Gamedev Lounge 0010

[Phaze]

XNA is a nice framework

I've actually heard rumors that they're gonna completely abandon XNA - tough luck for all the devs who thought it was good and made their games in it!

By far the best systems to aim for at the moment for an indie developer is browser and mobile, both of which are very favourable towards java, (though the next best language is C++) because of the ways android and IOS are made the difference between C languages and java is negligible, its more down to preference.
if you want to learn C++ there is certainly nothing stopping you, though if you aim for browser / mobile the framework(s) you will be using will have you working as if it were java in the first place.
Not trying to discourage you, its just a question if its worth your time. (I only learned C++ because I'm a bit of an enthusiast on graphics programming, and I've long been wanting to make a AAA lighting engine)

Well the first indie game I plan to sell would be an action RPG, which I highly doubt could work out well on a mobile device without SERIOUS dumbing down of the game (if you can offer assistance on this, I'm all ears! Actually I don't have ears on either of my refs). There'd already be issues with regards to porting it to consoles - though I guess input could be simplified to button combos on a controller instead of keybinds/numbers on a PC.

Honestly, I don't think you could discourage me even if you tried
I had made my mind up about this up to a year ago, and I had been thinking about it for at least 2. I heavily considered all of my options and how difficult this path could be if I go down it, but I think I'd be stupid to not even try. You regret the things you don't do more than the things you do

At the very least, even if I don't want to work for 'myself' (hopefully I will be getting at least one talented friend in on this) and get into the industry working for XYZ company instead (or just get a generic programming job), knowing another language right off the bat would be valuable anyway!