfighter and EVE Online.

Substance Engine:

Allegorithmic's Substance Engine is a popular solution for textures. The PS4-specific version of its
tools allows "game developers to reduce download size, boost streaming performance and decrease
loading times in their games" with its runtime generation of parametric textures.

FaceFx:

Animation tool FaceFX is billed as "an advanced facial animation solution unique in its ability to
liberate artists from the complexities of creating realistic dialogue and emotive characters." Recent
titles that used the tech include Far Cry 3, Halo 4 and Dishonored.

XaitControl:

Germany's xaitment is supporting the PS4 with xaitControl, its AI software package for game logic
and character behavioral modeling. xaitment was founded in Germany in 2004 as an offshoot of the
German Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

SpeedTree:

SpeedTree's middleware "delivers amazingly natural real-time trees and plants with seamless LOD
transitions, an array of lighting, physics and wind effects, as well as an SDK that can be
programmed to support any level of engine integration.”

 Languages:

As for the development goes It depends on the company/organization, they can build their own
game engine. (which are usually made in c++) Or they can use unity(c# scripting) or unreal
engine(c++) or any other game engine like cryengine etc.

PhysX:

NVIDIA's tech is "the world's most pervasive physics solution for designing real-time, real-world
effects into interactive entertainment titles. The PhysX development environment gives developers
unprecedented control over the look of their final in-game interactivity.”

APEX:

Also from NVIDIA, APEX "lets artists create intricate physics-enabled environments. They can
expand the quantity and visual quality of destructible objects; make smoke and other particle-based
fluids integral to game play; and create life-like clothing that interacts with the character's body to
achieve more realism in their games.”

Morpheme 4:

The newest version NaturalMotion's popular animation tool "introduces advanced prediction
modelling capabilities that enable developers to build complex integrations between animation and
AI systems. The new ScatterBlend parametric blend node introduced in Morpheme 4 streamlines
animator workflow, and allows character motion to be controlled with real world inputs such as
movement speeds and turning angles.”

 A review of the help/tutorial materials available for learning programming on the platform:

Game development is a long way so it will take time to learn game development there are many
steps you need to take so These are the steps which includes in the complete game development
roadmap.

1. Choose a Game Engine

So before moving forward you must have a pc or laptop with at-least 4 gb ram. 8 gb ram is
recommended.

A game engine is a software which is necessary for a game to run. You can develop your own game
engine but you will require high programming skills and a-lot of time but thankfully there are lot of
free great game engines in the market from which you can create any type of game you want and
mostly game developers uses this game engines.

So there are lot of game engines available in the market to choose. The popular game engines are
Unreal, Unity, Game-maker and many more. As a beginner you should use the unity game engine to
develop games because first you can create any type of game and it has big community it also has
great assets and easy to learn.

Unreal is also popular game engine but it is little hard for a indie game developer you require a
team to use it. So we will use unity game engine to develop games don’t waste time for choosing
game engine you can develop any type of game you want in unity for free.

2. Learn Unity

Unity is a cross platform game development engine created by Unity Tech. You can create both 3D
and 2D games you can also create virtual reality and argument reality games. It has many pre built
features for game development which makes it easier for you to develop your games. Free learning
resource for unity – unity learning resource So your first step is to learn Unity and get used to it
what you have to learn is how everything works how to move, place, render and rotate components
in the editor which is very simple but you also need actions and character movements which you
need to do with a programming language. So to learn and create games you need to install unity
software on your computer which is completely free. It runs smoothly if you have a 8GB ram pc or
laptop and lags if you 4GB ram pc or laptop. You can download Unity from here –Download Unity.

3. Learn C# programming language

So after learning the basics of unity you will need to learn c# programming languages which is used
to create scripts in unity.

