Games programming

#1

Hi, I´ve just got a copy of games programming all in one and I wanted to ask you if that could be a good start. Do you really I could learn to do even a fairly simple game after having read that? If you guys have already read it please share your thoughts with me.

#2

Such a book is always a good start - although I haven’t read that particular one.
I think such a book gives you a fairly good overview of used algorithms and techniques used for game programming.
To be honest - very simple games like tetris can already be written if you know how to do 2D graphics (which means you know a library which covers that for you like DirectDraw or SDL) and how to programm in e.g. C++ (Java or Pascal or anything else will do, too, but C++ is the best choice IMHO).
But - if you want to do “good” or bigger games you won’t come around reading some books about programming and about game-programming techniques because at some time you will get problems with non-scaleable code and performance.

#3

Making a videogame is my dream…what can you actually do?I absolutely don’t know anything in programming…It seems to be harder than learn computer graphics softwares alone…

#4

Re: Learner88.

Learn to program in C/C++. You need a copy of “Microsoft Visual Studio C++ .NET”, and I would recommend in the following order; “Teach yourself C in 21 days” and “The Complete C++ Reference”.

The biggest mistake a newbie can do is leap straight into OpenGL or DirectX without first learning C++ “so well you can speak it”. If you take tiny strides at a time, you will do well…

Good luck!

#5

no, it’s a horrible start, but then again, that depends on where you are now and where you want to go. that book is very specific to the torque engine and its scripting language, and to milkshape. tis a big book, but it’s not for the ‘from scratch’ game developer.

#6

I do not know anything about programming or opengl directx ecc ecc…i just can use maya and other cg softwares which is a vane thing if i want to learn programming i suppose…so I guess i shoult buy a c++ book first (Learning c++ would help me with mental ray too).

#7

If you don’t know how to widely program in C/C++, it’s not a good idea to read a book about 3D graphics cuz they usually cover a lot of C/C++ programming.

So, i strongly recommend you to start first learning C with the best book (for me) wich is the well known “C++ how to program” or “How to program in C/C++” (same thing).

You can get more information about it in www.deitel.com, although i have to say you it’s quite expensive.

Then, there is not a “best choice” about the 3D programming, in fact, there are thousands of books about this topic, but any book should be good for a start, (when buying a programming or computer stuff book, ‘The wider it is, the best’).

#8

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