Programming C++, Games Emphasis
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I haven't read any books about game programming in C++, though I still have one about using BlitzBasic from 10 years ago. At any rate, I learned most of my knowledge from the internet. Though you're bound to meet all sorts of dubious advice, given that anyone can publish anything. For learning actual C++, C Programming has well written tutorials, and the forum there is quite active. C Plus Plus is good to use for tutorials and reference.
For actual game programming, a lot of folks like to start off with an API such as Allegro, SDL, or SFML. SDL is pretty wide spread, and it covers everything from input, video, audio, and there are other libraries associated with it that can play MP3s, use TTF fonts and more. SFML is more object oriented, and it's easier to get it up and running with sounds and graphic, so it's a good choice as well. I chose SDL, and Lazy Foo' Productions has some excellent tutorials that teach you everything from setting up SDL, to mixing music, making multi-threaded games, and OpenGL. For 3D things, the cost of programs such as Maya and 3DS Max may be quite, err, prohibitive for beginners. Ideally, one's school/employer should pay for those kinda things . Blender is great for someone starting out, and I'm sure you can transfer a lot of those skills over to other programs. If Blender's not your thing (or its GUI is a turn off, although the newer ones have gotten much better), Wings 3D is another entry point you should look into. (04-04-2012, 09:06 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: I would highly advise you steer away from game programming. The game development industry is shit right now. If you even manage to get a job you'll probably regret your decision for the rest of your life. Long hours, bad pay, poor benefits, ridiculous deadlines so you're always under stress and bringing your work home with you, terrible job security (constant layoffs and bad job market), etc.this except if you do it in your free time like me and make something like this also, this might not look like much but let me tell you our core is getting pretty complete (data collection so things dont get loaded multiple times, different type of objects, moving screen, collision checking, action on collision, death/respawn) 04-04-2012, 07:31 PM
(04-04-2012, 09:06 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Start with this: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=c%2B%2B+game+programming Yeah, the biggest problem people trying to get into the business is getting the right publisher-developer contract to get into. There is first party developer which involves the publishers owning the developer e.g nintendo, they have their own consoles and the games are developed by their own developers under their own trademark name The second party developers who are independent but still have to sign a contract with the publisher for the exclusive right to publish their titles Finally the third party developers, which is the most common and almost everybody starts with, they sign contracts with publishers only on a per-game basis and they usually release on multiple platforms as they have more freedom and have no constraints to one particular publisher however you'll have to always be in search for your next project and the time-span between projects could be relatively long leading to the studio dropping employees, paycuts, etc. Its gonna be a tough ride but as long as you can hang in there you'll eventually make it.
......?????
04-04-2012, 09:11 PM
Learning another language first might also be worth a tought. Python is great, and will give you nice results much quicker than C++. Once you got the idea what good program code should look like, learning other languages gets a lot easier. C++ is a mess in many places and is not a good language to start programming with, in my opinion.
04-05-2012, 08:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-05-2012, 09:00 AM by NaturalViolence.)
Quote:I was navigating dolphin code's page, and I saw a graph that shows that dolphin has more than only pure C/C++ language (The pizza graph shows the percentages of the languages used in Dolphin). Well, they are??? Quote:Edited. Now you'll be able to understand the second question. Nope. Still doesn't make sense. Especially "Well, they are?". Quote:Just right now, according for what you said, I wanna see how they make the games, hehe. The same way you make any software. Writing code and designing data. Quote:Hmmm... I am switching from physics to informatics next year, I plan to go for a master degree with some AI stuff. I noticed C++ isn't among the obligatory courses, and most of my free ones now went to math and physics... should I take C++ as an extra course earlier? Or else I won't learn it untill year 4. I would do it if I were you. Quote:Yeah, the biggest problem people trying to get into the business is getting the right publisher-developer contract to get into. They ALL suck. Your chances of ever having a good job if you go into the video game development industry is less than 0.1%. The industry is 99.9% shitty jobs no matter who you're working for. Quote:Learning another language first might also be worth a tought. Python is great, and will give you nice results much quicker than C++. Once you got the idea what good program code should look like, learning other languages gets a lot easier. C++ is a mess in many places and is not a good language to start programming with, in my opinion. But nobody uses python for game development. Really he should be focusing on learning popular frameworks/APIs like Shonumi said.
"Normally if given a choice between doing something and nothing, I’d choose to do nothing. But I would do something if it helps someone else do nothing. I’d work all night if it meant nothing got done."
-Ron Swanson "I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. " -Mark Antony (04-05-2012, 08:58 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote:Quote:I was navigating dolphin code's page, and I saw a graph that shows that dolphin has more than only pure C/C++ language (The pizza graph shows the percentages of the languages used in Dolphin). Well, they are???Quote:Edited. Now you'll be able to understand the second question. "Well, they are?" confuses me as well. Either way, he talks about the graph at the bottom of the main project page. Maybe he is just wondering about the remaining 5% of code that is considered neither C++ nor C?... In this case, just click the link in the graph to get a more detailed analysis. (04-05-2012, 08:58 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote:Quote:Learning another language first might also be worth a tought. Python is great, and will give you nice results much quicker than C++. Once you got the idea what good program code should look like, learning other languages gets a lot easier. C++ is a mess in many places and is not a good language to start programming with, in my opinion. What kind of game do you intend to develop, alone? Skyrim? For smaller projects, games too, python is great. I don't see why you shouldn't use it. The Blender Game Engine uses it (and you can make games with that: http://www.yofrankie.org/ ), and there's pygame (http://www.pygame.org) which is intended for 2D games. Panda3d seems to have a python API too: http://www.panda3d.org/reference/python (04-05-2012, 08:28 PM)scummos Wrote:(04-05-2012, 08:58 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote:Quote:Learning another language first might also be worth a tought. Python is great, and will give you nice results much quicker than C++. Once you got the idea what good program code should look like, learning other languages gets a lot easier. C++ is a mess in many places and is not a good language to start programming with, in my opinion. To be fair to the both of you, Python does get recommended to a lot for people looking to step into game development, at least on GameDev. C# gets recommended frequently as well. Also, the Pygame scummos mentioned is built on top of SDL. For indie projects, yes people do use Python. Commercially though, I don't think Python is that big in the industry. Also, since the OP already has some knowledge of C++, there's no reason not to start game programming with C++. In the end though, languages are tools. Use the right one for the job. If you feel one or the other isn't cutting it for you, switch it. I think that once you get the basics into your head (program flow, conditional statements, loops, variables) e.g. the core concepts that almost every programming language will use, learning how to program in XYZ language is just a matter of getting the syntax down. 04-06-2012, 03:11 AM
(04-05-2012, 05:36 PM)Dimitri Wrote:(04-05-2012, 08:58 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote:Quote:I was navigating dolphin code's page, and I saw a graph that shows that dolphin has more than only pure C/C++ language (The pizza graph shows the percentages of the languages used in Dolphin). Well, they are???Quote:Edited. Now you'll be able to understand the second question. I know Javascript is used in the make_scmrev.h.js file to compute the current revision and display it. Also, some other languages are used in the cmake files and the VS sln files.
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