My problem is that I am currently a 17 year old who lives in Chicago Illinois. I want to be able to work in Game Development, and I feel it is the only possible job for me. With the recent trends in Independent Development with hits such as World Of Goo and Braid, I've come to realize that this is how I wish to start off. To go into specifics, I have taken interest in TGB, and i feel that it would be best if i started off with a simpler yet stylistic 2D platformer, and I think that TGB would be the quickest and most efficient way to accomplish this goal. Sadly, I am not familiar with C++, but I am looking for an intricate tutorial that is for the newest of beginners. I also am unfamiliar with what exactly I must accomplish before I get my game out for people to be able to play and enjoy. Before anyone asks, no I am not attempting to make money off of this game. To give you a better perspective of how I am attempting to start off my Indie biz, I have gotten the help of a friend who does art for a living to do concept art, and I have a story line and gameplay concept already in mind. I'm looking to use this first game as a future reference to help me get a job with a larger company in time, but I don't want to pursue that for a long time. For now, I want to focus on Indie dev, and in time, maybe even grow my fledgling company into something more. If anyone has any type of info regarding this, it would be great if you were to help me out. I can't begin to explain how badly I want to pursue Indie Development. I'm looking for C++ tutorials, info on Torque Game Builder, info on starting a company in general, info on starting an indie development company in detail, possible alternatives to TGB (I want my game to be as beautiful as possible, and if I have to learn a large amount of C++, so be it), and if it's possible, an alternative to C++. As far as I know, C++ is the programming used for most games, but if I'm wrong, please let me know. I really have no intricate planning as of now. Thank you to anyone willing to help.

Hi there. I'm in a somewhat similar situation as you(except I know C++). I'm a 22 year old from Chicago area looking to get into game development.

First thing I must ask is, do you know any other programming languages? If yes, what? If not, then I would recommend starting off with something a little bit easier than C++. I learned VB 6.0 in highschool, than when I changed to computer science in college they started me off with Java, although I'm not convinced that is the best language to start with. Many people say to learn Python first as it is very easy, but I haven't worked with it.

Second thing, start off small. We all have grand dreams of making great games, and I don't blame you for that, but you have to start small and work your way up. Learn C++ making console applications, then try learning to make simple graphical games, and work your way up from there. Last semester I took an Advanced object oriented programming class that taught C++, and just a couple days ago I finished my first complete graphical came(tetris knockoff).

As for tutorials and guides, well I know there are a bunch at www.cprogramming.com , and the OpenGL tutorials that I absolutely love that helped me build my first game I found at www.videotutorialsrock.com , it is all video tutorials and they are awesome, but those are for when you know C++.

Good Luck.

Amazing! you are so young! I am a developer in China. I have never seen a man wanting to make his own game in 17 years old before. In China, even 24 years old university student do not understand what life is! come on, young man, good luck to you, and waiting for your wonderful game!

You might want to give DarkBasic Pro a try it is defininty the way to go for
Gaming Its not C but Its really good the language is easier and the results are very good. But its a growing language and it has somwhat of a eqivalence to c
But what ever you choose follow your dreams and dont give up when the frustration kicks in on hard times


www.darkbasic.com

Hi there.

I am also 17 years old, but I've been programming for a little while now. I also enjoy creating games, but I think I prefer the Computer/Electrical Engineering field.

Anyways, I've been writing my own games for about a year and a half now, and I think my abilities have gotten much better over that time. I've learned a bunch of neat tricks, some optimizations, styles that I prefer (modularity!! You have no idea how easy 10 files each 50 - 100 lines is to manage verses 2 files of up to 500 lines...), and I've progressively built up to the point where I am working on my first large-scale project.

Anyway, here's my advice on getting into programming.

Learn Java first. I started out with Java, so that might be subconsciously persuading me, but I honestly think Java should come first. Here's why:

I think that to learn programming, it should be done procedurally, without any kind of Object Oriented design getting in the way. Now, Java does have an Object Oriented design (actually, every piece of code is inside an "object"), as well as c++, but I think that Java simplifies some things and it forces certain requirements, such as "explicit casting".

So the first thing to do is learn about the different "primitives", how methods are called, how to use the console to debug your program (I've written System.out.println() and std::cout more times than I've use a parentheses in my whole life), which loop constructs there are and how to use them, and all sorts of other goodies. Don't try learning any of the Object Oriented Programming yet. Stick to "static" methods and "static" global variables.

Once you feel like you've gotten the hang of procedural coding (which, If you're like me, you really won't have, but after 2 or 3 days, you'll tell yourself you have), learn what classes and objects are, how to make methods that objects can use, inheritance, abstraction, and generics (again, another 2 or 3 days, when you should really spend weeks enforcing these subjects). Make sure you can build a Bank class, which holds different BankAccounts, which is an abstract class, with subclasses of Credit, Checking, Loan, and any others. Make deposits and withdrawals, examine the currency that the bank is currently holding, how much is owed to it, and any other "Bank related" thing you can think of. This should all be done from the "main" method (you'll understand in a few days), and the source file actually running this project shouldn't be longer than 50 lines. Use loops to create hundreds of accounts. Learn about threading and have multiple accounts accessing and depositing correctly (without deadlock!).

Once you've gotten this down, it's time for Pong - well, the 21st century version of Pong; Air Hockey!

http://www.javacooperation.gmxhome.de/indexEng.html is a simple tutorial of making 2D games in an applet. If you don't want an applet, the next paragraph explains how to do it in a window, or "Application".

It's a very simple game to code. "extend" (you'll know in a few days) the "Canvas" class, add the class to a JFrame, override the paint method, make a loop that calls "repaint()", and TaDa!

Using the JFrame + Canvas technique should hold you over for a month or two. You now have everything you need for mediocre 2D programming - and once you get better, you can extend it to fullscreen, which will give you another month of interesting programming.

After that, you can tackle C++ pretty easily. http://www.cplusplus.com is a good tutorial to use. Make sure you completely grasp pointers though. At this point, everything becomes exponentially more complicated. Now you've got to learn which SDK to use, OpenGL and DirectX being prevalent, which IDE to use, etc.

OH, by the way, JCreator is the best Java IDE I've run across - It's simple, yet perfect. I use Code::Blocks for any c++, and I have to say, It's the best IDE I've run across - especially the code profiler plugin. I use Dev-Cpp for a while, but Code::Blocks blows it away.

Anyway, once you choose which SDK to target, there's sure to be a tutorial titled "Developing your first xxx Application", from there, begin perusing their documentation.

The NeHe tutorials are excellent, as well as www.directxtutorial.com.

Well, I hope that clarified anything. I don't think I've every posted a reply this long, but I'm sure I missed hundreds of critical points. If you have any questions, ask away!

Thanks everyone. I'm glad that these forums are so active, and I'm thankful for everyone's amazing input.