Hi everyone! I've been reading the forums for a few days now and finally broke down and made an account to see if I could get your opinions...

To start off, yes I have been teaching myself C++ for awhile now, and I got most of the basics down, and learning more advanced such as objects and classes, etc...

Simply speaking though, I am wanting to get into game programming, whereas right now I am solely doing programming. What would be the best option (and/or tool) for me to add gaming to my programming list? Obviously since I have no prior experience in the gaming programming field, I want to start off very basic, such as 2D. I've read about Allegro and seen it to be a good starting position, though I was unsure of how good of quality you can make with it alone.

And yes I've read through other posts, I've seen other engines and such, and I know this question has been asked a million times before. I just want to know where my best start would be with C++, as I've been getting various answers everywhere...so I want real programmer's opinions.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated, please feel free to throw anything you have out here, even if it's the most basic of all programming. I just want a place to start, and possibly something I could grow into a larger field.

Thanks for reading!
-MrMonkeh

Hi everyone! I've been reading the forums for a few days now and finally broke down and made an account to see if I could get your opinions...

To start off, yes I have been teaching myself C++ for awhile now, and I got most of the basics down, and learning more advanced such as objects and classes, etc...

Simply speaking though, I am wanting to get into game programming, whereas right now I am solely doing programming. What would be the best option (and/or tool) for me to add gaming to my programming list? Obviously since I have no prior experience in the gaming programming field, I want to start off very basic, such as 2D. I've read about Allegro and seen it to be a good starting position, though I was unsure of how good of quality you can make with it alone.

And yes I've read through other posts, I've seen other engines and such, and I know this question has been asked a million times before. I just want to know where my best start would be with C++, as I've been getting various answers everywhere...so I want real programmer's opinions.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated, please feel free to throw anything you have out here, even if it's the most basic of all programming. I just want a place to start, and possibly something I could grow into a larger field.

Thanks for reading!
-MrMonkeh

First only basics is too less to start into game programming. you have to know at least inheritance,classes,objects and other oop stuff..
Start learning this. And learn it good, otherwise game programming will be too difficult for you.

After you know this, look up for some tutorials in the net. There are so many with diverse technologies like XNA(lite c),sdl,gdi+,directX,opengl

I learnt by continuously setting myself a game problem (or trying to make a copies of different games) and figuring out solutions.

So start with:

- How can I load an image into my game and display it on the screen.

Then try:

- How can I move my image around, using arrow keys.

Then try:

- How can I make my image not go of the sides of the screens.

Then try:

- How can I make my image jump when I press space, but then return to the floor. (Also how do I define "floor")

Once you've gotten bored of this, design a simple 2D game - like a tower defence or basic puzzle game. Then try and make it... you'll encounter all sorts of things which will improve your programming and understanding of how games work.

[quote name='MrMonkeh' timestamp='1316845108' post='4865406']
Hi everyone! I've been reading the forums for a few days now and finally broke down and made an account to see if I could get your opinions...

To start off, yes I have been teaching myself C++ for awhile now, and I got most of the basics down, and learning more advanced such as objects and classes, etc...

Simply speaking though, I am wanting to get into game programming, whereas right now I am solely doing programming. What would be the best option (and/or tool) for me to add gaming to my programming list? Obviously since I have no prior experience in the gaming programming field, I want to start off very basic, such as 2D. I've read about Allegro and seen it to be a good starting position, though I was unsure of how good of quality you can make with it alone.

And yes I've read through other posts, I've seen other engines and such, and I know this question has been asked a million times before. I just want to know where my best start would be with C++, as I've been getting various answers everywhere...so I want real programmer's opinions.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated, please feel free to throw anything you have out here, even if it's the most basic of all programming. I just want a place to start, and possibly something I could grow into a larger field.

Thanks for reading!
-MrMonkeh

First, my biggest advice would be not to start with C++, but then, nobody ever listens to that one bit of advice for whatever reason...

