Advice from a programmer needed.?

Question

I have been studing programming in visual basic for a while now (6mo. to a year) and I am wondering what I need to do next. want to be a game programmer and have read a book called "visual basic game programing for teens" and I do not yet fully understand it. For the last month I have been working on a program that will help me study for spanish class and am almost done. My main goal is to be able to make games in C++.
What should I do next to help me achive my goals?

should I

1.study this book some more untill I fully understand it. (That may help me lear some concepts that will be usefull when learning C++)

2. continue making small programs (This way I can get some more experiance in programming)

3.Start learning c++ (that is the standard programmang language used in the game industry is it not?)

I could really use some advice from an exprianced programmer.

The book I have foucuses on using direct X in programming visual basic. (which is why I am having a hard time with the book)

I am however Interested in learning direct X

Answer 1

Well, Mr. James R. it sounds to me like your own three suggestions are the best. Keep re-reading the book until you understand it (I've thumbed it in the bookstore, a little basic for me, you're lucky you have such resources, I didn't when I started!). Make small applications that reinforce lessons in the book, and also learn C++ as performance intensive code will need it.

I also recommend XNA, as it will allow you to design a game in C# or VB.net which really helps things along, a lot of low level classes (like String, and Collections) already exist so you can concentrate on what you want to do.

Also, since you want to learn game programming, learn 3D math like vector and matrix operations, or if you're really ambitious, the ubiquitous quaternion. You'll be using these a lot in game design, and the sooner you understand them the sooner you can put them to work for you!

Answer 2

One thing you might consider since you are probably pretty comfortable working in Visual Studio(?) is taking a look at XNA from Microsoft. It is a free platform for game design and requires you to install C# Express(also free) as the IDE. The benefit from this I believe is that if you have experience with the IDE for Visual Basic, you'll spend less time trying to figure out how to do things and more time really coding! The downside is that you would have to learn C# which syntactically is a lot like C languages, but learning a new language is never a bad thing. The downloaded XNA Studio provides a few starter kits and demonstrates how XNA has abstracted a lot of the lower level language concepts you would have to go through with C++.

On a side note, these games built in XNA can run on Windows, which might be a sore point for some people, and they will have the ability to run on the XBOX 360 eventually. I think there is actually a community that you pay a membership to to share games with other XNA developers and might be a good entry point into picking up useful critiquing of your gameplay and design capabilities.

Answer 3

I found python to be a great language for learning certain concepts in regards to game development.

However; even this article: http://www.pythonthreads.com/ indicates that "Python is already being used by professional game developers in a number of popular commercial games, including the award winning Star Trek Bridge Commander , Freedom Force. Still C and C++ are the favorite languages for game development. "

So yes, you should forget about your Visual Basic book.
You should focus on C/C++ but, if you are concerned about a learning curve then I'd encourage you to get the latest "Python bible" book and learn python (it'll be extremely easy - I promise)

Then learn about your game development in python. C/C++ are used because the c/c++ is faster when working through complicated algorithms.

You should also consider spending time in the game engfine development. There are a couple good books you can look for:
3D Game Engine Design and 3D Game Engine Architecture - both books are written by David H. Eberly

Good luck, if you have questions feel free to email me.

Answer 4

Hello,

I would recommend you to learn about DirectX programming. To accomplish your dream of game programming in C++, you learn DirectX programming. Even VB too can be used to make games using DirectX.

It is mandatory for most modern windows games. To make games more interactive you can learn Artificial Intelligence concepts.
I presume you know C.

You start learning C followed by C++.

If you wish to learn AI concepts means you must take a course in Data Structures before that.

Enjoy game programming...

All the Best

Answer 5

Really all of the above but if your goal is to go towards C++ which it should then go with an intro to C++ book and work from there, there is definately a difference between VB and C++ - though logic will stay relatively the same. But while applying the C++ do it the same way, create solutions to problems you have; its the best way to get first hand experience.

Answer 6

Python gets another vote from me. You can do *a lot* of things with Python, including both game design and web programming. As a programmer, it's a great tool to have in your toolbox. I'd recommend that you pick up a copy of "Beginning Python" (Apress); I've found it the best introductory book (Amazon link listed below in my sources).

Also, Python has a network application framework called "Twisted". It was originally created to be the backbone of a MMORPG that the authors were creating, allowing them to support many simultaneous players.