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Math lessons i should know for 2D Game Developing?

Started by ek banz Oct 20, 2013 at 8:27 PM 5 replies 1.9k views

Original Post

Oct 20, 2013 at 8:27 PM

Hello, i recently just started off with SFML and i stumbled upon a math lesson known as the 'Vector Algebra', i believe it's a Grade-12 mathematics lesson and i'm still a 2nd year student so i didn't know what it is, anyways, after spending quiet some time learning this lesson on khanAcademy, i would like to know what are some other mathematics lessons that are most likely going to appear after this one? also, is there like a book that teaches you math but the 'games developing' perspective? 'rather than learning the entire lesson, that way you could just learn a portion of it (the one that you're going to need for games only) Thank you.

Paradigm Shifter

Oct 20, 2013 at 11:31 PM

I dunno. For 2D programming you want a good grasp of trigonometry and vectors though.

Skimping on maths is a bad idea for games programming, take as many maths courses as you can.

RyanLunger

Oct 21, 2013 at 2:50 AM

I'm pretty sure there's both a math and physics book "for game designers/developers". I own one of them, but my books are packed up for the moment. Trigonometry, vectors, matrices...depending on whether you're doing soley 2d graphics or 2d transforms in a 3d system

TheComet

Oct 21, 2013 at 8:44 AM

Knowing the maths is half of the game, you also have to learn how to properly implement it (if I got a penny for every time a game implemented their gravity so the player follows an awkward "triangle curve" and not a parabola, I'd be rich).

Looking at other people's code is the best thing you can do to learn that. You don't have to understand everything, but you can look at specific sections of code to better understand how they did it, and then compare it to yours.

jbadams

Oct 21, 2013 at 9:38 AM

Try some of our maths articles -- in particular, the "math for game developers" series provide some good video-based explanations of useful topics.

Beyond basic maths, vector algebra, and perhaps trigonometry a lot of maths topics are only useful for specific games rather than generally useful in every game; your best bet is to simply start out with different game ideas and then learn whatever you need to know to proceed.

mychii

Oct 23, 2013 at 1:59 PM

It really depends on your game design though. If you're making othello you don't need linear algebra and even physics, unless you want player to throw a ball and make a mess on the board, realistically, then you need those. If you're making action game like Odin Sphere/Muramasa: The Demon Blade, you need all of those (some of the physics). It really depends on your game. But honestly you need linear algebra and some physics.

ryt

Oct 23, 2013 at 4:35 PM

A lot of game programming books offer some math crash course. With it you will be able do a lot of stuff.

You could try to immediately skip to 3D instead of learning 2D. Start with vectors and matrices and all that you can implement it 2D too.

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