Good Afternoon,

Just to get it out of the way I am an absolute beginner when it comes to programming. I just got out of the military on December 5th, prior to joining my experience with PC's stem from getting my first PC in my Junior year in high school (a tag sale Commodore 64 at that... yeah with them big floppy disks and having to type :

Load "*" 8,1

to run things....yeah). I got a modern laptop while I was in the military and spent that time gaming ( World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Diablo 3). Enough of that though just had to throw that out on the table so you know how much of a beginner I am. Since I've gotten out I've enrolled into Sacred Heart University in their Game Development Track utilizing my GI Bill, and my first semester starts next week.

Of course, I wanted to get a good head start and start learning as much as possible before class starts, so I ended up downloading an RSS app and bookmarked this page and the reddit.com/r/gamedev. Which I browse whenever there's downtime and read practically every new article that comes up to learn stuff. (Oh and I do apologize in advance if what I'm saying now as well as later on seem like advertising, it really isn't, it's just what I found most helpful to me. So to stop beating around the bush what I'm looking for is, to see if my thought process on what I should be doing after cross referencing a lot of beginner threads on this forum, as well as other sites have guided me so far.

Majority of beginner threads I read seem to have the same pattern. Practice the basics, pick whatever language you want, ideally an easy to learn one, don't blow your load on a hard game, yadi yadi yah. Well after seeing a lot of suggestions recommending Unity and C#. I started messing with that. Everything was going good, and getting a handle on the interface, and concepts.

Then after I formally got accepted in Sacred Heart. I learned that most of my classes are going to be C++. So after reading another thread on here on GameDev.net, I ended up dumping C# for C++ since that's what we're gonna be learning in school. I signed up for the GitHub student pack (https://education.github.com/pack) for the free UE4, so I can mess with that. I signed up for that back on the 28th, but the requests are backed up so I haven't been able to use it yet, hoping it comes in soon.

Well anyways, after watching a TON of videos on just the basics, (the one I found the most useful for me to grasp concepts: https://www.youtube.com/user/makinggameswithben. Can not recommend this guy enough. Between cross referencing his stuff with the books Game Coding Complete, Game Engine Architecture 2nd Edition, and Programming Principles and Practice with C++, I've had so many, "OH GOT IT" moments compared to the first week with just the Programming Principles and Practice with C++ book (couldn't get them all at once had to buy y school books too which were like $150 a pop ;/ ).

Well anyways, I've completed the C++ Game Tutorials on Bens Youtube page. I am still making my way through the books, because I'll admit a lot of the stuff is still over my head especially since I'm still in console land. Once again really sorry for all the background info, just trying to give you all the info so you know where I'm at. I've done all the exercises on Ben's Page. The Number Guessing, The Rogue-like, etc. Once again all Console based stuff.

My questions now are:

1.) My next goal is a jump into graphics. Is it a downfall that I'm really sick of console based games right now? Should I still be practicing in console window land? I read some articles here between OpenGL, and DirectX and I'm leaning towards Direct X.

2.) How similar are UE and Unity? While I was messing with Unity, I felt like a lot of the stuff was spoonfed to you, and it felt wrong. I know it's an IDE, and that's what it's supposed to do. Am I wrong for feeling that initially I had that ignorance is bliss in regards to oh I can just utilize all these drop downs and have most of the work done for me?

3.) Are there any recommendations for sites, or youtube pages, that's like Ben's, but for DirectX.

4.) Anything else I may have overlooked that you would've told a complete beginner. Anything. Seriously anything at all.

delete[] pWallOfText;

I would think a little about directx. Everything is going to web and multiplatform and that leaves directx kind of out. It's proprietary and it's like using something specific to an Apple computer or whatever. WebGL will be the graphics standard eventually, since we all use the web. It's already accepted on pretty much everything, but I think Microsoft is fighting it a little. No idea why you are sick of the console, it can basically do anything.

From what you've said, I would recommend SFML and OpenGL, I think, or do some searches. UE is a scripting language mostly, so from the way you are talking, probably not quite the right direction. More like Unity.

I would get some 2d images from OpenGameArt and just do some 2d games first with SFML, and then possibly move to Opengl.

Sounds good, appreciate the advice. I'll get SFML, and try to make Pong for now.

As for the sick of console, I'm referring to the word based games. I want to do something graphically, even if it's just like pong, then brick breaker, etc. Small steps, just wasn't sure if now was the right time or if there's a lot more basic things I should know in advance before making that next step.

As for UE being a scripting language mostly, like I said I have 0 experience with it, just what I saw from the main product page, but how so. Just asking cause I thought I had a general idea of what it was atleast, guess I was wrong.I thought it was sorta like Unity. As in it was an IDE, that you had a choice of unrealscript or C++. Sorta like how Unity had a choice of C#, I think Javascript? and boo.

but yeah I'll definitely look into SFML for now. Thanks.

