Where do I start?
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I'm just starting to want to get into game development. For some reason, i'm having tremendous trouble trying to figure out where to go. I have about 5 years of C++ experience, programing data structures, inheritance, polymorphism and general aspects of OO designed code. I'm trying to learn direct X, but I can't seem to find a list of what functions are available, and what they do ANYWHERE. So far, I've tried looking over a bunch of stuff here, but it all seems to be older verson of DirectX so I don't know if it's still relavent. Every topic I've found on the MSDN site seems to be "how to do something specific" when all I want to do for now is something extremely basic like a blank screen that exits when you hit escape, or tells you the position of the mouse cursor or something, but I haven't been able to find any full sources to use, just functions that only seem to apply to more advanced topics.
Oh, and I already have Visual Studio.NET 2002, with the .NET framwork 1.0, and DirectX 9.0c Summer Update
You probably need to [google] for DX tutorials. There are tons out there. Just find one that looks good, and try to follow it. It may also be nice if you bought a book (check out the book section in this site). It has a list of a bunch of programming books, as well as reviews for each of them. Good luck in graphics programming!
Tutorials I'd recommend are Andy Pike's and Drunken Hyena's (google them) - Hyena's is especially good because it mirrors a lot of NeHe's stuff.
You'll find a lot of the info out there is for DX8 - don't worry! Most of the differences between 8 and 9 are just MS adding on an odd parameter to functions here and there rather than huge changes in how it works. The only major difference I've come across so far that might affect a beginner is how vertex formats work, but 9 seems to be backwards compatible with <=8's flexible vertex format so it's all good.
The initialisation code for working with DX, as it deals with windows, is a bit bloaty, but not as bad as it used to be if memory serves. If you want to learn "3D graphics" then OpenGL might be a bit more plainspeak, but DX is still very viable (personally I learned a bit of OGL, didn't touch 3D programming for a couple of years, then came back and learned the basics of DX in a few nights).
Anyway, good luck and don't give up whatever you do - once you get things working 3D programming is very, very rewarding!! ;)
You'll find a lot of the info out there is for DX8 - don't worry! Most of the differences between 8 and 9 are just MS adding on an odd parameter to functions here and there rather than huge changes in how it works. The only major difference I've come across so far that might affect a beginner is how vertex formats work, but 9 seems to be backwards compatible with <=8's flexible vertex format so it's all good.
The initialisation code for working with DX, as it deals with windows, is a bit bloaty, but not as bad as it used to be if memory serves. If you want to learn "3D graphics" then OpenGL might be a bit more plainspeak, but DX is still very viable (personally I learned a bit of OGL, didn't touch 3D programming for a couple of years, then came back and learned the basics of DX in a few nights).
Anyway, good luck and don't give up whatever you do - once you get things working 3D programming is very, very rewarding!! ;)
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