Getting frustrated with programming.

mikenovemberoscar · 2013-04-02T14:39:59

Hi all, frustrated hobby programmer here. The story goes something like this... I've been programming for a while, making stupid text based games, and messing around but you could count my list of finished projects on Bart Simpson's hand. I recently tried to use SFML (GLUT didn't work anymore) but I just kept running into problem after error after problem. Before that I tried to get started with networking (sockets and that) but I'm on a Mac it's hard to find relevant tutorials for people with no experience. The list goes on. I'm pretty open minded to any sort of interesting project, but the thing is I just can't find any. I am pretty fluent in C++ and a few other languages but I just am out of ideas (and steam). It feels like I've followed all the 'beginner' tutorials, but where do I go now? The state of computer education where I live at my stage is abysmal. I like games, but I am constantly getting bogged down hacking graphics libraries to work with my code. I wanted to write a compiler but it seems all the tutorials are for people at university. I wrote a text based adventure, it was pretty boring and I again got stuck at the final hurdle: actually releasing the executable and source files. Where did you go after learning the beginner tutorials? I would like to do something vaguely interesting, what options are available? How can I actually implement my language skills, without getting bogged down in technology I don't really need? Are there any half decent graphics/network/audio libraries for Mac? Are there any guides for getting started with them (I like SFML but there is not a lot of Xcode relevant documentation). Are there any intermediate projects you think are worth giving a shot?

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Started by mikenovemberoscar March 30, 2013 02:52 PM

10 comments, last by mikenovemberoscar 11 years, 5 months ago

OandO

1,576

April 01, 2013 05:19 PM

If you're still interested in networking, Gaffer on Games is a great starting point. Like you I do all my programming on a Mac, and it can be difficult to find tutorials on the topic that cover both Unix and Windows. It's fairly lengthy read but: http://gafferongames.com/networking-for-game-programmers/ has plenty of source code and clear descriptions. It doesn't do in to specifics of what to send or when for fairly obvious reasons, but it'll help you solve all the basic, one-time-only problems about sending data.