The New stuff.

[JedZL]

Hi, I know nothing about programming did a lil bit of C++ when I was in highschool homeschooled now. Anyway, I'm looking for like a mentor kinda someone who would be willing to teach me anything they know about programming a game I don't know where to start, and I know I have nothing to give in return except one thing... If someone did teach me alot about programming games and such I would return the great deed by helping to program whatever game or app they wish to work on with no obligations at all. I spend alot of my time on the internet becuase I have nothing better to do lol out in the middle of nowhere.. but if your interested in this please let me know.

[Bluecat]

JedZL,

The best place to start is the web.

Check out GameDev.net for lots of articles. Also do a google search for game programming, you'll find a lot of info doing that.

I'd also suggest checking out your local book store. They'll have game programming books, but also general C++ ones. Effective C++, More Effective C++, Effective STL all by Scot Meyers are good for C++ programmers.

Start with something small, write a space invaders clone or something like that, then write a card game or the like. Work your way up.

[JedZL]

Thanks for the info, although there are no book stores in this area that would cover anything of the sort I have to revert towards the web to get the info. would you possibly know a place where I could download these books? .... Or if downloading the books would be a bad idea possibly a place to buy the books would be better if there within an offordable price that is.

[JedZL]

And btw, I will need VB does anyone know where I could find this program to download? I'm sure buying it would be way out of the question for me its more then likly exspensive it was when I was using VB C++6.0 at school anyway.....

[Bluecat]

I wouldn't advise downloading copyrighted saleable material (Aargh Matey, Shiver me timbers, polly wanna cracker!) If there are no book stores in your area, with web access you can order books online from Amazon or one of the other options.

I wouldn't suggest VB for games, though doubtless someone here has made a game in it. You can download a free version of VC from Microsoft (there is another thread currently active about the VC Optimising Compiler), or you can use GCC which is an open source C++ compiler. There are also some versions of Basic available, DarkBasic and one other I cant think of off hand.

Best bet though, for an easy to use language, is Python. Go to python.org and download their latest. Then find Pygame (I think it's at pygame.net). This uses Simple Directmedia Layer (SDL), and there are example games that you can look at here. Python is real easy to learn, and very easy to program in, and development time doesn't take as long. It's not as fast as C++ in terms of program speed, but it's not slouchy either, especially for your first steps.

[JedZL]

lol.. Yea pirating would be a bad idea since they would take something of that sort very seriously since they are a major programming company and all.
My price range is extremly limited though I can prolly squeeze around 50$ every 5 months or 7 months. So spending any money on any books or anything would be a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiig jump specially seeings how it would take me a bit to recover from the money loss.

[Bluecat]

Your other option is the local library, or maybe a trip to a place where there is a secondhand bookstore.

Barring that, then the web seems to be your best bet.

[mkovacic]

http://www.mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites

C++ is not something I'd recomend to a beginner, though.

[Vectrex]

hmm, i'd suggest www.blitzbasic.com it's $100 us but it's got most stuff you need and can make actually great games and gfx. Depends if you want to learn 'real' programming from the start, but you'll be frustrated by the lack of results for a while. darkbasic is another cool one.
if you go the 3d route then I'd just use an existing engine so you can jump into the fun(er) stuff quicker. 3d engines are www.ogre3d.org - great but slightly advanced. http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net - easy to use but not as advanced.
but just avoid VB, you'll never make anything good in it (although irrlight has vb hooks in it through .net)

ask princeC about using java to make games. He makes kicking games and it's all free. You could download the esclipse editor and the game library he uses and make good games. the Irrlight engine has java bindings too and java is a 'proper' language so it would help you later on to get a job. http://sourceforge.net/projects/bindenlicht/

[FlySim]

After you have picked up some basic programming, Id recommend these sites:

Run thru Nehe's tutorials:
http://nehe.gamedev.net/

You can get Dev C++ (free) here:
http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

-J.R.

[Ryan Clark]

I'd agree with FlySim that you should get DevC++... it's great, and it's free.

Also, at the Game Programming Wiki we have some good SDL tutorials and an excellent forum. We'd be glad to help you get started... that's what the wiki is for!

We also have a large number of VB/DirectX tutorials, if you are so inclined.

[wazoo]

Hey Ryan, I've got a whole swak load of information about DirectX I could put up there, but I couldn't find a registration link in the wiki...

is there a review process or can anyone hit the "edit" links and start inputting stuff into the wiki? (I'm a newbie-wiki user)..

Anyways, I also have some tutorials and game source code at
http://www.wazooenterprises.com

[Hiro_Antagonist]

For what it's worth, I picked up game development with C# using .NET and Managed DirectX. (But I did have many years of web application development experience.)

Unfortuantely, I've learned the hard way it's basically impossible to shape that into a commercially releasable game (because of the reliance on the .NET and Managed DirectX frameworks), but if you're just looking to learn object-oriented programming practices, C# is wonderful for that.

Plus, it's a great language that, at least in the Seattle area, is in extremely high demand outside of the game industry.

Once you've learned C#, learning C++ is a much smaller and more realistic step.

-Hiro_Antagonist