C++, DirectX, games, big noob, plz help
nunez12,
If you are just starting with game programming, I think it's a good idea to take an existing game and mod it. You will learn level design, model design, scripting, setting up servers, all the components of a big game. Then you could go deeper and take a game engine and build your game on top of it. Then you could perhaps learn DirectX or OpenGL and develop your own engine.
A few well-known open-source game engines:
World Forge
Irrlicht
Delta3D
Some open-source MMPRPGs that you can mod:
Ryzom
The Genecys
There are many others but I can't remember anything else right now.
If you are just starting with game programming, I think it's a good idea to take an existing game and mod it. You will learn level design, model design, scripting, setting up servers, all the components of a big game. Then you could go deeper and take a game engine and build your game on top of it. Then you could perhaps learn DirectX or OpenGL and develop your own engine.
A few well-known open-source game engines:
World Forge
Irrlicht
Delta3D
Some open-source MMPRPGs that you can mod:
Ryzom
The Genecys
There are many others but I can't remember anything else right now.
avoid the MMO and even basic networking part of your game for your first working version / demo. Designing a game that has low latency and can handle a network connection is HARD! period, and designing one that can scale up to run on central servers, holding lots of data, and letting hundreds of people connect is much harder still (I'm assuming a normal action game with physical action and stuff, and MMO mud like game is not near so hard).
So I suggest you don't give up on your MMORPG, but that instead you break it down into mutliple versions, where each one is a reworking of the previousone, with major features added (in other words, for every feature you add at version 2, 3 or 4 ... its a feature you don't have to learn how to tackle at version 1).
Realize that Warcraft 3 couldn't be made until they made Starcraft, and Warcraft II, and Warcraft before that ... and if you go back and play warcraft 1, it's got LOTS of little problems compared to current games ... game building is a progression, because you build up a library of code and more importantly, a library of knowledge as you actually DO things, not just plan them.
I've partially designed dozens of programs, but I've only done very very few of them - being a software developer with 7 years experience I can tell you, you can only jump 1-2 steps forward for each project ... because otherwise the combined complexity and mistakes you make will add up and cause the project to end in chaos (which happens a lot anyway).
The key is setting goals that are between 2 days (a task), 2-4 weeks (an iteration), 2-6 months (a goal) in the future. Longer than 6 months is a long-term goal / direction / dream ... everyone can work toward a dream, but you have to figure out which steps your going to take THIS MONTH if you ever want to get there ... the key to this is prioritizing ... and the thing about prioritizing most people don't realize is the only thing you can do is REDUCE the priority of things you are willing to temporarily do without, so that the remaining things can get done.
PS. Good luck and Best wishes.
So I suggest you don't give up on your MMORPG, but that instead you break it down into mutliple versions, where each one is a reworking of the previousone, with major features added (in other words, for every feature you add at version 2, 3 or 4 ... its a feature you don't have to learn how to tackle at version 1).
Realize that Warcraft 3 couldn't be made until they made Starcraft, and Warcraft II, and Warcraft before that ... and if you go back and play warcraft 1, it's got LOTS of little problems compared to current games ... game building is a progression, because you build up a library of code and more importantly, a library of knowledge as you actually DO things, not just plan them.
I've partially designed dozens of programs, but I've only done very very few of them - being a software developer with 7 years experience I can tell you, you can only jump 1-2 steps forward for each project ... because otherwise the combined complexity and mistakes you make will add up and cause the project to end in chaos (which happens a lot anyway).
The key is setting goals that are between 2 days (a task), 2-4 weeks (an iteration), 2-6 months (a goal) in the future. Longer than 6 months is a long-term goal / direction / dream ... everyone can work toward a dream, but you have to figure out which steps your going to take THIS MONTH if you ever want to get there ... the key to this is prioritizing ... and the thing about prioritizing most people don't realize is the only thing you can do is REDUCE the priority of things you are willing to temporarily do without, so that the remaining things can get done.
PS. Good luck and Best wishes.
Wow, thats amazing- I thought I was getting a nice early start at programming at 16 but noooo, lil mr smarty pants of 14 has me beat.
Anyways, yeah im gonna stay glued to this forumn it seems its one of the same questions I have. I just started to play with classes more in depth, and I too have an MMO or just 3d RPG in my goals. (Actually I wanted to find some job where I could pose as a GM for an MMO while programming it on the side... but thats like wishing for a pot of gold, and getting lucky charms cereal too.)
I was looking into getting a DirectX book - It's the one thats on the ad's all over the site. Also I found a nifty little "Game Programming in C++" book but im still learning fundamentals of Visual Basic.
Maybe you should check out the book I found. It's titled "Beginning C++ Game Programming"
Anyways, yeah im gonna stay glued to this forumn it seems its one of the same questions I have. I just started to play with classes more in depth, and I too have an MMO or just 3d RPG in my goals. (Actually I wanted to find some job where I could pose as a GM for an MMO while programming it on the side... but thats like wishing for a pot of gold, and getting lucky charms cereal too.)
I was looking into getting a DirectX book - It's the one thats on the ad's all over the site. Also I found a nifty little "Game Programming in C++" book but im still learning fundamentals of Visual Basic.
Maybe you should check out the book I found. It's titled "Beginning C++ Game Programming"
Quote:Original post by nunez12
Maybe I am doing it wrong, but all I see in all the tutorials is big long words and stuff that doesnt make the least bit of sense.
The problem that you're going to encounter isn't with C++, it's going to be with the techniques that you use C++ to express. There's a lot of mathematics in computer graphics, particularly linear algebra, and you also need a fairly good working knowledge of the hardware itself to produce good results.
Imagine that you're teaching a robot how to speak English. You can teach it the word "cat." The robot can say "cat," and maybe follow some rules to use it in a sentence. But it won't be able to talk about a cat unless you actually teach it what a cat is. You follow? The language lets you express ideas, like "clear the depth buffer" or "render a skinned character here," but you need to know the ideas themselves to make use of it - you need to know what a depth buffer or a skinned character is.
That's the bit that's hard to learn, really. If you learn C++ - or, for that matter, any language (and personally I don't recommend C++ for self-studying beginners as there are languages around that let you learn with fewer headaches along the way) - then you'll be able to start on learning the important ideas in graphics, or sound, or AI, or gameplay in general, and you'll be able to use the language you learnt to express those ideas to the computer.
Quote:Original post by I Make CommentsWell, just to make you feel happy: I started at age 4. [grin]
Wow, thats amazing- I thought I was getting a nice early start at programming at 16 but noooo, lil mr smarty pants of 14 has me beat.
Quote:Original post by I Make Comments
Wow, thats amazing- I thought I was getting a nice early start at programming at 16 but noooo, lil mr smarty pants of 14 has me beat.
There's people on these boards who started younger... lots of people started around the age of 9 (including me, I'm 16 now).
Quote:Well, just to make you feel happy: I started at age 4.
Really? How'd you get started?
Quote:Original post by Oberon_CommandQuote:Well, just to make you feel happy: I started at age 4.
Really? How'd you get started?
Typing ACORN Basic games from a book into my BBC Micro. Then one day I noticed the line in the game that said "LET LIVES = 5" and thought, hey, I wonder what happens if I change that line to "LET LIVES = 10"? The rest is history.
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