Books?

OpenGL Game Programming takes you from OpenGL basics all the way to making a simple FPS.

I can also recommend OpenGL Game Programming. It''s a good place to start, but quickly outgrown.

What about DirectX?

Ah... you didn''t say that. Well, don''t think you have to start with DirectX. OpenGL is a good place to start also; it comes down to personal preference in the end.

I haven''t bought any DirectX books myself, so it''s hard to recommend any. I have flipped through "Programming Role Playing Games With DirectX" and it seemed very complete and very long. I''ve heard good things about it and it does teach you to make a tile based RPG engine.

Can anyone else recommend some DirectX books?

They''re pretty much ALL complete in that series with very few exceptions. I recommend you pick the style you''re interested in...

Multiplayer Game Programming in DirectX,
Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus,
Isometric Game Programming in DirectDraw,
etc., etc.

They all start with the basics of making a PC environment based game and cover all the simplest bases of DirectX.

anyone else?

"Programming RPG with DirectX" by Jim Adams it''s great to start for beginners. In this book you''ll learn how to make a complete game with DX 8

"Programming Role Playing Games With DirectX" is a great book (for intermediate programmers too who needs a few pointers on how to structure a rpg project). The example game made in it isn''t tilebased tho, it''s using static backgrounds like in Alone in the Dark or the later Final Fantasy games

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-Luctus
Codito, Ergo Sum (Courtesy of ThinkGeek)

[Mail][DreggSoft]

I would agree that Programming RPG games is a very good book if you are lost on structuring a game, since it pretty much walks you through a sample game''s source code.
On the other hand, if you really are having such a hard time structuring programs, i would suggest you practiced more general programming. So spent some money on some quality programming books instead.

Also, if you seriously want to program games you will also need to understand some basic algorithms and datastructures, linked lists and arrays arent always the ideal choice.

what about RTS games? Are there good books around?