Prerequisites of Game Programming!?

**MMI22A** · 09-02-2012

I am beginning to learn 3DStudioMax in the Animation I course. Next year, I am planning to take Advanced Animation to get at a intermedian-advanced knowledge base of animation. What are the other prerequisites of game programming? I know there is programming, but what language, C/C++?
I have find the following books online, and was wondering if they would be useful for learning the basics of game programming? Any advice, Please email me at <<<snipped>>>
Thanks

Beginning C 4th Edition - Apress

Beginning Android Web Apps Development
Develop for Android using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript - Apress

**dwks** · 09-03-2012

You need to be a pretty good programmer to be able to make games. If you like doing animation you can certainly contribute to a game project, but you may find the programming part difficult. Maybe team up with someone who has some coding skills already?

That said, if you want to learn programming, you should realize that you won't be making games right away. You'll be making really boring programs for the first while. But it gets more interesting.

Complex 3D games are usually written in C or C++ (but you'd probably need *minimum* two years of programming experience before trying something like that)... simpler 2D games can be done in C or C++ as well. They're good languages to learn, but not the easiest. There are all kinds of games though (if you're looking at web games you could learn Java and write applets, or Flash). It really depends on what you want to do. But I have to say that the last two books in your list are more web-development books. You're not going to learn much about game programming from them.

If there's a library or a physical bookstore nearby you might want to find a book on beginning game programming. There are quite a few out there. I'd pick up a normal language book (for just learning C++ or whatever) as well, though, as game books can skim the details. That's just me, I like learning from physical books right at the beginning.

**RoD** · 09-09-2012

Originally Posted by dwks

You need to be a pretty good programmer to be able to make games.

I'm going to respectfully disagree, sort of. I would agree if the statement said "You need to be educated on programming concepts to create modern games.". You don't need to be a good programmer to make games at a beginner level or the level of the average student. I wrote my FPS game for a final in my CSII class in high school during my first year of working with C++. Prior to writing that game I had never worked with any API, only console applications.

The key to learning is the ability to absorb information and understand it. You don't need to understand everything about a language in order to use it, you just need to understand the language for your purpose. I'm not saying you can go off to game college with that mindset but if you want to get your feet wet understand that you can do that right now. If you really have an interest in game programming I suggest you get and read the book linked below. It is dated, but the information there is solid and the writers are famous. If you can write a hello world app you can follow along with this book.

It's still $30 for a reason.

OpenGL Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development): Kevin Hawkins,Dave Astle: 0086874533301: Amazon.com: Books

There is also a really good Open GL series on the main page of this website written by some RoD guy. It's unfinished but hey, it's a start.

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