hi i just started 3dgs and i wanted to know what i should do in 3dgs to make my games good. i need good tips, not some obvious ones. thanks!

Well... A same number of questions may have been asked a couple of times, but I will tell you.

There are several things that can make an impact on realism.

Photo-realistic textures
Lighting that can bounce from one object to another (works better with photorealistic textures),
texture size/details
realistic water (only with shaders and render-to-texture*)
stencil shadows can make an impact on realism
Physics for cars, balls, etc.

The more detailed and realistic your game looks, the greater the performance impact on customers' computers on which you're targeting at.

Although you can probably make the game realistic and make it down to those who have 16MB VRAM without shaders, it might not be close to realism.

Also, other than graphics, sound, input, gameplay, etc. can affect how good the game is.

I'm going to move this thred to FAQ.

cool, thanks.

Personally I find that a good storyline or original ideas make a good game. One of my fav all time games till this day is a game called shadowrun/shadowrunner depending if you had it for SNES or genesis. Both were completley different tho somewhat similliar. I found the genesis version better and friend of mine thought SNES was. Anyways its not the graphics that make me love this game but the ideas. The storys i had to complete the ways of going about things ect... I find it to be a very original game. Dont get me wrong graphics can make or break a game but in my opinion shouldnt be priority. They could also be added later once you have your game together Basically the thing that makes a game great to me. Is a well thought out game from story board to completion everything should be well planned and thought out ahead of time.

Yea, I like games that has good storylines too. The problem for me is that I have alot of great ideas, and good storylines, but I don't know anything about scripting and stuff, so I can't put it in the game. I'm planning on learning more programming in 3D Tech Camp though..

A simple idea distinguishing from all the other ones, just a fast an' easly to play, self explaining, user-friendly game with a very, very, very short story, but well designed panels, models and environements. Think like an idiot and work like an artist.
And always have in mind: If someone can't start playing your game within 30 seconds, it flys into the next trash.

My Importance ranking

(Fun to play is above all)

1- Usgae of the game / Controll Interface
nothng distracts more than a unlogic way to contol the game
the player does not want to controll the game, he wants to play it. The controls are often the first difference
you can notice between good and bad games.

2-Gameplay, meaning the overall sense what makes the
game fun to the Player

3-Motivation of the Player, the Player must get
a task, work on it and get the sweetness of success when
fulfilling it.
It should not be to easy and reacurrung, but also not
to hard in the beginning of the game.

4-Athmosphere of the Game, namingly The Story,
Characters to indentify with and an interesting Gameworld

5-Grafix of the Game (as seen number 1 for a lot of guys here... but showing a new AK47 or shader does not
mean that they can make a good game)

6-Sound/Ambience/Music

7-It should run smooth, and not have to long loading times.

Yea the beginning of my level is way too hard and I let my brother play it and he said it was too hard... I'm gonna make it easier in the beginning

I'm making a FPS game right now for practice, but for my next game, I want to make a simple game, but addictive. Like the games on addictinggames.com but more advanced.

i was also wondering all the professional games look clean, like the graphics is so clean and looks realistic. how do they do it. is it the lighting, or do they use other programs?

With RPG style games I like non-linear game play, good story, decent graphics. Personally I like great graphics but games with good lighting, story and effects that immerse you in the gameplay can help overlook graphics and models that aren't state-of-the-art.

I just played the demo of DungeonSiege - Arrana (or something like that) and when I stepped back and looked at it critically, the texture work was not spectacular; don't get me wrong, it was 'ok' but not 'super real.' The cliff geometry was blocky, the towers as well and many other structures (in the demo anyway) but the guys know thier stuff. The cliff textures had rock with snow, the ground and other textures had matching snow drifts and there was a light snow blowing around as well as matching fog so the overall effect worked enough that if I hadn't been looking I would have been blissfully unaware.

I've been sort of narrow focused on 'the perfect texture' but it may be much more important to have a balance of the visual, aural and thematic elements.