I would first like to introduce myself in order to give you guys a little insight so without further ado: as a kid I always wanted to be a game developer however as I grew up I always started playing less and less videogames and by the end of highschool I despised the thought of sitting behind a computer all day staring at some crazy language. Well two years later I had my first programming course (I 'm studying engineering) and it turned out that I was actually really good at it I could even keep up with the guys that had a lot of experience ( note that it was only blueJ so that doesn't really say much). Now one year after that we're being thought how to program in java using eclipse and again I'm surprisingly good at it (compared to my other classes at least) not only that but I actually enjoy myself while programming. So I did some research trying to revisit an old passion.

However I quickly found out that most games are programmed in python or C++ now I was wondering if any of you guys know a good tutorial to help me switch between java and one of these languages ( and help me decide which one to use). Because I can only seem to find tutorials aimed at complete beginners and they're kind of slow.

Thanks in advance

For Python, you can read the Python Tutorial at docs.python.org, which is aimed at programmers that want to learn the language, but know about loops, variables, and classes/functions.

I learned C++ by reading the Stroustrup book, but that's quite old school.

You can also consider C# as alternative. I don't know the language, but it's a little closer to Java than C++.

It all depends why you want to learn another language. Learning C++ because you want to improve your coding skills or because you want to get a job as a professional AAA games coder then fair enough.
However if you just want to make games as an indie or hobby project then stick with what you know. It sounds like you are already doing well with Java so just use that. You can use a games engine like libGDX and start programming multi platform games straight away. Or you can write Android apps and games without any engine in Java.

As well as Minecraft the original version of Runescape was also written in Java (think they changed to Unity for the latest version).
Also I have several contacts who work at King, Mindcandy, Wooga and Zinga who are all Java coders, so even in some big games companies are using Java.


Even if you plan to eventually become a AAA console developer you could still consider weather you should learn to make games first or if you should learn C++ first. I would at least consider the first option. You already know Java so you already have the skill needed to write a game. Once you have done this you could learn C++ by applying what you did to write your Java game in C++.

I'll start with libgdx then thanks for all the help.

On a side note is there a lot of documentation for moving from the bussiness application side to the video game development side of java?