Thread: Where to go...

  1. 05-29-2003 #1
    JaWiB
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    Unhappy Where to go...

    Well, game programming really interests me (of course...), but I'm not sure where to start...I've done a little OpenGL (Nehe's tutorial...) but for some reason I couldn't get much out of it . A little while ago I had read enough posts about "learn c++ first..." that I got myself a book on it. Unfortunately it turned out to be crap lol. With that said, I don't really want to get another book to learn about making games, but I can't seem to find any tutorials that aren't either on specific aspects of game making, or too advanced. Graphics programming interests me, but I really don't know enough math (math class progresses very slowly...). School is no help for this, at least not until I graduate in three years...I'm starting to lose interest in programming, but I really want to learn and I don't know where to find anything to teach me in a way I will understand...Any suggestions (at this point even a title of a book)?
    "Think not but that I know these things; or think
    I know them not: not therefore am I short
    Of knowing what I ought."
    -John Milton, Paradise Regained (1671)

    "Work hard and it might happen."
    -XSquared
  2. 05-30-2003 #2
    Perspective
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    OpenGL Game Programming

    By: kevin Hawkins and Dave Astle

    its a great book, covers alot with full source included. has a chapter on 3D graphics math.
  3. 05-30-2003 #3
    Nutshell
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    Which book did you get that turned out to be crap? Get another one, and read it, that'll start you.
  4. 05-30-2003 #4
    Cat
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    You really do need a solid C++ foundation before you think about game writing.

    I'm putting together some DirectX 9 tutorials (dunno where I'll host them yet) which I plan to use to develop an entire simple game (Pac-Man) from start to finish, explaining along the way. But without a real understanding of C++, it's hard to learn much of anything about game programming.
  5. 05-30-2003 #5
    JaWiB
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    While I can't say a have a "real" understanding of C++, I think I am ready to start game programming. I doubt I'll get far, but it will be enough to keep me interested in programming, and when I get stuck I suppose I'll go back to C++...anyways I guess jumping back and forth between things (HTML, QBasic, HTML+JavaScript...) has got me this far.

    Cat- PM me if you ever make that Direct X tutorial, until then...well I've found a few more websites to look at, and if worse comes to worst I'll buy another book
    "Think not but that I know these things; or think
    I know them not: not therefore am I short
    Of knowing what I ought."
    -John Milton, Paradise Regained (1671)

    "Work hard and it might happen."
    -XSquared
  6. 05-30-2003 #6
    Disturbed1
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    I have been EXACTLY where you are now... so take it from me, If you do not have a good understanding of the WinAPI and just want to make some simple games with graphics, I STRONGLY recomend Allegro. It is really easy and not too complicated. I have been using it for awhile now and I love it. I am thinking about moving to DirectX soon though.
  7. 05-31-2003 #7
    Cat
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    I should have a DirectX 9 tutorial sometime reasonably soon. I've made pretty good progress on the actual program thus far; I should easily have enough to publish the first 2 or 3 steps within a week or so. It'll probably be a little slower after that; I want to show uses of all the DirectX subsystems (Direct3D, DirectInput, DirectSound, DirectMusic, etc.) and I haven't used all of them before (like DMusic, DSound) so I want to be sure I take the time so that I learn them well enough to teach them.
  8. 05-31-2003 #8
    JaWiB
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    If you do not have a good understanding of the WinAPI and just want to make some simple games with graphics, I STRONGLY recomend Allegro.
    Sounds good to me I'll check it out.

    It's a pain to set up allegro lol...
    Last edited by JaWiB; 05-31-2003 at 12:42 PM.
    "Think not but that I know these things; or think
    I know them not: not therefore am I short
    Of knowing what I ought."
    -John Milton, Paradise Regained (1671)

    "Work hard and it might happen."
    -XSquared
  9. 05-31-2003 #9
    Silvercord
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    You've got to understand that you aren't going to be able to successfully make huge leaps and bounds, so don't expect to get far with that line of thinking. The reason for making 2d pac man games is that they are still fun and they introduce you to a lot of important ideas. Start small, work your way up. It is honestly the only way possible. I suggest taking notes and writing stuff down and really not being afraid to think about concepts. If you really don't understand a concept, it might be because of the fact that there are underlying concepts that you skipped for some reason or another.

    I second buying OpenGL Game Programming, it has a lot of useful information, but it starts you out with win32 api programming (something i've never been fond of, I use NeHe's GL basecode) and it has a lot of advanced topics that you might not be able to understand until your math muscles get stronger.

    EDIT: and don't let yourself get so ........ed off that you quit altogether
    either take a break or drink beer or something
  10. 05-31-2003 #10
    JaWiB
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    Can't seem to get allegro set up right...when I try to compile it, i get some error about a dllver.o file that does't exist...
    "Think not but that I know these things; or think
    I know them not: not therefore am I short
    Of knowing what I ought."
    -John Milton, Paradise Regained (1671)

    "Work hard and it might happen."
    -XSquared
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