I am still working my way through the basics, though I feel I have a ok grasp on pointers/references, arrays, basic-intermediate OOP, loops, and functions. I obviously still have a very very far way to go before I am ready to do anything semi serious, and I have no delusions of "In 2 weeks I shall make an uber game". However console is really starting to bore me. I know that I still have many things to learn before I take a much bigger step, but I was wondering what you people thought is the minimum skill set to start messing with 2d via SDL/SMFL or such. Previously in the past, I got a .jpg to move U/D/L/R with keyboard input and I believe shoot a "laser". Incredibly crappy but I felt good about it. This was quite awhile ago and I don't think I could replicate it currently, however this was even when I was more of a noob so perhaps there is some hope? So in short, my question is what level of c++ proficiency do you think you need before being able to mess with 2d and not get completely lost 30 seconds into it? I mean ideally I would like to be able to make an incredibly simple "sprite in a box, move around box" type of deal, it does not have to look pretty. I am just worried about getting ahead of myself and then realizing I simply can't do it. Thanks.

Quote:Original post by OldProgie2
The only way to tell really is to try it and see.
If you find it too hard, take a step back and try again. Don't worry too much about setting up screens and so on, feel free to take a sample and start modifying it. Doing something fun without getting bogged down in the nitty gritty is a great way to maintain your interest.
At the end of the day, setting up your rendering environment is something you will only do occasionally, so don't worry about it too much. Just have fun.

I will keep that in mind. This all came about while I was gaming earlier and thought to myself "I rather be coding then gaming, but I don't just want to make another lame attempt at a text rpg that will go nowhere."

I am hoping to, through hard work and the like, be able to make something with FF1/Gameboy Zelda graphics that would be much smaller as a game itself in a few months, though I am not sure how realistic a goal that is.

I guess my problem is a mixture of lack of confidence/no frame of reference.

But you are right, only way to know is to try :)

I know of several very green coders who have produced things that could be called "games" in 2D. One of them in particular made a top-down ORPG as his first project (which was quite an accomplishment!). The math is simple, as is the code (generally). Try not to worry about good designs and writing clean & high performance code for now; that's something you have to learn by experience. See what works and what doesn't -- what's slow and what's fast.

Using a library like SDL or SFML protects you from the sometimes complex (and oh so boring) details of how pixels end up on your screen. Such abstractions are particularly useful to newbies who don't want to be bothered with the details of how it actually works (you'll learn later).

Make some coffee, sit down and write a game... Any game. It doesn't even need to be complete or fun. The best way to learn is to push your limits. Working with console programming (which you're apparently sick of) will get you nowhere.

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Quote:Original post by Mr C
I am hoping to, through hard work and the like, be able to make something with FF1/Gameboy Zelda graphics that would be much smaller as a game itself in a few months, though I am not sure how realistic a goal that is.

You might enjoy reading this. Similar graphics and gameplay is certainly doable -- what's going to take a lot of time is producing the content. Thus, aiming for a simpler game (not necessarily in terms of features) should be a realistic goal once you have a bit of experience.

You like puzzle games? Tetris, Bomberman, card games, Stratego, and so on. These are ussually pretty simple because:
- "Level" ussually fits on one screen. No culling or camera systems
- 2D flat graphics, no 3D animations
- Little or no entities (humans, cars, monsters, weapons)
- No complex AI (unless you are making a chess game), maybe no opponents at all
- Often no collision detection
- Just a few sounds and a nice background music
- No need for dozens of tools to create sound/texture/model libraries or level maps

Relative simple, except the idea of course. A brilliant idea is what makes or breaks such games. My personal favourite is "Push-Over" (snes / pc game). Control an ant and push domino blocks in the right order, brilliant game, and damn difficult in the later levels!