Hello! Firstly, Im new to the forums as well as the idea of DirectX Programming. For the past 2 years I have been in a high-school based digipen course which taught me basically everything about c++ up till classes and inheritance. I dunno what else there is... Anyway, thats my background in c++. I also know all about game specs, game design, level design, and all that other stuff. I have made several small games with the digipen game-dev sdk and believe its time to move on to something mroe challenging and useful =D. So I spent like, a half hour just going around the site, and noticed like, 10+ Articles that say "Start Here", or something close to that. I dont want to start on an article aimed at super begininer, on the contrary, i've been programming for like, 5 years ... So Im not new to the system. I also dont want to get caught up in an intimidating 3D Engine without having any background in directx. I looked but wasnt sure which article I should choose for a simple introduction into DirectX, preferably 2D programming. Thanks for reading this far, I really appreciate any help anyone could give me! =D

Hello there!

You might be surprised how usefull to even someone who has been programming for years the "START HERE" articles can be. It just phrases questions like which language you want to be using , 2D or 3D e.t.c. So try reading them is possible.

What I can not stress enough though is START SMALL(hence the caps :) )
Also please for yourown good try to finish any projects you start. Even if you get bored of it and want to stop said project you will learn many things if you finish projects, because the finishing touches can be very difficult too.

That's all I can think of now. Hope it helped.

I might suggest SDL as a "starting point" especially if you want to start with simply 2D stuff. I think it would be a lot easier for you to start with than "an intimidating 3D engine."

It should teach you about some of the concepts of using surfaces and what not for your graphics. Once you've got a firm grasp on all of that, maybe then move on to some of the 2D concepts of one of the 3D platforms.

I think it is important to not get overwhelmed by a flood of new concepts all at once. Keep it simple. SDL might be for you (atleast for now).

There are a few really good examples here.

I would second the suggestion that you might want to explore 2D projects a bit more before jumping into the 3D. That said, if and when you ultimately begin to explore 3D graphics, its important to understand the underlying concepts of computer graphics, and not be too intent upon the API itself -- the API should be easy enough to pick up from just the documentation if you understand the math and theory... and understanding the math and theory will be required for doing anything nontrivial.

Also note there is some small danger in using D3D (or OpenGL) to do 2D work rather than an API dedicated to 2D work. D3D and GL are both 3D APIs with no real "2D mode," just various ways the 3D mathematics can be manipulated to fake a "2D mode." What this ends up meaning is that you still need a decent understanding of the 3D concepts.

The D3D SDK itself includes some samples, including one for doing 2D work. You might want to check them out. I've got a short list of books that I consider useful or essential material on the subject of graphics as well that you might want to consider looking at.

=D

Thanks for all the help! I do know not to get overwhelmed with stuff, I have had A LOT of experience with overwhelming myself and trying to start way ahead of the game. I've learned over the past few years and will not try to delve into more than I can handel. :D

I'll look into those tutorails when I get a chance to really focus on learning DX, which should be in a few days.

Once again, thanks for all the help!!!!!