Hello. I''m learning C now with the intention of learning some form of game development. NOw I''ve read the first thing to do is to learn about BIOS interrupts and plotting pixels on the screen. And so my question is what are some good resources which teach one how to use C, for instance, to begin graphically programming? How do I take C and use it to graphically program? What do I have to know for this?

Hi,
learn about BIOS interrupts ? You won''t need that anymore. If you know C, then start learning C++ and how to use the WinAPI, when you know these, learn how to use OpenGL or DirectX and then you''ll what you gotta learn.

CU

Graphix Coding @
Skullpture Entertainment

I have been playing with C for a while but recently started to learn some C++ and Directx. Depending on the type of games you are interested in Directx in C++ might be a good way to go especially for 2D type games(I haven''t looked closely Direct 3D yet so I can''t comment on the differences between it and OpenGL for 3D games). I just bought a book that I really like called "Windows Game Programming for Dummies" which fits me like a glove It covers many windows issues and is a great place to start to learn Directx for game programming.

I like C++ from the object oriented aspects as well. OO makes handling objects and whatnot in games ten times easier, imho.

Sieggy

Which compilers can be used with Windows? Which compilers does the author refer to or suggest? ==Windows Game Prog. for Dummies I mean...

If you can afford it, get Visual C++ 6.0. It''s about $100 dollars, and is pretty much the de facto Windows compiler. This is also the compiler that Andre Lamothe uses in his Dummies book.

If you cant afford MSVC, there are other options:

* LCC-Win32 - this compiler has a poor IDE and no C++ support but besides that its quite okay.
* DJGPP - You''re supposed to be able to set this up for Windows (using RXDSNT or something like that), but i never succeded in doing it.
* Mingw32 - No IDE. Never really used it, so i dont know much about it.
* Cygwin - The Win32 port of GCC

Those are a few, but still MSVC is the far best compiler out there today, no doubt.

VC++ 6 "introductory edition" is included on the CD with "Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus" - an expanded version of Windows Game Programming For Dummies (an excellent book, BTW, although it assumes some knowledge of C). The introductory edition puts a splash screen about not selling the program in front of everything, but for the purposes of learning (as opposed to distributing what you write), its excellent.