Heya
Hello I am wannabee game designer. Currently getting my degree at DIKU. I joined this forum to interact with the gaming community in denmark. But it seems i am the only one stupid enough to pay for it .
Anyhow.
I have co devloped the open source(browser)game merchantempires advancedpowers.com 60K lines out of 210K is mine.
I am currently working on DTS a online multiplay game, wich hopefully should bring in a little income. Advancedpowers only cower bandwidth, power 
and the occsional server upgrade.DTS is to be based upon java, and before you scream VIRTUAL MACHIEN FUCKS IT UP. It actually runs very nice. We use a light weight java game lib devloped by two danish guys from Odense(I think). http://sourceforge.net/projects/java-game-lib/
So I want to have more experience with making 3D games and enhance my programming skills. I was hoping that there would be some pro who would share tips and tricks.
Best greetings Oliver
Right that was my general idea, i'll hand out specific questions anytime. Rigth now we are struggeling how our GUI managing parts should look like. Realising that we cannot be a 10-20 guy dev company we decided to start with a simple SWING like gui manager based upon opengl. So we make components like combo boxes, list boxes, buttons etc. I have seen many games where must have been spent hours on a cool screen for instance menue points that float around, and sure the coolness effect is there, but for how long.
Anyway my topic was mostely to open up a dead forum
Getting more experience and skill in making 3D games can only be done the hard way - by getting down and dirty with code
Unless you are lucky to find a personal mentor (there are actual people out there who enjoy mentoring) my advice is to be more specific about what you need. For example if you need advice on how to make certain effects or which proprietary engine to use it's more likely for developers to step out of the bushes. Asking for "tips and tricks" in an area as big as "3D games" does not give the gurus out there any staring points
The good thing about our forums is that there's room for both novice and advanced developers. And there are specific forums that will get you in touch with developers with specific interests/skills.