Hello.

I have been reading the forums and articles on gamedev.net for the past couple of days, and I would like to say thank you to the members for making this such a great site. Thank you.

First, you have convinced me that the way to reach the goal of creating a game is to start small and build on success. I found this article especially helpful: http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/technical/game-programming/your-first-step-to-game-development-starts-here-r2976 because the author points out the concepts that will be learned by coding & completing each game.

Second, in my opinion, people here are telling the truth. Making games is not easy (at least I do not think it is easy); I especially liked those articles that talk about making a commitment to learn something new each day. When I think about the learning curve that I have before me, I shudder. I see a mountain - but ultimately one that I might be able to climb - given enough time, or enough vodka, or enough Beck´s.

I´m joking, I´m joking, about the vodka and the Beck´s, but not about the steep learning curve. I don´t handle frustration any better than anyone else, but knowing that it is a necessary part of the process helps a bit, and having the internet as a resource helps even more. I still think it is going to be a long road, but that is just paying dues to reach a place where I think I might like to be.

Third, for some reason I find this site to be inspirational. Truth be told, I am kind of a dreamer, but reading about what real developers have to say about the business of crafting games suggests ... possibilities.

The future is fluid in my opinion; the Universe is bountiful and generous,and who knows what may happen on the journey?

A bit about me:

I consider myself a good solid beginner. I learned to program in basic, then 6809 assembly language on a 32k color computer. At the time, I was unsure if I even had the capacity to be able to program at all, something like today, but I learned to take things one step at a time and see where it led. Later on, when I could afford to, I got a pc clone; then later, when I could afford to, I got myself a quick basic compiler and a c compiler and an 8086 macro assembler, all Microsoft products. I wrote a text editor in all three languages and had a lot of fun doing so. As well, I wrote a couple of programs for dealing with markets including some chart programs. But that was almost 20 years ago!

When windows 95 became available, alas, I lost my urge to continue programming. I don´t understand exactly why or how it happened but I lost the urge to continue programming in that system. Perhaps it was the steep learning curve or perhaps it was something else, but about 1995 I became a gamer rather than a coder, for awhile. In those days, I did not have a connection to the net, so if I wanted to learn something I had to buy a book, perhaps that might have had something to do with it.

During the time that I was gaming, I found two games that captured my imagination and a few more that were extremely fun to play. Out of a hundred windows games in my Steam account, there are less than ten that I think have long term replayability. I might not know how to write a great game, but I think I can recognize - at least for myself - when someone else has done everything correctly and made a classic. I mention this because I have been told that making a game is nothing like playing a game and I believe that to be true. But if I am going to do all the work that is necessary to make a game, I would like to aim at the best target possible. Does that make any sense?

Fast forward to 2013 when I removed the last copy of windows from my computers and moved into the Linux world; it is the best move I ever made. Everything changed for the better. Good-bye to my windows games on Steam which is kind of wasteful, but if I had the decision to do over again, I would not hesitate for a second. I don´t know why. Let´s just say that the vibes are different in Linux and leave it at that.

And guess what? I can hear my c++ compiler ¨calling¨ to me again. It has been a long time since that has happened.

As I move into my 60´s it occurs to me that programming a bit, learning a little bit of something new every day might be a way to keep my mind sharp. Hopefully I have at least 5 years or more to go and perhaps during that time I might be able to learn what I need to know to make an interesting little game. I approach learning as a case of ¨make sure I know enough to make sure my stuff works properly¨, and then I move on from there. I am not an elegant coder, that is for sure, but my programs usually work the way that they are supposed to. Perhaps that is good enough, at least to begin, and if I apply myself maybe one day I too can write elegant code.

My plan is to continue reading gamedev.net. Maybe eventually some threshold will be crossed and I can start doing projects again, one step at a time. That would be great if it happens, and in the meantime I suppose I can keep making steam until the pressure is enough to actually get down to it and do something.

Enough about me.

If you have read this far, thank you. I doubt that any of you wake up each day and say ¨Today, I am going to inspire someone¨. But being able to read what real world game developers have to say about things is uplifting, that has been my experience. I guess that is about it. I just wanted to introduce myself a bit and say thank you for a great site.

If things progress as I expect them to, sooner or later I am going to have to try my hand at making my version of Pong. Hopefully without the need for too much vodka, or too many Beck´s.

Wassail.

Hello braindigitalis. Thank you for your kind words and good wishes.

If I can get a Pong clone going on this system, for me personally that will be amazing and a milestone. I really am a beginner as far as being able to use graphics and such.

For my Pong clone I think I will have to learn how to create a graphic window on my Linux desktop. I have no clue about how to do that today, but I am sure the information is available somewhere. Then I must learn to draw some boxes and some numbers. Then, I must learn to make the paddles and the ball move properly. I know those kinds of simple tasks are easy for veteran programmers, but I am a beginner and to get things working properly on my system is going to require much learning on my part.

At the same time, I must learn to properly use my compiler, you know, get a handle on its errors and its linker errors and its ¨gotcha´s¨. It will be good practice, and I have google to help me.

