I don't know what to do next. It's been several months already and I still haven't learned all of the tutorials on LazyFoo.Net. It's a programming website with SDL tutorials on it, and I would like to learn SDL very much, so that I can make games, of course. I have a good grasp on C++ and I know a bit of Windows programming, anyway I want to get started on OpenGL soon, but I think that if I start too early on OpenGL without learning SDL first, then I might get stuck. Right now I'm on tutorial #29 (tiling) on the site: http://lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/index.php And now I have several choices, I'll list them: a) Learn all the tutorials on the site, then go to videotutorialsrock.com and learn OpenGL from there. b) Learn only the tiling tutorial, then move on to OpenGL (from site above) c) Learning the tiliting tutorial and some other important ones (please specify which ones) d) Forget about learning SDL, just move on to OpenGL right away, hoping that I won't struggle with it too much e) It's basically the "other" category.. you can just tell me what way that I should approach this.. Umm Thanks

I don't know what SDL is but I started graphics in c++ with OpenGL just a week ago. Before that I coded in java using some of its 2d drawing functions. OpenGL gives you waaaaay more control than anything I've used, yet its understandable, especially with help from the 'red book' (a guide written by one of the guys who works for OpenGL). I'm following an old copy thats free to view online, and things are going smoothly.

finish the tutorials on lazy foo's site and make a couple of simple 2d games with what you learn.

this way you will get a good understanding of the structure of games, and have a couple under your belt.

after that you can move on to a 3d library.

as for the tutorials at videotutorialsrock they are not all that bad but do focus on using GLUT. if you have a good understanding of SDL then you shouldn't have a problem porting them over.

I believe that it's worth learning SDL fairly well before moving onto OpenGL. I'm not saying that you need anything extensive, but if you can program, say, Tetris in SDL, then you should have enough experience to start learning OpenGL. More experience is always better, but it should suffice.

SDL and OpenGL are not mutually exclusive. Several features of SDL you will probably want to use even after using OpenGL. These include loading images (SDL_image is great!), playing sounds, creating windows, text, and input. Even if you don't spend a long time learning the graphical aspects of SDL, practice these since you will *not* be dumping them after starting OpenGL.

Can you write a game with what you have now?

If so, write a game, then go back to learning after that.
If not, you need to keep learning.

Yeah, I've already written a Pong game as well as some few demo programs showing animation, motion, particle engines, and other things. Tiling seems to be the part where I'm getting stuck at though. I was also going to finish a game called Blockout (Breakout clone) but I never got to finish it because of lack of time. Before I learned SDL (or any windows programming) I programmed a large text RPG using C++. It took me about 6 months to finish it, then 2 months later I corrected some bugs and added a more recent release to it.

I started programming in the winters of 2006, if that helps. So I have been programming for about 2 years now, except that learning hasn't been very consistent for me lately. There's been some obstacles in life that I've had to come through, but now I think I have the motivation now to start concentrating on programming again.

So should I just learn all the tutorials right now and then move on?

I agree with what Feralrath especially making a few 2D games first.

When I was first teaching myself DirectX (first graphics API i learned) i jumped right into making a 3D game and that was a big mistake.

It's amazing, the 3rd dimension makes your code grow exponentially