Yeah, you need to start with the basics of programming first, bro

If you code it, they will come...

Commander M
http://commanderm.8m.com
cmndrm@commanderm.8m.com

First things first, assuming your not familiar Windows (and assuming that’s your target platform), learn at least something about programming it. You’ll need an understanding of message loops, function callbacks and most importantly resource management, ie. How Windose handles bitmaps.

Once you’ve got a handle on the basics, the Direct-X SDK examples won’t seem quite so overwhelming – since they are indeed a good place to start.

As for your first game, trying something simple, clone a game you know, since it’ll probably make it easier for you to work out what’s going on when it all goes pair shaped. But that I’m afraid, will bring you back to problem solving.

Don’t jump straight in a try and write a Quake3 game. Even writing Wolf-3D as your first project would be quite a mountain. Think small, think early 80’s arcade machine, think GameBoy Colo(u)r. But ultimately you’ll need to think original if you want to goto a galaxy far, far away…