c++ and game development question beginner

[ntrncx]

I know that there is a sticky thread and i know that maybe i repeating things that already mentioned but i am totally confused.

I am interested to study about game programming,i don't study i bought a book and i am near to finish it about c++.

i goggled and i asked and i saw many opinions and information's,others say SDL others say ogre3d others to start from directx or opengl.

The fact is that i am not in university i want to study as hobby so i want something for really simple things to start 2d like pacman or don't know with good tutorials and if there are any books out there that i can order and buy even better.The book that i study and liked it is "how to program c++ 7th edition" by deitel & deitel.

The question is where to start?what to study?

[myk45]

Well the first thing is to decide an API to program with.

OpenGL and Direct3D are mostly used for 3D rendering, not much for 2D(although you can do it). i don't know if you there are 2D specific graphic APIs.

There are loads of material available on OpenGL.

1) NeHe: Old, but really good.
2) OpenGL Red Book Again, old, but good for a start.

There are lots of simple examples too. So, maybe you can get hold of the basics and then maybe try some simple apps.
Also, if it interests you, you can read about books on Computer Graphics. There are a lot of good books on it.

Good Luck!

[Dman01]

For an easy start I recommend you to try SFML.

[garyhibb]

Take a look at Microsoft's XNA platform. Good for beginners, lots of tutorials and community help.

[ntrncx]

thanks all for the suggestions :D

[ntrncx]

the problem is that i use netbeans!i tried ogre or smfl but i never manage to set up any :(

[Dman01]

Ok, since I really think SFML is a good beginning for you I will show you how to set it up.

First you'd download SFML 1.6 here.
Then you extract it.
Take the SFML-1.6 folder and put it in you root directory (e.g. "C:\SFML-1.6")
Now you create a new project.

Tell your project the SFML directory by setting up include to C:\SFML-1.6\include and for the libraries C:\SFML-1.6\lib .

Now you have to link to those libraries if you want to use SFML.
You just set up the linking for the following :

1. -lsfml-system
2. -lsfml-window
3. -lsfml-graphics

If you want to use music and network you can add -lsfml-audio and -lsfml-network This step is important in order to use this functions.
Bad linking will lead to linking errors like : undefined reference to symbol 'sf::Clock::Clock()'

Now you could try and compile the example codes available on sfml-dev.org : D

I wouldn't recommend going to OpenGL or DirectX directly, because there are many things to set up, before you can actually start coding.
The best choice imo would be XNA or SFML, where I think XNA would be easier for you.

Best regards