Hi guys. First off, I am sorry if this is a FAQ. BEAR with me. =) I am one year out of college. I've have been working for 1 year devleoping in ASP.net, VB, and SQL server. I have decided that game development is something I should pursue. It has not always been my passion, but I think it would be fun. My plan is to develop a few small game projects, and go on a job search in the summer. I think the source samples are essential for my own confidence and competence in the work, and probably a huge plus to go with my resume. My main question is, what do you think is a more marketable language out of these?: C++ (Win32 API or MFC?) or C#.nET? how about C++.NET? When I say marketable, I'm not refering to high pay. I actually expect to take a pay cut breaking into the industry. However, I am looking for something in widespread use in the gaming industry. Also, on a database backend, what is the most popularly used DB for games that require it? MS SQL server, ORacle, MySQL? I've written a couple small games in C# already, but I have high aptitude for these other languages... and ... for example... if 90% of game developers use C++ and MFC then, maybe I should create source for that... Thank you, anyone who knows about these things! Dylan =)

Most commercial games are in C++. That'll probably change in the future, but it is the state today. Unless you want to do tools (hey, it's a way in), MFC isn't that useful (if you want to do tools, it can be).

As far a DB backends go, look at your games, most don't use one at all (except MMOs).