Hello everyone!

I'm new to the gamedev community as well as programming. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time diving into MS BASIC and learning the fundamentals of programming in DOS 6.

Recently I've decided to get back into it and learn a modern language. I was going to go for C++, but some lifetime programming friends suggested I jump into C# first and move around to other languages as necessary. I found that to really understand the raw concepts I had to invest in some books to help guide my through step by step concepts (I'm a visual learner and I can't "duplicate" code, except when there is a specific sequence of methods that do a particular action which I haven't learned yet. What I mean is that, in general, I need to know why argumentX goes into methodY and why myVar is called here and there).

Anyway, I've progressed fairly quickly through some books, and I'm currently practicing my XNA. I'm working through Microsoft's XNA Game Studio 4.0: Learn Programming Now.

I'm asking the community if they have any knowledge of some really helpful beginner -> Intermediate books specifically on C# and XNA game development which you used.

I am doing this as a hobby now (I'm in Afghanistan and while I am not doing my duty I am programming to pass the time), and perhaps when I return I'll complete my degree in this field. I have aspirations of a 3d, possibly multiplayer game in the future, but I am very aware I need to go through the steps to learn how the mechanics work.

Once I work through collision, mapping, AI, and some basic graphics, I'll probably create a GDD for a basic 2D style RPG, which will be turn based or action based depending on whichever you all think would be easier for me to go through the first time.

Sorry I wrote a whole lot...won't do that again LoL. Thanks.

well to be honest if you want to learn c++, you don't need to learn c#. Yes, it will make things easier if u know one programming language, but that first language can be c++. If you're passionate enough you can learn concepts quite quickly. I don't really know any good XNA books but I used this good C++ book called "Sam's Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours". Also even if you know just basics, not even know much about classes, you can do basic 2d games in c++ and learn from them. I love RPG's and whenever I come up with idea for a game I always try to make an RPG in the end hehe.. but that tends to be quite time consuming.

As a matter of fact I didn't use any books to learn XNA, and I can confidently say I am pretty good with it now (I am currently creating a Galcon clone).
I just sifted through Microsoft's tutorials on MSDN, they teach you everything step by step.
Then just googling for any question on how to do certain things gave me all the answers I needed.