3d Vs. 2d

Sorry I cannot answer you question...But I have a question for you. I am a novice game programmer currently learning C++. I will be starting off with 2D first and make a few games and continue to 3D. I want my game to run on virually ANY windows computer so speed is really important to me. I want to ask you a few questions on your experience with 2D programming

Is allegro really difficult to grasp? Why did you choose allegro over SDL and other engines?

Did you use microsoft compilers or open ones?

What was the average time did it take you to complete a game?

Thanks for any comments

Allegro is a free open source language that you are able to use with ease. It also lets you sell your games. Teaching yourself allegro inn't possible by just using the website. To use allegro you must have a intermediate understanding of c or c++. The only realistic way to learn allegro is to get a book. One of the best books on the market is "Game Programming All In One" by Jonathan S. Harbour. One of the things not mentioned in the book is very important if you actually want to run games. The dll file "alleg40.dll" needs to be copied manualy to SYSTEM32 if you are running windows. I don't know how to get everything working if you are running OSX although it is compatible with over 10 Operating Systems.

Black,

I have done stuff in 2d as well as 3d and from what I have seen they are worlds apart. 3d has a lot more math involved. In 2d you can get by just thinking about things and how its done is very simplistic, 3d, you need to think about a lot more. Even moving the camera can be complicated, matrix rotations or using qauterinions... 3d opens up different ways of doing things, each has pluses n minuses.

besides my small rant, keep working on it, its really fun and rewarding.

Books:
http://www.gamedev.net/columns/books/books.asp?CategoryID=9

There are a lot. I only read very few books, most of what I need is on the web, just google it and start reading that. Its free :).

If your anything like me, it'll get discouraging, especially with some of the insane graphics demo's I see. Don't give up and work at your own pace... keep motivated.

Jeff.