Newbies - read this

I recently posted something about veteran programmers and how some of them flame newbies. Well, here''s something for all the beginning game programmers... FLAME ALERT Sometimes, when you post a question, some veteran game programmer comes up and gives you... negative feedback. Here are a few ways to keep from being flamed too often. 1. Before you come around asking questions, do a lot of work and research first. Nothing is more aggravating than a newbie posting about his new 3d engine, than he asks what an algorithim is, or some question like that. This is very important. It''ll keep you from being flamed a lot. 2. Start on small projects. It can drive people crazy when some newbie says "I''ll be making a Quake III clone in a few months", and then suddenly ask "What''s a compiler?" 3. If you''re going to ask something, check the message boards first. There are lots and lots of posts, and at least one of them should have your answer. 4. When you ask a question, be clear and specific. "I''m getting errors" is something that you shouldn''t say. Here''s what an example of what you SHOULD say: "I''m using Visual C++ 6, and creating a tile-based RPG with DirectX 7.0, though my compiler is giving me errors about "undefined identifier", on line 49, which is written extern LPDIRECTDRAW4 lpdd; Could anyone help me?" That''s the way to ask. And if you did get something like that, remember to include the .H files and the libraries. I''m sure that will keep you from a few flames. On to the next topic... GETTING YOUR PROJECT WORKING Sometimes (or a lot), you may end give up on a project, or maybe things just aren''t coming together. I have a few tips... 1. Get the design stuff together. More than once, good game ideas have failed because someone failed to write down all the design. RPGs, being complex, should always have a detailed and thorough set of documents, explaining story, technical stuff, etc. 2. You can use other peoples'' libraries and engines (if they let you), like Allegro and Genesis3D. Some programmers have this philosophy that if someone else made it, their not going to use it. Keep in mind that using someone else''s library can save you a month or so of work. You may want to read more articles and buy a book or two, because I''m moving on to: A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT Do I sound like I''m ranting (at least in the first part)? Because I do more than criticize people. First of all, I want you to know that even though you may not be a game programming master, and sometimes veterans flame you, keep in mind that you''ve got a long path to tread, and once you arrive at the stop, you''ll be kicking butt and rewriting Quake III. Don''t let those flames get to you, and never stop coding and banging on the keyboard. "I came, I saw, I programmed." -DarkMage139