I know there are a ton of where do I begin topics but mine is slightly different... maybe that's why I can't find a solution to what I'm looking for through all of the other topics.
I haven't been doing any programming in about 3 years now since I got a job unrelated to anything computers and haven't been able to continue my hobby due to a lack of time. Now an opening has come up in the computer developement unit so I applied and in doing so I decided I should probably refresh my memory before looking like an idiot if I get an interview. So after looking over some things and realizing I'm better at learning by doing I figure I should go back to writing some simple games like I used to and unfortunately lost all my old work when my hdd died.
All that being said I used to make some simple 2D games in C++ using SDL but I don't remember most of that so I'd have to go back over it if I was going to go that route. The advice I'm looking for is should I go back to SDL and rewrite some of the other things I've done or some new ones before trying to move on to OpenGL or should I head straight towards OpenGL and use that as a basis to make 2D games before branching out into some 3D programming?
Either way I'm going to end up basically relearning the entire thing and I can't find the SDL tutorial that I used a few years back which gave me a good handle on it and looking for opengl tutorials I find a bunch of different ones that go in many different directions and I'm a little lost as to which one would be a good way to learn.
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.
Advice needed on relearning or learning new graphic programming
I can't find the SDL tutorial that I used a few years back
Perhaps Lazy Foo's Tutorials?
If you're just looking to re-familiarise yourself with programming and to make a few hobby games at the same time, then picking up SDL again is probably a good way to go, unless you happen to know that you'll be working with a language other than C++ that you could start with instead, in which case that might be worth considering.
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Don't think I'll be learning a new language for a bit. C seems to still be the most widely used. I did some more digging around and i think it was the cone3d tutorials that were on here but now look like they're gone. I saw others saying lazy foo's tutorials weren't good for a reason i can't remember... maybe it isn't true and i should just spend some time on that for now
If you're going with C++ and SDL then Lazy Foo's tutorials should provide a solid starting point.
I would generally recommend SFML over SDL these days, unless you have a specific reason. SFML just feels cleaner, although it too has bugs. The community is quite responsive, and the documentation is very good. Of course there is also this excellent tutorial. ;) That's one area SDL has a bit of an edge over SFML, there are published books and more online tutorials for SDL. But then, with SFML's documentation, there is less need for them.
I believe both SDL and SFML can be used as jumping points for full 3D with openGL, I know for sure SFML is built over OpenGL.
I believe both SDL and SFML can be used as jumping points for full 3D with openGL, I know for sure SFML is built over OpenGL.
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Sfml seems interesting. Looks like it has more to it so maybe I'll try that out. My question now would be. If I was going to move forwardto opengl would I continue using sfml to do so? I know its possible but would it be the best way?
Sfml seems interesting. Looks like it has more to it so maybe I'll try that out. My question now would be. If I was going to move forwardto opengl would I continue using sfml to do so? I know its possible but would it be the best way?
Best way is quite subjective, if you are doing cross platform development then you'd want some abstraction layer between your code and the OS anyway and SFML does that job fairly well (The only thing i think is missing from SFML is a way to store user settings in a cross platform way)
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