after learning pascal last year i managed to do some text games and some games using characters and ascii as graphics, but very very basic. I''ve now also learnt c++ and can again make text games as i know relatively the same amount of functions. as far as i know, its nearly impossible to do proper graphical games for either of these languages. is this true? if not exactly how do you get graphics on the screen. if the answer is no to being able to do graphics, i gather im going to have to learn directx or opengl after continuing the learning of c++, what is used on console games? special development kits or something like directx/opengl? thx for ur help What about me? What about Raven?

Yeah your gonna probably have to learn directx or opengl although there are otehr things you can use out there.

To answer your second question consoles use their own sdk although I believe the X-Box is going to use a modified version of directx.

You could use bitblt in the winapi but that would be very laggy if making a complicated game. If you are going for a game which is graphics extensive, or any game with tilemaps and such, go with DirectX. Going for 3D games, DirectX or OpenGL. I don''t plan on doing anything 3d anytime soon, so I can''t suggest which you should go for...

good, got some answers to questions

also is it worth using a sdk like a 2d-Scrolling-Game-platformer type thingy Development Kit where most of it is done already, woud it be worth it to learn anything?

What about me? What about Raven?

wait, so for my tetris or breakout clone game that i aim soon to start, how do i get it up on screen?

What about me? What about Raven?

If you are doing a simple tetris game, use the windows GDI functions. If you want to know how, do a search on google (I don''t believe gamedev.net covers gdi programming but I could be wrong)

How about using SDL www.libsdl.org (for Windows and Linux)
or Allegro www.allegro.cc (for DOS, Windows and Linux too I think).

I suggest that you try, for example, SDL before moving to OpenGL or DirectX. And learning SDL can be a good experience (well, what wouldn''t...)

quote: Original post by Pegu
SDL ... for Windows and Linux

and BeOS, MacOS, Solaris, IRIX, and FreeBSD.

A good 2D library for Windows is CDX. It does a lot of the code for you and really helps to start out. And you can make some pretty sweet stuff with it. Check it out at http://www.cdxlib.com

Always remember, you''''re unique. Just like everyone else.