The Beginning Programmer's Page

So, You Want To Start Programming?

Info for the beginning programmer.

Before you start

I suggest you learn a programming language. C and C++ are the most common languages for games, but Pascal and Assembly are also good choices. Most games are a mix between C/C++ and assembly. Learning assembly with C/C++ allows you to make critical code faster.

Also, get a compiler. If you have money, get Watcom C/C++, but if you don't there is a freeware C/C++ compiler called DJGPP. (This site is mirrored here.). This compiler is very good and was used to make Quake, while Watcom was used to make a lot of other games. If you choose Assembly there is a great assembler called A86. It's shareware, and comes with a debugger called D86. For Watcom C/C++ there is a FAQ written by Paul Hsieh.

Learning Game Programming

Next read the getting started in game programming FAQ. A lot of important stuff is written there. Check out some of the other FAQs on my links page as well. Also, get some books. It's easier to learn techniques from books, than to make them yourself. Of course, if you don't have the money there are tons of FAQs and pages on the net to keep you busy until the next millennium. The FAQs are good, but nothing beats a good book.

There are a couple of good books on game programming out there. These include:

Black Art Of 3D Game Programming A great book with lots of general info and specific 3d info.
Game Programming Explorer Another great book for sprite based games that covers lots of general stuff.
Tricks of The Game Programming Gurus An older book with so much stuff in it. Great!
More Tricks of The Game Programming Gurus The sequel discusses tons of cool topics.
Building a 3d Game Engine in C++ For anybody who wants to know how to make a good portable 3d engine
Zen of Graphics Programming 2d Edition From Michael Abrash the master of graphics and one of the programmers of Quake. This is a must for supercharged graphics programming.
C the Complete Reference Third Edition by Herbert Schildt. Great C reference.

All of these books have CDs or disks with lots of code and examples, so you can get started on your games really quickly.

Once You Start

Once you get started and have a basic understanding of game making and how everything works, you should start to make your first game. Your first game shouldn't be too complicated. It should be simple, but also it should be something you enjoy. You have to accept that your first game isn't going to be the next hit, and just make it enjoyable. You'll learn more by making your first couple of games than anything that any book or document can ever pump into you.

Once you're past your first simple games you can start to incorporate more advanced techniques. Although you should probably write your first games with some standard library (GameKit?) so you don't have to worry about all the details, you can start making graphics code from scratch. This will let you have supercharged code that will do more than any generalized library could ever dream of. One good strategy is to make your own small game library with commonly used functions and use those so you don't have to start completely from start every time. This will also help you build experience.

Major Game Design

Once you're past the learning stage you'll want to build major complex games. This is where game design comes in. Game design is a lot more important than the actual programming. You need to come up with an idea, setting, characters and story. Then you have to put these all together logically and storyboard the scenes of your game. You also need to design a user interface and decide how the game will output and input its data. That is what kind of graphics you want, what kind of control and what kind of sound. Only after you have a solid idea of at least the story, interface, input and output should you start coding.

It might be a good idea to get more people together in a group if you're going to do something major. You could have one or more programmers, graphic artists, sound people, music people, and designers. This way you can split up the tasks, finish earlier and make a better product since everyone is using their own skills, and not doing something they don't want to.

All of the links to the programs mentioned above are on my links page as well, along with numerous others. This tutorial will be updated with more info. If you have problems or questions, e-mail me.

Back To Lucian's Game Programming Page

Email Me: gamedev@stealth.com.au