Hey everyone, so I have just started my professional career as an engineer and always had a love for video games and decided to try and create a simple game as a way to learn a new language and have a project. For my question: I was wondering what languages would be most beneficial to me starting new. I am very strong in programming (I work on MATLAB daily) so I am not worried about the difficulty too much. For the game: I want to create a fairly simple 2-D platform as a proof of concept. Development and the game should be made for the PC. Lastly the art style is still up in the air so a language that was a little more flexible would be the best. Thanks! Let me know if there is anything i missed.

Welcome.

Programming-wise I came from the Java-road and made my first demo of a 3d-game using the jmonkey engine. It kind of got the job done but after digging into the matter you really notice the limitations of always being dependent on some underlying abstraction-layer. After this I experimented with some languages and finally dug into C++ and stayed there. It allows you to utilize the machine to a great extend, is powerful and independent in many ways. Today I wouldn't even think about using any other language for games than C/C++.

I suggest learning C/C++ and then quickly trying to set something up with SDL or SFML. Those are perfect for simple 2D games.

I used C# XNA for my first 2D games. As XNA was discontinued by Microsoft, you might want to take a look at MonoGame which is kind of an unofficial successor which implements the API of XNA 4.

Thanks for the replies! A follow up question: I have a book on C do these principles work for C++ and C#?

C is a procedural language whereas both C# and C++ are object oriented. If you have experience with OOP you might be able to "translate" the principles from C to C# or C++ (of course you could also write procedural in these languages, but what's the point of using them then?). Otherwise I'd suggest to get a book on C# or C++.

Without knowing the specifics of the game you wish to make nor what languages you already know, its hard to say.

If you already know a structured language such as C and are making this 2D game for fun, then I would recommend learning Java and using its standard libraries for basic graphics and keyboard input.

On the other hand, if you wish to take it to a professional level and have commerical goals in mind then C++ and DirectX is the way to go.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with the project!

For the game: I want to create a fairly simple 2-D platform as a proof of concept.

This kind of project can benefit a lot from pieces of software such as Game Develop or Game Maker.

Of course, you could take the longer route and program it, but consider using Löve2D or similar frameworks instead of going C++ and OpenGL.

If you already have a good grasp of programming (through your Matlab experience) you can just pick a language and go with it. I would advise C# and XNA, but apparently that's gone. Check out MonoGame, as suggested by Jan2go. I've used C++ with SFML, and for 2D games it works very well. The community is very active and even if you don't like C++, there are bindings for other languages.