I will be writing in Linux, for the Linux desktop, and that is it. Bill Gates has gotten enough of my money and I don´t think he needs any more of it. I will not be going back to windows. I admit that there were a couple of times this past year that I was tempted to re-install win7 on my other computer just to be able to play one of my windows games, but I managed to resist the temptation.

My plan is to think about it for awhile, and read all I can in the meantime. Eventually, I will lift some code from some kind soul who has published his source and see if I can get it running on my system. If that happens then it is a matter of stepping through every single line to try and figure out what he has done, and why he did it that way. I don´t consider it cheating to read other people´s code, life is short and I only have so much time left. Or maybe I should say, ¨I have all the time there is¨.

The final test will be to delete all the teaching code and then to write the program from scratch without having to peek at the code that I already know works. If I can do that, even if it is mostly because I memorized the good code, I am going to count it as almost done.

If I comprehend things properly, I think I am allowed to post code in the beginner´s forum for review, so the next to last step is to post there and perhaps you experts will point me toward best practices or give me hints about how and why to make the code better. I am here to learn. One or more rewrites to incorporate the new knowledge and to prove that I comprehend what you have told me, a little polishing and I am done.

Then it is on to the next game in the list, it is called worm I think, and a repeat of the process. I expect in some ways that the second game will be easier, because I will already know how to make a graphics window, but that game will be still be tough too, because I will be learning new concepts for that one as well. And so the process continues till I finish the final game in the list.

And then? Maybe then it will be time to see if I want to continue; maybe learn some 3d stuff, or modelling, or how to use an engine, or how to animate, or something like that. I really have no clue at this point, that is a long time in the future. How long will it take? I have no idea, but I am pretty sure it is going to take longer than I estimate right now. I wish I could wave a wand or drink a magical potion and be a strong coder, but I don´t think it works that way. One thing that I do think I know is that the foundations are important. If I become impatient and skimp on the core concepts, sooner or later it will cause problems and I will have to go back and re-learn the concepts that I missed anyway.

Am I crazy? I don´t know. From here right now it seems to be an enormous task to undertake, with little hope of reward. But it might be fun. I like coding and I like games. Perhaps this path is a way to meld the two. I remember how gratified I used to feel when a tough section of code finally started working properly and how I used to rush home after work to get to my computer when I had a program going.

This may sound kind of silly to you, but in a way, I think coding is just like gaming. I have an interesting problem and hopefully, lots of ways to try that might work to solve the problem. Is that really so very different from trying to figure out how to keep my 2 hand warrior alive long enough to get some stats, so he can eventually kill the Archdemon? Maybe it is a bit of a reach, but both processes seem similar to me.

I am sorry for writing so much, I know you guys are busy; I know that a beginner´s thoughts and insights are not really very interesting, but these past few days I have felt more alive than in a very long time, as if I am starting a great adventure or something and I like the feeling. Maybe to hang onto it I can learn a little bit about something new every day now, then practice what I have learned; maybe that will do it.

Today I learned how to invoke python on my system. I can´t do anything with it yet and I don´t have an ide for it, but I can invoke it and exit it and a step is a step. Perhaps that indicates something about my learning curve.

Anyway, thank you for reading. If I ever get my Pong clone working I will post the code in the beginner´s forum, but I will probably not post any more until then. Thanks again. I wish all of you much success in your ventures.

Wassail.

Hello Misantes. Thank you for your kind words and good wishes.

You know what? You guys are inspiring. The way it seems to be working is that I read a little bit on gamedev.net and then I get a little bit more motivated or make a little bit more steam. Maybe someday there will be enough pressure for me to actually get to it.

For other beginners:

Today, I found some source for pong that looks doable. It does not seem to be using any OOP, but that is ok because I am very weak on object oriented programming right now:

http://codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/42823/pong-game-written-in-c-and-using-sdl-2-0

And here is a link to SDL:

https://www.libsdl.org/

And here is a link to some tutorials:

http://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/index.php

Maybe gamedev.net has some sort of magic. It seems that all I have to do is read a bit of what you guys have to say, and then another step presents itself. For someone like me, it is wonderful to have found a source of motivation. I think it will really help during the tough times. It seems that all I have to do is read a bit on the site and then things take care of themselves. Magic. That´s great! My intention is to visit gamedev.net every day, and see where it leads.

The adventure continues...

Wassail.

edit: Some more stuff for other beginners:

Today I found that the SDL libraries are already installed on my system, and when I invoked Code::Blocks it has a choice for SDL projects. SDL tutorial #7 shows how to use the ttf extension, so once I get past that my compiler should have everything needed to work with the pong code. See? The steps seem to be laid out before me. I added this particular edit because I want to mention LinuxMint. If you are thinking about dabbling in Linux, or just want to get out of windows for awhile, I think LinuxMint is a very good choice. It pretty much works right out of the box, it is easy to install, and you can run it from a disk in windows if you just want to check it out without damaging the windows OS.

