Where to start?

Hi, I'm new to the forums. I am currently teaching myself Java and have no previous programming experience. I still have ALOT to learn but I had more of a general question.

How do you decide where to start writing your program?

I have a game concept I would like to eventually realise but, once I actually know enough java to start, what is a good point to start?

Start where the player would start? Start with random classes I know I will need? Start with a small but functional part of the game you could start testing soon?

How do you go about your projects?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Try the CRC way (Classes, Responsibilty and Collaboration); first write down the details of your game in plain English (or whatever natural language). The nouns in your story make up your first notion of the classes in your application. The verbs are a rude indication of the methods; now try to play a game in your head, given those nouns (class objects) and verbs (the methods). Refine whenever and whereever needed. Finally you have quite a detailed design of your game and you can start writing code for it ...

kind regards,

Jos

Wow thanks for the super fast reply and great info!

Makes total sense. Much appreciated! :)

Indeed, also I like to make flow charts about how the program will run. For a game of course you would go through all the different things that could happen. That way you have a good idea of what order you should place things. If you have a turn based game, then make a flow chart showing all the possible outcomes of what could happen in a turn.

This combined with JosAH's advice will really get your program flowing nicely. There have been times where I'm writing a program, forget where I'm going with it, refer to my notes and then realize that I was wandering aimlessly into the realm of useless coding.