C# is a programming language developed by Microsoft which is used to develop web apps, mobile
apps, games and many more. It is easy to learn compared to C++ and C. It is used in unity for game
development. first you need to learn and understand the basic syntax of the language which is little
difficult but you will learn it within 15 to 20 days. Free learning resource for C# – Learn C# Here

 So to learn and write c# code you need a IDE and there is official Microsoft IDE which is visual
studio community version which is free and you can write C# code on it. you can download it from
Here – Download Visual Studio Community.

4. Learn Game Design

After learning unity and c# you will be able to build logic in your games but your game will not
look good so you need to design characters, environments for your games so you need to learn some
game design softwares. Blender – It is a free and open source for building 3D designs models. You
can use it create models for your games and it is also used for animation So learn blender for game
design.

5. Learn Animation

You also need animation in your game. unity has an animation feature built in that you can learn or
use blender for animation. animation is hard and can be difficult. You can use third party assets in
your game which are mostly paid so you need to learn animation if you don’t have enough money
to hire someone or buy any assets. It is not that difficult you will master it if you give it some time.

Best FREE Game Development Courses

We have talked about the complete game development roadmap now your question must be how to
learn game development so I am going to tell you some of the best FREE game development
courses for you.

These courses are completely free that doesn’t mean that they are bad they are as good as paid
courses so there is no execuse for learning game development.

1. Complete Unity beginner tutorials by Brackeys

Our first game development course is from youtube by brackeys his channel is one of the best game
development channels on youtube he has many unity game development videos you can watch.
As we know that youtube is completely free so you can watch the brackeys unity game
development tutorials here – Complete Unity beginner tutorials by Brackeys

2. Learn full unity game development by freecodecamp.org

You may know this youtube channel because it is one of the best youtube channels to learn web
development, app development, AI, machine learning, and game development. They have many
coding tutorials. This is also a youtube tutorial so you can watch the unity game development
tutorial by freecodecamp.org here – Learn full unity game development by Freecodecamp.org

3. Full unity course by TutorialsEU

This is another full unity course you can take to learn game development in this course you will
learn unity basics and C# programming language which is required because it is used to write
scripts in unity. You can watch this tutorial directly for free from youtube. You can watch the
TutorialsEU game development course here – Full unity course by TutorialsEU.

 4. How to make a game – unity beginner tutorial by Jason Weimann

As the name says you will learn how to make a game in unity so you will learn to create a real game
in this tutorial Jason Weinmann is an awesome game developer he has many videos and courses on
game development. You can find this course on youtube. It is a 3 hour long unity tutorial. He also
has many other unity tutorials you can watch. If you want to watch his unity game development
tutorial then watch it here – How to make a game by Jason Weimann.

5. Unity fps survival game tutorial by freecodecamp

This tutorial is amazing because you will learn how to make a full 3D fps game in unity. You should
watch this and try to create the game he is creating. It is again a course by freecodecamp which I
have said is amazing. If you want to watch the Unity fps survival game tutorial by
freecodecamp.org then you can watch it on youtube here – Unity fps survival game tutorial by
freecodecamp.

6. Code Your First Game: Free Game development course on udemy

Code your first game is a free udemy course. In this course, you will learn how to create games in
javascript, HTML, and CSS. It is a 2 hour long video where you will learn to create a basic game
that runs in the browser. This course is on udemy but it is a free course if you want to you can get
this free udemy course from here – Code Your First Game: Free Game development course on
udemy.

7. Introduction to Game Development with Unity

This is another free udemy game development course. In this course, you will learn game
development with unity. You will learn all the basics of unity, how objects work and all you can
take this course if you are interested. It is a 2 hour long course with 17 lectures. You can get this
game development course on udemy for free here – Introduction to Game Development with Unity.

8. Unity Game Development – Build a First Person Shooter

This is another free udemy game development course where you will learn to create a First person
shooter(FPS) game in this course. More than 20 thousand students have enrolled in this course. It is
a very popular free game development course. If you want to watch the free unity game
development course then you can on udemy here – Unity Game Development – Build a First Person
Shooter.