First projects?

Using the DirectX general framework provided with the DX SDK I implemented a multiplayer FPS using the Quake III map format as my final project in college. I learned more from that project than I think I did anything else the whole time I was in school. I've now put the challenge in front of myself of designing a game engine from the ground up which is forcing me to read loads of documentation, books, etc. primarily to continue educating myself even after completing a 4 year course.

My first games were 2D because they are inherently simpler. In particular, I implemented a Tetris-clone and a side-scroller.

Then I implemented a 3D RPG game in college. Like Trentelshark, I learned more from that project than anything else I've ever done - before or since. And, similarly, I am now implementing my own game engine - from which I am also learning a TON.

Looks like this is a rather typical and effective path to take.

My very first game projects were back when I was very young, and they were entirely text based and tended to be recreations of TV game shows - I didn't have much experience of video games back then. But the game show games were a good challenge for me back then, but I was learning programming simultaneously.

These days I tend to stick with reworking 2D game ideas. I usually work on a small 2D minigame, learn from the mistakes from that and aim for something tighter programmatically.

My first project was something in Qbasic but not very successful. I think the first finished game was a sidescroller in Mode 13h written in Turbo Pascal.

Yeah , I start with 'democoding'. Look it up ( pouet.net ). A lot of democoders go on to industry jobs. It's a great way to learn most of the stuff required to do games ( except for input ) , but definitely something to consider.

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Original post by BiGF00T My first project was something in Qbasic but not very successful. I think the first finished game was a sidescroller in Mode 13h written in Turbo Pascal.

Haha, absolutely the same :)