I''m thinking of writing some tutorials. Not on stupid things like making a triangle or the 500th using-an-index-buffer, but how to actually do something. It will also give me a chance to reorganize my base code into something readable and reinforce my own knowledge. What genre would you prefer? Keep in mind it will be simple. RTS? FPS? Say MMORPG and be shot .

I suppose I could do MORPG (note the single M). Personally, I do not like the NeHe style. They only show you isolated things and do not teach you to put things together. My tutorial (note the singular form) would be an example of how to pull everything (such as terrain engine, animation, shaders, particles, etc.) together into one game. I would probably split it into two tutorials after the core is finished: one for the game, one for building an editor for the game (since I will need it anyway). Explanations of things like index buffers would be their own page so the people who already know them can skip it, while the ones who are less advanced can learn. It would assume you already know the basics though. I want it to be a guide to the people who are frustrated with the examples that are either too simple or too complex with no documentation.

Skinned meshes are something I would definitely want to cover. I haven''t even learned them myself yet since there''s nothing good out there...

Your take on writing a simple engine for a simple game - like a remake of Sopwith, or if you are into the 3D thing a simple version of Pilot Wings would be pretty cool. As one of the guys said above - the thought processes of how everything ties together - BSPs, Scene graphs, sound, player actions, multiplayer stuff... the works.

I wish someone would remake a fun multiplayer flying-shooter that was very similar to StarFox and Llyatt Wars on the Nintendo platform - those games were so much fun and there is nothing quite like it on the PC today - everything is too realistic and serious.

quote:Original post by Raloth
They only show you isolated things and do not teach you to put things together.

Relying on a tutorial to show you how to put things together will not get you very far as a programmer. I''m of the opinion that many, many, people on these forums are taking the wrong approach to learning how to make games. There seems to be this driving need for tutorials that do all of the work.

One of the most important skills you could ever have as a programmer is the ability to take the information presented to you and turn it into code. Have you ever read a SIGGRAPH paper and implemented the algorithm it describes? No hand holding there. There are many good tutorials out there that people shoot down because they are heavy on theory and light on hand holding. Then there are many more tutorials that do little more than outline source code, with no explanation as to why something is implemented as it is - yet these are the most popular.

Sure, tutorials covering the functionality of an API or demonstrating features of a language require a certain amount of ''do this, do that''. But expecting all tutorials to do so really hurts more than helps, as many will come to rely on such tutorials and will be lost without them. And even worse, will learn how to implement functionality by copying and pasting the same code again and again with no clue as to why it works, how they can modify it, when they really need it, or how to adapt it to another purpose.

Whatever tutorial you write, please write it on something you have solid knowledge about. Another tutorial that gives step-by-step instructions on how to make a game, loads of sample code, and zero/incomplete/just plain wrong theory is certainly not needed. And if you do decide to cover all of the topics you mentioned above, be prepared to write a book as anything less would be a disservice. I think a few isolated tutorials covering great detail on single topics would be much more beneficial to the community.

I have to say I fully agree with Aldacron.

I''ve visited a few sites that have "tutorials" and they end up being nothing more than source code with some comments. The purpose of a tutorial is to teach you how to do something, not just hand out the answer.

It''s not a MMORPG if it can only support 5 players. If somebody were prepared to write a tutorial on even just the networking portion of a MMORPG, then do it right and teach people how to support thousands. There''s a big difference between writing a program that supports 5 players max and one that can scale to live up to the term MMORPG.

Anyway, I don''t think you''ll see a tutorial on something like that anytime soon. Although, I''ll be honest, I''ve thought about writing one, but since I''ve not tested my implementation with any decent amount of user load or players. (Just where the hell do you get 2000 people to test your network code without fully releasing a game? =) )

If I ever feel that it would support a ton of users, or hell any at all, *maybe* I''ll write one on how mine works. =) Afterall, I still have to out do Gary Simmons and Adam Hoult and their BSP tutorial.

/me waves at Gary and Adam

-=[ Meghertz ]=-

I am with Aldacron as well, I say for beginneers there should be lessons on C++, a book like C++ for Dummies is good for that it covers what you need to know.. so at the end of the book you should be able to solve a few problems and think up code for yourself

Then you should only need a small amount of help learning a API to work with, no tutorial should take you from nothing to a complete thing, thats not helping anyone, explaining a newtworking system in detail and explaining why you do it that way is much better.

I personally think you should try to figure something out your self first.. this might give you the wrong answer, but then you''ll know why the right answer is better.

I will see what I can do.

My hope is that by putting things together those who read it will learn more than copying and pasting. I know that''s pretty much what I did until I read a very old Java book, Black Art of Java Game Programming. It''s completely outdated and I don''t even use Java anymore, but ever since seeing how to write a game and not a demo I have been able to figure out things on my own.