Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

Hello and thanks in advance to your suggestions,

I have taken a few courses on programming, Turbo Pascal and intro to C, about 8 years ago and I'm sure much has changed. So my goal is to get back into programming and learn what a solo programmer can accomplish. The only book I read on gaming is More Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus and yes I was overwhelmed when I read it, which was long ago. But atleast in reading it have seen what some games consist of(ie, graphics engines, GUI, AI, collision, and most importantly the devotion of time and detail.

Here's my checklist of what I would like to accomplish in 2 years:

1. I understand C++ is the way to go. Now how should I go about getting there? (ie, what's a good book for C++ keep in mind I am pretty comfortable with C in many aspects)

2. I do want to get a good compiler, so I would like to purchase a new one with a budget of $200.

3. Other posts have recommended engines to handle graphics. Which one seems to be the best overall and which one seems to be the easiest for beginners. Budget for this is $300, hopefully not that much, but I imagine buying someone's code to be used for your own games will not be cheap.

4. 3D development. Once I get a good grasp of C++, I want to move right too 3D graphics. I'm guessing that whatever engine that's suggested would probably handle the math part of making 3D environments, so what I'm asking here is, what tools can I get to make my characters, maps, and other objects that can be used in the engine suggested above.

I'm already typing too much, so I'll leave the rest out. This looks like a good start for me. If you feel this is not the route to take in 3D game development, I am all ears.

Thanks,

Rookie

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

I would recommend asking for suggestions on GameDev. They have resources for newcomers to game programming that Daniweb lacks.

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

Go to 3dbuzz at www.3dbuzz.com they have a lot of video tutorials there about how to do 3d there is a game development section there that can get you on your way for some free 3d engines. Also they have some excellent High quality video tutorials for c++ programming that will take you from the basics of C++ to implementing that game into a windows based gui using wxWidgets. The C++ videos cost because of certain circumstances with them, but there is a lot of content that they have over there that is free to download. The community is an excellent one to get involved with and most everyone is willing to help out. We also have some programming forums over there that have lots of help in them with the video tutorials. I highly suggest you check them out i have been a member there for a little over a year now and love the site. Also right now they site is under a reconstruction phase but should be up later today. If not within the next few hours of this post time.

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

I checked out both of those sites and they have tons of content, thanks guys. I had seen an add for Torque on DaniWeb somewhere and I checked it out too. However, it looks like I need to learn to crawl before I walk. So my plan now is to enroll in a few classes on programming, this WinAPI stuff looks confusing, I no longer know my limits in memory, since before I was limited to a small stack unless you could program in protected. So thanks again, for the links, and I'll soak up what ever content I can from them

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

1) See the c/c++ books forum
2) DevC++ is free and is quite ample for game production as is the older DJGPP (used for compilation of quake)
3) DirectX is the most powerful graphic library at the moment, however OpenGL is apparently easier to use, I say apparently as DirectX is NOT hard to learn. If you want to get a complete engine look for support for either or even BOTH of these technologies. My advice is build your own from the ground up if you want to learn graphics
4) See 3

What sort of 'games' are you looking to produce? There are specialised techniques and ideas you should learn depending on which 'type' of game you want to create!

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

1) I have ordered a bunch of books from amazon (ie, C++ Primer Plus 5th edition, Direct3D Programming Kickstart, Schaum's Outline of disctete Mathematics, Code Complete 2nd Edition,& the first Game programming Gems)

2) I just started with DevC++ yesterday and I am happy with it, it's better than my Borland 4.5

3) As far as graphics i'm backing off until I feel comfortable with C++, but not completely, I'll still check out 3D engines and books.

4) I would love to be able to build my own from the ground up and I am taking a Math Primer course.

5) I'm a strategy game fanatic (I got hooked on the original Railroad Tycoon and Civilization on my Tandy 1000), so I would like to make very generic low quality 2d strategy games in the hopes of one day being able to make 3D strategy games.

Currently I'm studying up on Classes, I checked out the Irrlicht Engine and I ran into this :: operator or whatever it is, didn't realize it was for C++ class objects, I thought it was something Irrlicht implemented. Had never seen one in C, and it seems classes are a major feature of C++, which I have never used until the past few days.

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

the "::" is called the scope resolution operator

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

Hello, Acidburn

This is such an old post perhaps you are well on your way by now, but anyway. This first thing you need when starting a game would be a good script, (more a manual) of what this game is going to be and all of the elements to it. You have to lay it all out before you do anything, the reason for this is simple, it will tell you what you will need, how it will be done and how big the team will have to be. Any good game will have to be entertaining and have a good balance of fear and challenge to keep you on your toes, also, don't let anybody kid you, graphics and sound play a BIG role here. After all, do you really need 64 bits for a word processesor, no, you need them for the games. And don't let me get started on the budget, money for this and for that.

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

here we go again.
the best book to start learning c++ from is accelerated c++ by koenig and Moo.
Work through that.
Then I would advise this selection....
c++ standard library a tutorial and reference by josuttis.
c++ templates by josuttis and vandervoorde.
effective stl by meyers.
c++ coding standards by sutter and alexandrescu

these would be a good idea to at the very least read....
effective c++, more effective c++ by meyers
exceptional c++, more exceptional c++, exceptional c++ style by sutter

If you make it through that lot then these come highly recommended....

modern c++ design by andrescu
large scale software design by lakos
elements of reusable software by gamma and co. affectionately known as "the gang of four book"

Make it through that lot and you should have the necessary skills to adapt libraries such as directx and opengl etc totally to your own needs.

Re: Rookie in game development. Where should I start?
 

You forget the mandatory book for all serious C++ programmers, Stroustrup's classic "The C++ Programming Language".
As long as that book is too complicated for you don't even think about writing games, especially 3D games with AI, physics engines, etc. etc. (which you shouldn't start out with anyway, start with something simple like Pong or Tetris, or a small text adventure).