The desktop is very similar to xp.

Installing new software is relatively easy and you don´t need any arcane Linux knowledge to do most common activities. It is free to download and check out, and if you decide to use it as your operating system it is easy to make a donation to the project. You know, just to keep things balanced.

On the negative side, if you use your windows machine for gaming as I used to and switch to Linux, things like your MMO mouse, CH joystick, throttle and pedals and Logitech G35 headphones probably won´t work with full functionality in Linux without a lot of programming on your part. Those things seem to be made with only windows in mind.

Wassail.

I am sorry I cannot make an interesting thread, but I come from a culture of ¨rtfm¨. Before I waste the time of the experts with questions, I must have exhausted all the possibilities that I can think of. I am sorry, I do not wish to waste anyone´s time, and that is why I put this thread in the lounge instead of the beginner´s forum.



Wassail.

Is it against the rules for me to use this thread as sort of a cloud? It occurs to me that I would like to have a backup somewhere in case I do something that destroys my OS. If it is against the rules, please let me know and I will find another solution.

I fired up my code::blocks compiler but it couldn´t find my g++. I did:

aptitude show g++ | grep State:

and it showed not installed so I did:

sudo apt-get install g++

and that seemed to fix the problem with the compiler.

I started a new code::blocks SDL project and managed to get to line 7, where the error returned was: /home/snjarulf/Documents/programs/SDL/main.cpp|7|fatal error: SDL/SDL.h: No such file or directory|

So code::blocks can´t find my .h file, that seems to me to be a path error or something. I am not sure if I installed the SDL2 stuff correctly, so I did:

snjarulf@Secondary ~ $ apt-cache search libsdl2

snjarulf@Secondary ~ $ aptitude search sdl | grep 2.

I found these commands on the net, but I am not exactly sure what kind of information they are returning. These two commands returned a lot of stuff but I think SDL2 was still not installed properly because I couldn´t find any of the header files. Some more fooling around for an hour to two, trying to install a step at a time, still no joy.

Then I found this page:

http://www.squarebitstudios.tk/forum/showthread.php?tid=7

I followed the directions and I think it worked.I am pretty sure I installed correctly because I have my SDL2 .h files on my system now.

I hope all of you had a very merry Yule.

Wassail.

-Snjarulf

p.s. Thank you for your patience. :) I think I am going to continue this thread only until I can put a window on my screen from a program in Code::blocks using SDL2, and I am almost there. I did manage to follow some directions and put a window onscreen by using the command line to compile it. Going through the process has clarified my thinking.

I am weak in Linux, weak in c++, weak in object oriented programming, weak in Code::blocks, and weak in using SDL2 (or any other library). I have a lot of areas that I can improve myself, and so far, it has been a lot of fun. Thank you for inspiring me.

I am breaking my rule of no posting if I have had a Beck´s, but this has been on my mind today.

I had to do a lot of real world stuff today, but it all got done and I am thankful for that.

Do you know what I think? I think that you must have a lot of courage to be a game developer, and I think that if you decide to be a successful game developer, you must have even more courage than that. The internet is not always a kind place, so you must be brave.

For me personally, it is not realistic to hope that I will ever find a place in the industry because of my advanced age and lack of necessary skills; truth be told, I would not be able to handle it anyway; all those 16 hour days and such are for the young guys. For me personally, it is also unrealistic to think that I might be able to code the next greatest best game. I am sorry, but I am simply not that bright a lightbulb. Everything that I have been reading in the forums seems to say ¨Game development is not easy. You must be prepared to spend time, perhaps years if necessary, to make yourself strong in all the areas necessary¨.

That is fine with me, it seems to me that nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy, but the experts also seem to be saying ¨Game development is extremely rewarding¨. Perhaps not always in a monetary sense, but just being able to make the machine do what you wish it to do I think is a fine thing.

But even someone like me is able to do a labour of love. I would like to give something back to the community. If I can do the work necessary to get through those games on the beginner´s list I think I will be a lot stronger in a few areas than I am right now. I think I have at least 5 years in me, and if I can, I would like to be able to write a module for Linux that gives people some functionality with the CH products. You know, joystick and throttle and pedals. Maybe I could write something good, and maybe they could lift the code and use it in their own games without a lot of hassle.

I read gamedev.net and feel inspired.

I wish those people who are developing games in the real world more courage and more bravery. You are, after all, birthing something into the world that is absolutely new and unique. I think that the Universe is bountiful and generous and who knows? You might be the one who makes a greatest hit, and if you do, I think your life will be even more interesting than it is right now.

Me personally, my path is set before me and it is a matter of step-by-step. My only goal right now is to get through that beginner´s list of games, and if I can do that, then maybe I can think about doing that joystick module. It is not my intention to bore you. All I can say is that reading gamedev.net seems to be pointing toward possibilities, and I am grateful for that. Thank you for telling me the truth and thank you for being inspiring. I realize that that is probably not your intention, but it is wonderful to be able to read things from people who are really succeeding in the real world.

Thank you.

Wassail.