I've been trying to figure out where exactly to start learning about game programming for the last few months.

At first I started following some Unity tutorials but after a while I concluded that it might be the best to start at the beginning and learn enough of C++ to build some kind of a simple 2D game engine myself.

I got this book recently https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Beginning-C-Through-Game-Programming/1305109910/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487773736&sr=8-2&keywords=beginning+c%2B%2B+game+programming .

While the book certainly is helpful to me at the moment, as a thorough introduction to C++ is what I need, I noticed the scope of the book is pretty much just an in introduction to C++ syntax and logic through creating simple console app "games".

Could anyone here recommend some books I could find useful after I'm done with this one ? Literature that describes how to build an actual video game - nothing too complicated, stuff like a top - down shooter, puzzle games, or at most a 2D platformer.

Any recommendations ? Thx.

If you aim for C++, maybe one of the few book on SFML may be interesting for you: 1, 2, 3, 4. (they all have a preview, take a quick look to see if that fit your requirements)

They all go from basics up to some games how-to and talk about the SFML (obvious with these title, isn't it?) which is a nice 2D all-in-one game library that provide all the tools need to make everything you can imagine and probably more.

You also have free / donation documentation available almost everywhere, like the Game Programming Pattern website (were you can buy a paper version of the book) that I have discovered while browsing GDNET, a lot of Youtube tutorials that you can find easily the playlists with few keywords (handmade hero is talked about a lot here actually), or if you want something more teaching oriented probably some MOOC can respond to that. You also have the Humble Book bundle (and sometime the Humble Bundle itself) that often provide a collection of documentation about how to make game in differents language or with differents tools/game engine.

Cool, thx for the reply.

I kept browsing the web a bit after I posted this question and SFML actually caught my eye already. Found someone on YouTube that made a simple game engine using SFML from scratch, so I decided I'll start following the tutorial when I'm a bit more comfortable with C++.

It's nice to have some confirmation that this actually is a good way to go. I'll check out the literature you linked once the time for it comes.

I appreciate the advice.