Thread: Where to start

  1. #1
    Unregistered
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    Unhappy Where to start

    I was wondering...

    My last project was a dos calculato that uses void commands...
    where do i go next. What do i learn now.

  2. #2
    I'm Back
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    >>What do i learn now.

    whatever you want... get questions from books, ask teachers, use your imagination... endless possibilities
    -

  3. #3
    Used Registerer jdinger's Avatar
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    Not sure what your console calculator program used but since
    you're asking this in a game development forum here are a few
    things you'll want to look at:

    1 - if/else/else if
    2 - switch/case
    3 - string manipulation
    4 - for loops
    5 - arrays (and later linked lists)
    6 - structs (and later classes)

    Of course, I generalizing big time here, but you get the idea. A
    game's logic will (typically) consist of a number of functions called
    from inside a loop (usually for). The functions process input from
    the player(s) and uses if/else or switch checks to determine the
    game progression. For console games you'll mainly be interacting
    with the player through cout/cin (or printf/scanf) so you'll need to
    be familiar with string functions.

    If you're used to writing console apps then try writing a TicTacToe or Hangman game. If you need some ideas search the board
    there have been a bunch of really good console games posted
    here in the last month or so.

  4. #4
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    hmmm.....

    See, i try to look at tetris type game sources and i get soo lost.
    I know i could make a dos pong if someone would tell me the way to organize the code and what keywords and all... There are no tutorials that take u to simple game programming.

    So.. how do i make pong?

  5. #5
    Rambling Man
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    Before you are able to make a game, even a simple like tic-tac-toe, you should probably be able to answer yes to all of these, such as jdinger stated.

    1 - if/else/else if
    2 - switch/case
    3 - string manipulation
    4 - for loops
    5 - arrays (and later linked lists)
    6 - structs (and later classes)

    If you are able to answer yes to these, then you are probably ready to start making your first game. I'm not sure if you know any APIs, and if you don't you're going to have to start off with text based games only. However, with certain characters like X and O you can make games like tic-tac-toe. I keep mentioning tic-tac-toe because that was the first game I made, and I think many people have their first game as ttt. Right now I'm only working on my third game but you really do learn a lot in making your first couple of games...it's all just a matter of practice. It's not as easy as "how do I make pong" as you asked. People aren't going to tell you how to make pong. Don't worry, though, when I look at tetris source code I have no idea what is going on either. The two games I have created so far have open source code so you can look at those if you'd like.

    here is the link to the thread for my ttt game.

    and here is the link to the thread for my second game...a maze game.

    neither of these two games are spectacular but that was not the purpose of either one of these two games. the purpose was for practice and a learning experience. I suggest to start off making games for the same purpose and later on when you have a lot of practice and experience yuu can show off all of your skills in a great game.

    at www.gametutorials.com they have a tutorial on how to make a ttt game if you want to look at that.

    Good luck and don't be afraid to make mistakes but make sure you always correct those mistakes.

  6. #6
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    Talking

    THANK YOU....

    And

    1.Definately
    2.yah.. kind of
    3.wat u talkin bout
    4.yah.. once
    5.not sure
    6no.. dont think so

    What would i use num 3, 5, 6, for?

    And i dont know what an API is...

  7. #7
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    tib foo tedri ai too daimensonel ary ov strang
    Code:
    aray [n] [4] [9] =
    {
    {"011011", "11010", "1001011", "10101"},
    {"011011", "11010", "1001011", "10101"},
    .
     ..
    }

  8. #8
    Used Registerer jdinger's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Unregistered
    tib foo tedri ai too daimensonel ary ov strang
    And that means what in English?

  9. #9
    Used Registerer jdinger's Avatar
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    String manipulation - used for interacting with the player, etc. Things like strcmp, strcpy, strcat, toupper, tolower, etc., etc., etc.

    Arrays - used to hold multiples of the same object, ie: sprites, units, map squares, etc.

    Classes - uses to provide OOP (or, to please the masses, pseudo-OOP) modularity. Makes your life easier. If you have 200 units on the screen and initializing one unit takes 30 lines of code, without using classes you're looking at 6000 lines of code just for initialization. If you encasulate it in a class then you only need 1 line per unit to initialize (total of 200 lines of code, less if you use a loop and populate variables with generic standards). Plus there's less chance of mistake because you aren't typing the same stuff over and over 200 times. You type it all once, include the appropriate header and then declare your object.

  10. #10
    i dont know Vicious's Avatar
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    thank you

    as u can see i registered so im not confused with that guy didnt know englis or something.

    thanx for all the help...
    i will try to put all of those functions into a program...
    any suggestions what to make using those?

  11. #11
    Pygmy Monkey ErionD's Avatar
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    >tib foo tedri ai too daimensonel ary ov strang

    Maybe: "Tip for tetris: a two dimensional array of strings"

  12. #12
    i dont know Vicious's Avatar
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    WOW... howd u come up woth that one?

  13. #13
    i dont know Vicious's Avatar
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    lol... I see now.. ROFL

  14. #14
    i dont know Vicious's Avatar
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    TicTacToe

    Okay I understand how it all works.
    But how do you tell it to put the X in the grid???

    Here is what ive got so far.....

    Code:
    #include <iostream.h>
    #include <stdlib.h>
    #include <windows.h>
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <conio.h>
    #include <time.h>
    
    int player[2]={0,
                   0};
    
    char grid[3][3]={{' ',' ',' '},
    {' ',' ',' '},
    {' ',' ',' '}};
    
    void Makegrid();
    
    
    void Makegrid()
    {
         system("CLS");
    
         cout<<endl<<endl
         <<"\t\t\t\t Toe-Tac-Tic \n\n\n\n\n"
         <<"\t\t\t\t"<<grid[0][0]<<"   | "<<grid[0][1]<<"  | "<<grid[0][3]
         <<"\n\t\t\t\t ------------ "
         <<"\n\t\t\t\t"<<grid[1][0]<<"   | "<<grid[1][1]<<"  | "<<grid[1][3]
         <<"\n\t\t\t\t ------------ "
         <<"\n\t\t\t\t"<<grid[2][0]<<"   | "<<grid[2][1]<<"  | "<<grid[2][3]
         <<"\n\n\t\t\t"<<endl;
    
    }
    
    int main (int argc, char *argv[])
    {
       cout<<"This Tic-Tac-Toe Game uses the mouse.\n\n"<<endl;
       system("pause");
       Makegrid();
       getchar ();
       return 0;
    }
    sigh... PLZ HELP
    Last edited by Vicious; 05-04-2002 at 11:57 AM.
    What is C++?

  15. #15
    i dont know Vicious's Avatar
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    oh forget about that mouse thing...
    What is C++?

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