I''m a novice C programmer with a good understanding of the syntax and structure of the language. My experience so far has primarily been in business applications, though I''m starting to get the game programming itch. I''ve looked at a lot of the articles/tutorials on this site and others, but it just isn''t clicking for me. I always learn best by example, so if anybody knows where I can find some great walkthroughs or well commented code I would greatly appreciate it. Everything I''ve found so far assumes a little more game knowledge than I have. I''d like to start off with Tetris or something else really basic, so if you could point me to some source code or a great beginner tutorial I will be forever in your debt. Thanks, Kevin

Hi,
I suggest you buy a good book about DirectX, download the SDK and start by writing a basic DirectDraw application. Once you know how to do that, you can start with a simple game; a Tetris clone is ideal. Most books about DirectX contain lots of examples.

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http://users.pandora.be/koen.van.baelen
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Check out the Game Programming Genesis series of articles. They were quite helpful for me.

PS: Koen VB, you can delete your posts from the edit page.

Can you recommend any specific books? After years of buying books on programming, I''ve learned that most books are either fantastic or piss poor. As a newbie in the world of game programming, it''s very hard to know what''s good and what isn''t. There are so many books out there, and I''d like to pick up the right one on the first try.

I''m looking for a book that uses actual games to illustrate the points. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Kevin

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/forum.asp?forum_id=33

try this.
it''s a tetris tutorial done in C and DirectDraw 7.
everything is done step by step.
you''ll have to search for the codes though.
they''re somewhere in there... forgot where sorry

anyway use that as your starting point.
it''ll get good from there.

if you want to do RPGs then the Game Programming Genesis link will help alot too.

Good Luck!

Do you have to learn how to make a tetris game before you get into 3D game creation like Doom?

I haven''t written a game yet, but I''d say that it would be a very good idea to start with something simpler before jumping into Doom. I''m having a hard time figuring out how they did Space Invaders. Doom is a long way away.

quote: Original post by smiley4
Do you have to learn how to make a tetris game before you get into 3D game creation like Doom?

no...
but it''ll be good to have actually program A game! before you start something as ambitious as that. especially if you don''t how the game mechanics work such as game loops, animations, collision detection, code structures, etc...

plus you''ll have to know a good bit of physics, vectors, linear algebra (matrices), and trig to start to begin to code something like Doom or Quake or anything you see on the shelves today.

note: before all that you better know how to code! REALLY WELL!!