Ive been scouring these forums for some time and I am a complete newbie at all of this. I am, however becoming more afraid as I read more posts, especially the ones in the math and physics section. I am good at math, at least I thought so but every time I read one of those posts I feel like a complete idiot. I have gone up to calculus one which I took a couple years back. I lack practice so I have forgotten most of it. I really am intimidated and unable to understand much of what is done in that math and physics section and my morale drops every time I see it. Am I just dumb or is this normal for a complete rookie? Its all so daunting. Please someone help clear this up for me. from a discouraged newbie. thanks to all who reply =) Edited by - hapaboy on September 28, 2001 7:11:04 AM

What are you trying to do ?
You do not need all the materials presented here to program a game.
If you wish to make a 3D game with complex lighting and realistic physics then yes you will
need to have an understanding of matrices operations and physic models.
If you wish to make a 2D game, you will not need all of this. Tetris, Pong, Pacman are very simple
to program: they involve very little math.

Start small with simple steps:
- read the section for Beginners.
- buy some books on basic programming (the ones by Lamotte or by Lampton are excellent)
- start small and advance by steps (example of games you can develop at that step):
- setting up a window
- plotting a pixel in that window
- drawing lines, circles and rectangles (tic tac toe or a wire maze game)
- loading a bitmap, displaying a bitmap (basic sprite editor - not a game but useful)
- optimizing all the drawing algorithms you have programmed (the previous games display faster)
- animating a single bitmap in the window (draughts, small wargames)
- clipping bitmap in the window (2D arcade games like asteroids)
- and so on ...

Those steps only involve additions, substractions, multiplications and divisions. They do not take
into account the necessity to learn how to get the player input or how to read a file (eventhough
it may seem discouraging, it is very easy moreover when you have some books and the WWW).

You can allways add later to those basic steps. (You can set up many different kinds of windows,
or draw a circle in many different ways, or study the raycasting games that are 2.5D then 3D...).

Do not get discouraged, follow the steps thoroughly and you will be rewarded by experience.
Red.

Thanks anon but I think I didnt articulate my thoughts very well on my last post. Its not that I dont want to learn the math or physics, its just that I read posts and it seems that these forums are filled with geniuses. Does all this math and physics knowledge come with study and practice? If it does, how long did it take you to learn all this?

OOps posted 3 times...the above poster is me

Edited by - hapaboy on September 28, 2001 7:29:00 AM

disregard


Edited by - hapaboy on September 28, 2001 7:29:29 AM

A lot of math needed here is more specialized than what gets taught in highschool. It isn''t really harder though. If you know a little Linear Algebra, a little Calculus, and a lot of Trigonometry you''ll do fine. I''ve only seen Linear Algebra taught as a course in colleges, but if you take any class that does 3D Physics (Kinetics) you end up learning the basic of it pretty well.

[Resist Windows XP''s Invasive Production Activation Technology!]

I must confess I am from France. I started trigonometry and algebra at school when I was 12.
Matrices were a little while later though. I cannot tell you how to learn math in the USA since
I do not know how your courses are organized.

Some articles are math intensive and are based on programming 3D worlds renderers (for games
or other purposes). If 3D is the way to go for you, check:

For an easy introduction, I would suggest
- Flights Of Fantasy from Christopher Lampton / Waite Press Group.
- Gardens Of Imagination from the same author and the same editor.
Both books are a little dated, but they are an excellent introduction to 3D programming without
much equations.
- The Black Art of 3D Game Programming (do not remember the author).
The code in these three books is in C and it is compiled on DOS. It can easily be converted for
other platforms. The basics of 3D are very well explained.

For the definite opus on 3D algorithms:
- the Foley / Van Dam book on Graphics (I do not remember the title at the moment). It will
cover everything from basic 2D algorithms to more complex 3D ones with clear explanations and
pseudo code. This is *the* reference book.

Hope this helps.
Red.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
For the definite opus on 3D algorithms:
- the Foley / Van Dam book on Graphics (I do not remember the title at the moment).

"Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice."

And yes, it is the definitve opus.