Hi guys, I am absolutely a babe i the woods as far as gaming is concerned and in pursuit of it...i have reached gamedev. can someone please tell me if programming for xbox,dreamcaster,ps2 is the same as programming for Pc''s are the languages used the same and are just the compilers different, with some platform specific methods routines and calls, or do these use entirely different languages? what are the languages generally used in gaming technology...and which is the most used and why? now guys before somebody tells me to go check out "what languages do i use" by John Hattan, well i have read it. But would still like to know ur opinion and reasons. I want to make a start and a good start at that(don''t we all) so would definitely appreciate any inputs/guidance. I have more questons but guess for the time being this would do... thanx cheers mayavi creativity is the only hope.

I only have time to answer the simple part ... about platform languages -

Almost all platforms use C for their programming language, with newer ones offering C++ as well. all of the platforms you mentioned provide C/C++ compilers. The dreamcast even offers WinCE support, and the PS2 offers dev tools by Metrowerks. BUT ... most of the games graphics, sound, networking, file and resource management, user interface, etc ... uses the Platform or Operating System''s specific APIs. So, basically you need to learn C/C++ program organization / structures / and format, then become profiecient at ONE of the specific game oriented platforms or APIs, because they all share 90% functionality .. like PlaySound() and MakeConnection() ... some are higher level and better organized than others ... but they are all very similar. The PS2 is probably the platform most likely to make you think different, since the architchture offers many strange and new abilities for those who have the time to solve their coding problems specifically for it. Personally, I always think in the vanillia flavored, shared API mentality, hence I''m not a platform coding Guru.

Hey thanx xai,

Anybody else have any helpful tips/suggestions/opinions???

cheers,
Mayavi

creativity is the only hope.

hi!
iam also a newbie! this is how i started: i programmed in qbasic a lot! i also did graphic-games which was very exhausting. after a while i got bored of the small possibilities qbasic offers me! and that was the great day i changed to C/C++! i bought a book called "Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0" from Ian Parberry, which is great!!! i heartly recommend this book! the directX 7.0 development kit is on the book-cdrom and if you have Visual C++ from microsoft you can start programming straight away! and now at the moment iam looking for a fast 2d-engine for my game that supports 800x600x16bit!

good luck,
woodruff