I would say if you want to start with game dev in C++, the library SFML is a really good place to start.

The documentation and tutorials provide a good starting place to get up and running, and it provides a lot of nice features for getting a window and 2d graphics in, as well as providing basic audio and input handling. Everything you need for a simple game. It also can provide a raw openGL context if you ever want/need to get into 3d graphics, but you don't have to deal with that if you don't want to (I wouldn't recommend it starting out). Their forums are also very active and helpful, so if you run into any issues, its a great place to ask for help. As are these forums if you have more general programming issues.

There are plenty of good options out there too, like SDL, which is pretty solid, though that has a more C based interface. Im sure others will be able to suggest more options, but I found SFML does everything i need for making simple games (and then some) and was extremely easy to get up and running quickly .

Good luck!

I second what Xaer said also please feel free to take a look at my open source game I made in SFML all free to use. http://www.johnschmuff.com/projects-2/paperroids/ this was build on SFML 2.0beta and they have out SFML 2.1.

Hi,

Possibly/Probably an outdated method, but i started by just creating a win32 project and just used the GDI. Not a great method for creating games, but I learned a lot about programming before i moved onto DirectX.

Worth pointing out this was around 14 years ago, but i did use the GDI methods to teach some basic 3D programming just a few years ago.