Game programming in C++ 1

[remludar]

Problem: How to learn to program 3D games using C++

I have been teaching myself the ropes of C++ for a few months now. I'm a pretty smart guy, so I'm not worried about failure... my concern is the quickest and most efficient way to get where I am now (writing crappy little progs to test my syntacs and semantics understanding of C++) to writing functional 3D games.

Question: Where should I look for info first?

I have countless books from the library, ebooks, links to forums, etc. Is there somewhere I'm leaving out? (aside from a university.)

Question: In what order should I approach the learing process?

Like I said... so far I've just taught myself the basic syntax of the language. Any help in building an itenerary of sorts would be grately appreciated.

Lastly... and general tips you have would be welcomed.

thanks for any help.

 

[xwb]

Have you looked at Windows Game Programming for Dummies - one of the best ActiveX books I've seen for a long time. Tells you the basics of game programming as well as a good introduction to Active X which does your sound, graphics etc.

 

[remludar]

Thanks xwb. I will grab a copy of it and check it out. Also, any other books you might recommend would be helpful.

 

[xwb]

As for the 3d stuff, you'd probably be better off talking to an artist, and looking through your old biology and physics books for ideas. Physics for the bouncing, gravity etc and biology for the movement etc.

There are a few books on these topics but they are quite complex, especially the 3D transformations. It is a lot of matrix multiplication. Even shading a bouncing ball with a light source is quite difficult. Maybe there are packages to do these things. I just never got that far.

 

[dEVooXiAm]

First of all, it's not ActiveX It's DirectX that covers graphics programming.

Second, you better go off practising language features and your art-of-programing by writing some serious (that does more then ask input and say "Hello") applications. Game programming is tough and not ment for beginners, no matter how smart they are. Believe me, I went through it.

And practically no "... for dummies" book will ever get you anywhere..

And if you're still that optimistic to start learning game programming, I suggest you search google for tutorials on specifics (like 3d modeling, lighting, shading, etc.) and try writing tools that manage, create 3d models. That should be a practise and a real view on what is waiting for you, when you start of with a real game and you'll maybe have a tool or two to help you later on.

------------------
When you do it, do it right.

 

[Kalisto]

And add

http://www.gamedev.net

to the list of sites you browse for information, hints and ideas

K

 

[remludar]

awesome... thanks for all of the tips...

I know how hard writing games can be... I once wrote a tile based RPG in BASIC... that was a task in itself.

I'll look into the link and the tutorials on 3D manip.

thanks again for all of the advice.

 

[DerStephan]

Hi,

if you want to go to OpenGL rather than DirectX you should check out the great NeHe Tutorial on

http://nehe.gamedev.net/

I think this is one of the best Step-by-Step tutorials to get into OpenGL. It even develops small 3D-engine, so you can estimate how much work you have to put into it.


regards

Stephan