Hi everyone, I wanted to know what the best way to get general game programming experience is, say for a job as "Gameplay programmer" or something similar. I wasn't sure if I should make a game from the ground up using DirectX or if I should learn a 3d game engine and use that instead. It seems like if I use DirectX I would have to learn a lot of things I wouldn't need as a entry-level programmer, but it might also make it easier to create a game since I had created the engine. I have experience in C++, so I don't want a game maker. If you have any game engines to recommend (that have good documentation), please do. Thanks, Ian

decide what kind of game programmer do you want to be and focus on that:

graphics
physics
AI
level support
audio
networking

There's no point in working on stuff you're never going to do in your job. For example, I don't care if an AI engineer has anything more than a basic algorithmic understanding of graphics. If he can't actually program graphics that's not going to affect his ability to do AI programming.

If you're interested in just gaining experience, program whatever you enjoy that's related to games. There's probably something to be had by trying to write a game engine from the ground up at least once; if nothing else it'll give you some kind of understanding of how all the different components in the game work.

But, basically, just focus on what you're interested in and learn the basic math: Linear Algebra.

[EDIT: also read the Forum FAQ of this forum and maybe the Business of Game Development forum. There are some great articles on breaking in to the industry around on this site]

-me