Zephirus

Hello everyone. First time here so I hope to learn a lot. My name is Chris and I live in northern Georgia. I have had a passion for computers since I was 13. I have been playing games since I was 5.... ahhh atari 2600....


Anyway, Im 26 now, still very passionate about both fields. I want to get into some form of game design. The only problem is that I cant afford college beyond what I have taken so far so I want to learn a bit on my own. Perhaps I can officially go to college later and have a jumpstart.

I like all types of games and I'm thinking about the programming side of it since I have no creative artistic skills to design the games.

Currently I am playing world of warcraft made by Blizzard Entertainment. I am blown away with this game in so many aspects.

As far as my knowledge goes, I have very little programming skills. I have taken visual basic in college but it wasn't anything too deep. Ive been working in computer repair / networking for 5 years now and I feel that I can acomplish more.

It has been my life dream to work in the video game industry. I dont know which language to begin with. I have heard C++ and C#.....


suggestions? advice?

Prm753

Start with basic C or C++, programming with the console until you feel comfortable enough with that to move on. (This takes anywheres from a month [if you're a genius] to several years [if you're me, heh]) Then learn how to program for Windows, and finally learn some OpenGL or DirectX programming for games. That is the path I would take. Google around for C++ tutorials and see what you find.

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hervens48

ahh, tahts the spirit, console, then windows, then directx
im currently learning windows programming. Ill move on to directx or open gl in a few months or so

hervens48

Welcome to our forum!!
Oh and, i honestly sugggest u become a programmer instead of an artist, cause people everywhere are looking game programmers, and its easier to get in teh video game industry as a programmer than as an artist. Also, if ur an artist u can only work in the video game industry, but if ur a programmer u can work anywhere.
Anyways, thats my point of view.

nnxion

If you ask in the C++ thread what language you should take you are probably going to hear C++.

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thondal

i've just started C... but it's nice to read the what people say/advice on what to move to after it....

what you mean by windows programming? books? windows for dummies or something?

-thondal-

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nnxion

I like C, but it's old and I don't recommend many to learn it, as I have said before, because I believe programming paradigms are far more important than learning a specific language.
Programming with the Windows API.

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thondal

ok.. but i'm going over to c# when i'm feeling secure with c...

-thondal-

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nnxion

If you want to move to C#, then I suggest trying C++ instead of C.
Search the forums and you'll find out why.

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Ooble

I feel like explaining it. This explanation will no doubt be slightly wrong, but it should help you understand where everything fits in.

C++ was created as a sort of successor to C in (I believe) the early 1980s. It was designed to have more support for object-oriented programming - in other words, it hid away all the crazy techy stuff behind nice purty pieces of code which you could pick up and use without having any idea of the workings underneath. Kinda like a car - you don't have to be a mechanic to drive one. It also allowed you to do the same with your own crazy stuff.

Fast-forward to the 1990s, and we have Java, which touted objects as the way forward. It wasn't the only programming language to focus on object-oriented design, but it's now one of the most popular languages in the world. This is partly because it's based on C++, so most C++ programmers can just pick it up and use it.

In 2002, Microsoft released C#. In a broad sense, it's basically Java with a few more features bolted on, but once you get down to the details, you can see it has a lot more power behind it. It's based on C++ and Java.

As nnxion says, it's a good idea to learn C++ instead of C if you want to move onto higher-level languages such as C#. You can always go back to C at a later date.

Oh, and on a side note, don't bother learning to program with the Win32 API. It's dying out anyway. You can either learn its replacement, the .NET API (which is behind C#, C++ .NET and Visual Basic .NET), or one of the masses of other GUI programming APIs, such as Qt, GTK+, wxWidgets... the list goes on. Incidentally, you might like to know that those last three will work on a multitude of operating systems, whereas .NET only works properly on Windows.

So yeah, my recommendation would be to learn C++ (especially if you want to code games, as it's what most games are currently made in). Become fluent in the language. Learn OpenGL or DirectX - they're the most popular game libraries. Load up the development kit for one of your favourite games - Quake IV, Half-Life 2 and Far Cry have great ones - and see if you can understand anything. When you've become proficient in the language, if you still want to game, join a mod team - apparently, it's the best way of breaking into the industry.

Good luck to ya.

EDIT: Holy crap... it wasn't supposed to be that long. :p

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