Hi everyone, I thought I would pop in and say hi to you all, I''ve just left my home business to move into a career of Games designing. Now please bear with me a bit here, I''m so new to it all that I have no idea where to start, I''ve looked on Amazon for some books to help but don''t know which is best. I''ve also downloaded The Games Factory, have yet to look at that one, only got it yesterday. So while I''m reluctant to dive into learning C++, if this is a must then ok i''ll learn it, I taught myself HTML from books so I''m not new to the idea of programming. But when I used HTML and found dreamweaver I never coded again, so this game factory is meant to be a sort of drag n drop idea? Is it used widely in the games industry. What I would love to know from you guys out there is this, where do i start, what should i be reading and what programs do i need? I want to be in this industry so much I''m willing to learn anything, I play games eveverday since i was 8 years old, I own a nice PC and a new PS2, I also pick at games a bit can''t help it, I''m always finding ways i would improve on it, make it better for people, thats why this type of job would be perfect for me. So your feedback here is very very welcome. Thx in advance David Peters

Just FYI, HTML is not a programming language, it''s a text layout language. Programming is quite different (though, not necessarily more difficult ).

Regarding places to start, well, you''re at one of the best sites already. Check out the Articles & Resources section above.

Hi David. I am also new to the game development industry, and to this site in particular. But since I am taking CS next year in college, and I also love games same way you do, I also want to get into it very much, and am willing to learn whatever is necessary.
Anyway, I''ve been taking c++ for a year in my school. But my school has only 1 level for that thing, no AP classes, and though I was the best student in the class, my knowledge of c++ is very limited. Also I''ve been studying web design too. =p
At any rate, you probably know that even though making sites in Dreamweaver is fast and easy making sites using HTML allows you to make some stuff that dreamweaver doesn''t allow you to do.
My thoughts is that programming is way different than HTML programing. You need to know a lot of keywords to program in HTML, however once you''ve learned them all it''s pretty easy to program. HTML doesn''t have much tricks in it. However to program in somewhat like c++, you also need to know all the keywords and know how the programs work, though you must know that, but you need a hell lot of expirience to make things work and make them work the way you want. Also programming gives you much more freedom to do what you want than HTML.
As for where you should start I would suggest that you learn c++ or basic and then move on to somewhat like directx etc. Check out the "For Beginners" section on this site, it should give you some ideas of where to start.

SUP
This site has whole section dedicated for beginners -->"For Beginners". It has tons of information that will really make you think about trying to get into the game industry. My advice is to do mad research on the topic, it sounds fun but it is a lot of work. I am a newbie myself, and I know for a fact that you have to work at least 2 years harder than you ever had. Game development/design has to be a passion for you in order to succede. I am in the proccess of cloning Galaga in 2D to get the ball rolling and it is a task, but I am learning a lot. I hope to finish sometime this summer. Lastly if you can''t finish a clone game don''t even think about doing game development as a JOB. Well that''s my 2 cents...GOOD LUCK !!!

Well thats a lot of info, thx everyone for replying to me, I know HTML is a lot different to C++, as i''ve been finding out lately, what my point was that i self taught HTML from books from my library, so my point was i can do it with C++.

What I was really asking was where to start, if I should go out and get C++ books and start there, or to leave them and try to work with TGF, while I see TGF as something for the future, i know that actual C++ programming is the better way to go, at least to understand whats going on in the game''s and then knowing what to do if something goes wrong.

I''ll be checking out the section for beginners, so thx for that, I know this site will help me out a lot too.

Now for one final question, what is the best thing to do to start off with, I''ve read on this site about starting out making very simple games like tetris and moving onto things like mario borthers, or should I be looking to try making maps for good online games, I''m not as yet sure which direction i want to go with as far as games goes, I know there are a lot of choices out there, it''s just im not sure I want to be a sole programmer, instead of using my more creative side and starting things like map creation.

I know this will take time, and i''m giving myself at least 1 year to get to grips with this industry, so there''s no rush, I would want at this stage to get into something that I will like and continue to go with in years to come.

Thx again for your answers.

quote:
it''s just im not sure I want to be a sole programmer, instead of using my more creative side and starting things like map creation.

When you lern to program you will find that programing itself is a verry creativ process