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[Terrabyte20xx]

So Scott, you said you could help me in another thread.

[Scott]

I switched the title for my reply post. Seems a bit more fitting.

What exactly do you want to know about?

[Terrabyte20xx]

Basic Game design, thanks for the help by the way.

[Scott]

Basic Game design, thanks for the help by the way.

Read this: http://lazyfoo.net/articles/article01/index.php

I'm not sure if it's what you meant but it's a good read regardless.

You'll still have to be a bit more specific with your question. What about game design? The logistics? How to break into it?

[Terrabyte20xx]

How to break into it, something that's easy enough that I don't feel overwhelmed, but hard enough to give me some experience.

[Scott]

How to break into it, something that's easy enough that I don't feel overwhelmed, but hard enough to give me some experience.

If you want to get into game design right away then GameMaker might be your best bet. If you want to program your games and are willing to wait a bit than you'll have to learn how to program.

Before I get further into either of them could you specify what path you are more interested in?

[Terrabyte20xx]

The harder path, I tried Game Maker, didn't like the ease of it all. I know it sounds strange, but I felt like I wasn't making the game. It felt more like using different options to make a simple flash game. I want to sweat blood and tears to get the most out of this.

I'll probably pick it up later, but for now, I'll go with programing.

[Scott]

The harder path, I tried Game Maker, didn't like the ease of it all. I know it sounds strange, but I felt like I wasn't making the game.

I had the same feeling when I used it. Not that I discourage the use of GM, some people can make great games with it as a tool, but I couldn't get myself into it.

I'll probably pick it up later, but for now, I'll go with programing.

Okay. Before I go further (cause there's a lot of useless stuff I could tell you) do you have any previous programming experience? Do you do well with technical problems?

[Terrabyte20xx]

I am a total newbie, no experience, and define technical problems.

[Scott]

I am a total newbie, no experience, and define technical problems.

It was kind of a follow-up if you said yes. Also I felt that I needed at least two questions.

Hmm. Well, it's difficult for me to gauge you as a potential programmer because I don't know you personally. It's even harder because your grades and IQ do you no good in programming so I can't judge you by that. I know 85%+ average students who were NOT good programmers (terrible actually).

Programming is all about learning syntax (how to program) and once you got that it's just problem solving (debugging and finding efficient ways to reach your goal). Hopefully you are a good problem solver.

If you are determined to program games than you'll have to learn C++ (you could learn others but C++ is the industry standard). Do you know anything about C++? Have you heard of it before?

[Terrabyte20xx]

I've heard of it, but I don't really know much about it.

I know that most students a bad programers, but I'm willing to risk it.

[Scott]

If you are very dedicated you'll have to spend (at least) a couple of months learning STL (standard template library) and then you can move on to game development. In the first months of learning you can make simple console based games (black box console not PS3 console) but you wouldn't be making a FPS at that point.

If you are interested in learning C++ than I get send you some tutorial links and give you any help or advice along the way. Once you get a decent grasp you can start learning about game development libraries (more on this when the time comes) to start developing games.

So, if you are interested, let me know and I'll post some links.

[Terrabyte20xx]

I'm not planing a FPS anytime soon, so that's not a problem.

Bring on the links!

[Scott]

Before I name of the links here's a small glossary of words or phrases you should know:

High Level Programming Language - a programming language that abstracts what the computer is actually doing from what the code looks like.

Ex. Ruby
Code Ex.

Code: Select all

puts "Hello World"

Example simply writes Hello World to the screen.

Low Level Programming Language- a programming language that does not abstract from the computer as much, and requires the programmer to do things like memory management and garbage collection manually.

Ex. C++
Code Ex.

Code: Select all

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
     std::cout << "Hello World";
     
     return 0;
}

Source Code - the code that you write.

Compiler - an utility that takes your source code and turns it into an executable (.exe). A compiler is required to make your code a runnable program.

Debugger- an utility that aids in the finding of bugs.

IDE (Integrated Development Environment) - a program that melds a compiler, debugger, and text editor in one program. Most programmers use one to write and compile code.


There are other words you'll need to know such as OOP and preprocessor but hopefully you'll run into them yourself.

Onto the links!

Firstly, you'll need an IDE to program in. Here's the one I use:
http://www.codeblocks.org/downloads

When you install it make sure you also select to install MinGW. This is your compiler. If you do not you'll have to install it manually which is difficult.

Next, here's a tutorial for learning C++:
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

Read through the whole thing from top to bottom. If you ever run into trouble that you cannot fix yourself feel free to ask me. I should be of help with anything related to standard C++.

Here's a really good tip for breaking into programming from a C++ forum member:

You don't need to work that hard. What you need to do, is go through a programming tutorial (the one on this website for example). Don't do too much in a day, or you will get bored and unmotivated. Don't set a goal based on time, that doesn't work. You'll forget alot of what you learn if you stop halfway through a lesson. Work through the tutorial on this website ( http://cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/ ). Aim to get through two lessons a day. Don't stop partway through a lesson (unless it's for a short break, that's a good idea) and don't do too much in one go, or you simply won't remember it. I recommend reading and copying out each example (not copy and paste; type it yourself, this will help you to understand what you are doing), compiling it, seeing what it does when you run it and modifying things to see what changes. I also recommend you look at other people's code (one of the things that has helped me is to take other people's broken code and try to fix it, although don't get too hung up on this because it is hard to read other people's code when you first start out). When you are reading, try to rephrase things: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." (Albert Einstein).

...

Throughout all this you should remember that it is important to pace yourself. Don't try to absorb too much at once or you'll forget lots of it. And don't stay up until 3am when you have an exam the day after next...

Anyway, if you have other questions, let me know. If you have any problems regarding C++ you can let me know here or the programming thread located somewhere in the depths of General Chit Chat. Once you get familiar with C++ (which should be at least one month not a couple of days) we can start talking about game development.

Happy coding!

[Terrabyte20xx]

Thanks!