If you are indeed going to go ahead with C++ I put together this link that contains tool, book and library recommendations for learning C++ for game programming. Also, I am doing a longer tutorial series on writing a game in C++ using SFML. It goes into a lot more depth than most tutorials and hopefully will make you a better C++ programmer as a result. Most tutorials focus on a specific feature or are simply bad code, leading to a very bad foundation for new programmers to start with, hopefully this series of tutorials results in some slightly better beginner code. Still a WIP though, so not complete yet.
[/quote]

I recently read that on this site and wished I would have seen this BEFORE getting a good deal into C++. I own the C++ for Dummies Reference all-one-book (and I'm not sure how you guys feel about dummies books, so don't make fun ) and am about 300 pages in. I guess technically I could switch to a different language, though I am far into it (or so I think) and in my eyes it seems like I should just stay with it...however, if you feel a different one, such as C# would be better, even at this point then let me know before I drag myself deeper!

I do appreciate it though, I will check out the links and tutorials you gave. On another note, if I do stay with C++, shall I continue learning it completely (ie; finish the book first) before attempting to fiddle with the gaming side? Or go ahead and start messing with gaming programming?

Thanks!

[quote name='Serapth' timestamp='1316897964' post='4865564']
[quote name='MrMonkeh' timestamp='1316845108' post='4865406']
Hi everyone! I've been reading the forums for a few days now and finally broke down and made an account to see if I could get your opinions...

To start off, yes I have been teaching myself C++ for awhile now, and I got most of the basics down, and learning more advanced such as objects and classes, etc...

Simply speaking though, I am wanting to get into game programming, whereas right now I am solely doing programming. What would be the best option (and/or tool) for me to add gaming to my programming list? Obviously since I have no prior experience in the gaming programming field, I want to start off very basic, such as 2D. I've read about Allegro and seen it to be a good starting position, though I was unsure of how good of quality you can make with it alone.

And yes I've read through other posts, I've seen other engines and such, and I know this question has been asked a million times before. I just want to know where my best start would be with C++, as I've been getting various answers everywhere...so I want real programmer's opinions.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated, please feel free to throw anything you have out here, even if it's the most basic of all programming. I just want a place to start, and possibly something I could grow into a larger field.

Thanks for reading!
-MrMonkeh

First, my biggest advice would be not to start with C++, but then, nobody ever listens to that one bit of advice for whatever reason...

If you are indeed going to go ahead with C++ I put together this link that contains tool, book and library recommendations for learning C++ for game programming. Also, I am doing a longer tutorial series on writing a game in C++ using SFML. It goes into a lot more depth than most tutorials and hopefully will make you a better C++ programmer as a result. Most tutorials focus on a specific feature or are simply bad code, leading to a very bad foundation for new programmers to start with, hopefully this series of tutorials results in some slightly better beginner code. Still a WIP though, so not complete yet.
[/quote]

I recently read that on this site and wished I would have seen this BEFORE getting a good deal into C++. I own the C++ for Dummies Reference all-one-book (and I'm not sure how you guys feel about dummies books, so don't make fun ) and am about 300 pages in. I guess technically I could switch to a different language, though I am far into it (or so I think) and in my eyes it seems like I should just stay with it...however, if you feel a different one, such as C# would be better, even at this point then let me know before I drag myself deeper!

I do appreciate it though, I will check out the links and tutorials you gave. On another note, if I do stay with C++, shall I continue learning it completely (ie; finish the book first) before attempting to fiddle with the gaming side? Or go ahead and start messing with gaming programming?

Thanks!
[/quote]

If C++ is the right choice or not is really not a yes or no question. It depends on a lot of things.
Would you fight the dragon or go with the blond?...

I won't give you any advice other than the fact that Python, Java, C/C++ and C# could all land you a job in the industry at some point. Then again, looking ahead at this point is probably useless. What ever language you are working on, keep working. Once you know one, the others will be easy to learn or switch to.