Hi... I am a novice C/C++ programmer, and a beginning Game developer... I formed this wonderful little game in my head...I have all the units figured out, buildings,gameplay,story, (I''m trying to make an RTS). The problem is, i''m confused about how to start... I wanted this game to be a 2d RTS. And made in C++. WHat i can''t decide is what to use, OpenGL, or DirectX. And also, i have to idea HOW to use these things... so... I was just wondering, what should i do? Right now, i don''t want this to be something major, just a small, thing, but then i want to develop this into a sort of Online Game, not just the ability to play online battles, i''m talking a online story based war... well, it may be farfetched but... hey... any replies would be appreciated... Drona_

Hello drona_. Your question is a common one among beginners.

The API you use is entirely up to you. Both have advantages and disadvantages. DirectX is very powerful, but OpenGL might be easier. Also, DirectX has DirectDraw (DX 7.0 and below, but you can still access it from 8.0) which is good for 2D graphics, while OpenGL is mainly for 3D. However, you can still do 2D in OpenGL, and you can still do 2D in Direct3D, with the advantage of 3D hardware acceleration, so it doesn't matter.

Basically, go find out whatever you can about DirectX and OpenGL, and decide for yourself what is best. Then buy a book about whichever you choose (if you decide to choose DirectX, then "Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus" is a must-have).

Also, RTS games aren't the easiest type of games to make. I'm sure you'd be able to make one, but don't expect to on your first game. You should start off very simple, and work your way up.

Edited by - Midnight Coder on August 19, 2001 3:45:09 AM

I would have to agree with Midnight, in that you RTS games aren''t the easiest games to write. Plus, since you said yourself that you are a beginner in the game programming world, I think you should start a little bit smaller for your first game. But keep that game idea on paper or in your head and as you get better and making smaller games, your eyes will open to a whole bunch of stuff that you may have overlooked in your initial thought of the game.

Just a thought



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Zirem Software