I haven't actually used UE, so I might be wrong, but c++ is hardly ever used for a scripting language because it kind of defeats the purpose of not worrying about memory management. When an engine is set up for scripting, then you mainly add classes that extend the functionality.

Honestly, I'm prolly gonna wait for a couple more responses and just continue with the video tutorials for now.

I haven't actually used UE, so I might be wrong,

as well as going over a couple other of your posts, you tend to give opinions on things you've never used, and make a lot of assumptions, and you know what they say when you assume. Not sure how to say this without being rude, but your credibility in my eyes dropped pretty drastically. I do appreciate you at least responding though.

Being in a game development track doesn't tell us much. Is it programming, game design, modeling, animation, or some combination?

What makes you think that you want to make games? I have witnessed many people enter computer degree programs (programming, IT, animation, games) with excitement only to discover that while they love computers, they don't really want to work with them. It is a big difference between loving games and making games. Being good with computers doesn't mean you can make programs for them.

If you are doing C/C++ I'll assume that you are programming.

I understand that console apps are boring, but you've got years of boring console programming ahead of you. There's nothing wrong with getting into graphics, but don't expect the console stuff to go away. It won't. OpenGL and DirectX are just libraries to do the same kind of stuff in different ways for different platforms. Find a book or some tutorials and give it a try.

Being in a game development track doesn't tell us much. Is it programming, game design, modeling, animation, or some combination?

What makes you think that you want to make games? I have witnessed many people enter computer degree programs (programming, IT, animation, games) with excitement only to discover that while they love computers, they don't really want to work with them. It is a big difference between loving games and making games. Being good with computers doesn't mean you can make programs for them.

If you are doing C/C++ I'll assume that you are programming.

I understand that console apps are boring, but you've got years of boring console programming ahead of you. There's nothing wrong with getting into graphics, but don't expect the console stuff to go away. It won't. OpenGL and DirectX are just libraries to do the same kind of stuff in different ways for different platforms. Find a book or some tutorials and give it a try.

I apologize, it's Programming specific.

I understand what I'm getting into. Especially when I initially started looking into schools to enroll in once I got out, the first place I started looking into was Full Sail University. I've read numerous stories, of people who went for the sole reason they loved playing video games. As well as I have been reading these forums as well as the gamedev reddit page every couple of minutes just to see what new problem has been solved. Hell, as newbie as this sounds to the experienced guys, you know what actually got me excited in the past couple of hours... doing the whole transferring the value of two variables, without creating a third using:

A ^= B;
B ^= A;
A ^= B;

Sad I know.....

I know I gave off the impression that I'm done with the console, I know I'm not. It's just I want to see more. I really want to at least get something going on the graphics side. Like I mentioned before even if it's just pong, I'm 110% content with that. I'm trying hard to make it not sound like one of those hundreds of posts I see constantly like, "I want to start to learn programming, where do I begin", "I want to make a game like xxx, what api do I use", " I want to get into game development how do I make an MMO". Cause I'm sure you guys are tired of those. Though I guess posts asking for resources is about on par. Just wanted to see if there were any resources that you personally have found extremely helpful. Sorta like how the programming with Ben gave my learning a huge jumpstart. Once again sorry if I did portray my intentions wrong.

http://handmadehero.org/

doing the whole transferring the value of two variables, without creating a third using:
A ^= B;
B ^= A;
A ^= B;

Yep, it's a neat trick :) On of many that C++ has to offer. And although it is good to know them, please be careful to use it in your code. Unless you are trying to squeeze the last bit of performance and/or available resources - the readable code is much more important. You WILL return to your code after some time and the easier it will be to understand the faster you will fix that bug or add this new feature.

doing the whole transferring the value of two variables, without creating a third using:
A ^= B;
B ^= A;
A ^= B;

Yep, it's a neat trick On of many that C++ has to offer. And although it is good to know them, please be careful to use it in your code. Unless you are trying to squeeze the last bit of performance and/or available resources - the readable code is much more important. You WILL return to your code after some time and the easier it will be to understand the faster you will fix that bug or add this new feature.

Yeah definitely appreciate the heads up. That definitely is one thing I've been having trouble trying to balance.

Balancing between just doing stuff to get it done, and practicing good habits. Like for instance I know right now it doesn't matter for small examples it doesn't matter at all that I'm cout'ing everything, or using namespace std, but I've been consciously forcing myself to printf/puts, or in the second case std:: . Once again it doesn't matter now, but always felt it's better to build those habits now.

Think it's just the fact that all these articles I've read about sloppy coding or just doing stuff to get things done within deadlines, as well as a little OCD... gets me nervous about how I do things, but I guess on the other hand I'm absolutely no where near that level anyway to even need to worry about optimization right now.

Haven't seen this one yet, but it looks awesome. Definitely gonna start from video one, and check it out. Thank you Glass_Knife.