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Help for a newbie

Started by CixrTyx May 7, 2012 at 3:13 PM 5 replies 2.2k views

Original Post

May 7, 2012 at 3:13 PM

Hello Everybody,
I have loved games since I was about 5 years old (1985), been playing games since then and lived through the evolution of gaming! Now I decided that I can try to chase my passion so that I can get into a career that I will enjoy for the rest of my life. Right now I'm doing programming tutorials on cplusplus.com I went to University for programming about 7 years ago so I'm a little rusty but I think I can manage. My problem is drawing, I don't know how to draw objects on the screen, I'm hoping the great folks here can guide me to a tutorial for creating 2d games. I would like to make a zelda type of game. I want to start simple so I'm hoping the guide will show me how to draw things and manipulate them.
Something along the lines of:
Tutorial 1: Game Loop
Tutorial 2: Painting the screen
Tutorial 3: Making objects
etc

Is there such thing? I usually learn from recreating examples but with through explanations I don't cut and paste I like to type everything out manually I find that I can learn how to code better that way, and as long as I can go back to the webpage I can reference things I might forget or want to learn/understand the theory of the code given to me.

Does anybody have any good C++ game programming site that will have a simple tutorial that I can try to use to actually start making my own games?
I would like you all to pretend I've never done any game programming (seriously a for dummies guide type of thing).

codeToad

May 7, 2012 at 4:40 PM

I would recommend you download the DirectX SDK. (Direct X is a Microsoft API made for gaming). (SDK = Software development kit). (API = Application Programming Interface, i.e., some reusable code your program can call so you're not reinventing the wheel). The DirectX SDK includes tutorials and examples on how to do stuff like creating a game loop and drawing objects on the screen.

There are other technologies besides DirectX - SDL, OpenGL. Direct X just seems to be the most common.

slynk

May 7, 2012 at 7:14 PM

For C++, I'd recommend SFML or Allegro as your first graphical API. They are great for beginners and easy to understand.

http://www.sfml-dev.org/
http://wiki.allegro.cc/

The only other alternative I'd recommend is C# and XNA. It's pretty simple to grasp. I would not recommend having your first exposure to graphical programming with DirectX or OpenGL... while they are very powerful, they can be hard to understand.

Robbie Woods

May 7, 2012 at 8:22 PM

Hey, I'd recommend learning the basics at http://www.learncpp.com and the moving on to http://www.fixbyproximity.com. I'm making a game using the fixbyproximity tutorials, you can look at my code here: http://www.github.com/robbiewoods05

Serapth

May 8, 2012 at 3:35 AM

Tutorial 1: Game Loop
Tutorial 2: Painting the screen
Tutorial 3: Making objects
etc

Is there such thing? I usually learn from recreating examples but with through explanations I don't cut and paste I like to type everything out manually I find that I can learn how to code better that way, and as long as I can go back to the webpage I can reference things I might forget or want to learn/understand the theory of the code given to me.

Does anybody have any good C++ game programming site that will have a simple tutorial that I can try to use to actually start making my own games?
I would like you all to pretend I've never done any game programming (seriously a for dummies guide type of thing).

This is exactly what you are looking for. Of course, as the author I'm more than a bit biased. ;)

endless11111

May 8, 2012 at 3:49 PM

http://lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/index.php, You could also try out SDL, Lazy foo has great tutorials that will get you started really quickly. although i have read multiple times that SFML is better but i am currently focusing on SDL so i can't say which would be better.

kruncher

May 10, 2012 at 4:24 PM

It might be better to use a graphics library instead of targeting OpenGL or DirectX specifically because this will make it easier to deploy your game across multiple platforms. DirectX is good for Windows and Xbox, but if you want to target Mac, iOS, Android, etc. then you may be better of with OpenGL.

I think Ogre might be a good choice for this: http://www.ogre3d.org/

Personally I like to use Unity (http://www.unity3d.com) because it takes all of the hard work out. Obviously this engine is not suitable for all purposes, but it is fun to work with and you can focus on the most important part.... how to make your game more fun. Once your finished it is quite easy to port your game to lots of platforms (if needed).

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