How do you keep interest?

[Kyosaur]

I've been trying to learn c++ for quite a while now, but i always hit the SAME problem. I love programming, but i just HATE making text based games. Im no where near ready to start messing with SDL, so what do i do? Is there an engine that handles the graphics side of things? I think that is exactly what i need in order to actually learn and stick with C++.

These text-based games are just pushing me away.


-Kyoshiro.

[epicasian]

Patience. I know that it's hard, but you need to stick with it. For example, I really did not get the point of pointers (pun intended) when I first started learning C++. So I kept re-reading the chapter in my C++ book on pointers. I made a few test programs to see what you can do with pointers, how they work, and eventually found myself learning through those test programs. It wasn't necessarily games (actually, none of my C++ practice programs are games) but I stayed with it through patience.

Hope this helps.

[MadPumpkin]

I don't keep interest. when I get bored of programming complicated things, I go online and read about game development and other programming topics.

The best way is to have a long term goal. Basically you're making text based games, so in the back of your mind you're thinking, "Why am I doing this? Well sure I'll learn lots but in the long run no ones going to play it". I always felt this way when I was making text based games and programs like that. So what I did, was thought about what my more distant goals were, "Make a something that people will use, I might earn some loot to help with college, AND will get my name out there". Even at the time I realized that 2/3 if not all of those weren't likely to happen, but I didn't really care. Just the THOUGHT of those three things is what has been driving me to continue development.

I haven't been on here in ages, and I haven't talked at all about my new "project" on here, but I definitely have a project in the workings. I think it's bad luck for me to tell everyone about my projects though because then my drive on that project drops a bit. I'm like, "Well now that they know!".

But yea, good luck man. If I were you, I'd honestly just start messing with SDL. Someone is going to shoot me for saying this that early in your programming experience, but do it. I did after not even completing a text based game, but the point was that I understood at LEAST 10% how. And messing with SDL and ODE definitely is the only way I got this far.

Cheers, Josh.

[Kyosaur]

Patience. I know that it's hard, but you need to stick with it. For example, I really did not get the point of pointers (pun intended) when I first started learning C++. So I kept re-reading the chapter in my C++ book on pointers. I made a few test programs to see what you can do with pointers, how they work, and eventually found myself learning through those test programs. It wasn't necessarily games (actually, none of my C++ practice programs are games) but I stayed with it through patience.

Hope this helps.

I have plenty of patience, this is actually the second programming language i will be learning. I spent 3 years learning a programming language called PAWN which is mostly used for embedded systems (I only learned it because of a San Andreas multiplayer modification turned me on to it). Im looking for something of this nature, where i can just focus on learning and testing things in c++, while still having fun doing it.

I've been reading THIS book (only one i could find a download for) and its going pretty well. Like i said before though, text-based games are just killing it for me.

Should i learn SDL so i can actually put what im learning to use? Or is there a system written to handle graphics so i can just create games to practice what i learn? I dont think im going to get anywhere just reading this book and testing things like:

Code: Select all

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

void main()
{
	vector<string> Vector;

	vector<string>::iterator iter;

	Vector.push_back("testing");
	Vector.push_back("vectors");
	Vector.push_back("and iterators");

	for(iter = Vector.begin(); iter < Vector.end(); iter++)
	{
		cout << *iter << "\t\t" << iter->length() << "\n";
	}

	char str;
	cin >> str;
}

And moving on if they work. I need to be having FUN and continuously using these newly learned concepts D:

[qpHalcy0n]

Well, there's no reason that you can't just hop right into whatever it is that you want to do. Game programming is fairly abstract and if you can conceive of it, you can do it. If this is your first experience with a high level language then you can learn alot in the process. I wouldn't think entirely in terms of learning the language then this then that, step A, then step B, then step C. I tend to approach development in terms of "Here's what i'm thinking about, what do I need to get it done". Allow the language to work FOR you and if you can get some results, then you're well on your way to boosting your own progress through tough hurdles.

The best programmer on my team came from an almost entirely VB background. He developed most of the backend for some major systems without any formal knowledge of C++, despite the fact that he was coding C and C++ on the projects.

Concepts over language. Don't hold yourself back, if you want to jump right into it....by all means. Do it.

[Kyosaur]

I don't keep interest. when I get bored of programming complicated things, I go online and read about game development and other programming topics.

The best way is to have a long term goal. Basically you're making text based games, so in the back of your mind you're thinking, "Why am I doing this? Well sure I'll learn lots but in the long run no ones going to play it". I always felt this way when I was making text based games and programs like that. So what I did, was thought about what my more distant goals were, "Make a something that people will use, I might earn some loot to help with college, AND will get my name out there". Even at the time I realized that 2/3 if not all of those weren't likely to happen, but I didn't really care. Just the THOUGHT of those three things is what has been driving me to continue development.

I haven't been on here in ages, and I haven't talked at all about my new "project" on here, but I definitely have a project in the workings. I think it's bad luck for me to tell everyone about my projects though because then my drive on that project drops a bit. I'm like, "Well now that they know!".

But yea, good luck man. If I were you, I'd honestly just start messing with SDL. Someone is going to shoot me for saying this that early in your programming experience, but do it. I did after not even completing a text based game, but the point was that I understood at LEAST 10% how. And messing with SDL and ODE definitely is the only way I got this far.

Cheers, Josh.

Well, there's no reason that you can't just hop right into whatever it is that you want to do. Game programming is fairly abstract and if you can conceive of it, you can do it. If this is your first experience with a high level language then you can learn alot in the process. I wouldn't think entirely in terms of learning the language then this then that, step A, then step B, then step C. I tend to approach development in terms of "Here's what i'm thinking about, what do I need to get it done". Allow the language to work FOR you and if you can get some results, then you're well on your way to boosting your own progress through tough hurdles.

The best programmer on my team came from an almost entirely VB background. He developed most of the backend for some major systems without any formal knowledge of C++, despite the fact that he was coding C and C++ on the projects.

Concepts over language. Don't hold yourself back, if you want to jump right into it....by all means. Do it.

Thanks for the help, i'll be looking into some SDL tutorials, i think this is my best bet.


The only issues i have with it is that its difficult to "setup" and its difficult to find pre-written games written with it to learn from and examine.

[davidthefat]

Its just my personality type, I just have a one track mind, if I am working on a project, I just can't sleep sometimes. It annoys me when I run into an error and I can't get sleep unless I fix it. I sometimes forget to eat too.

[dandymcgee]

Thanks for the help, i'll be looking into some SDL tutorials, i think this is my best bet.


The only issues i have with it is that its difficult to "setup" and its difficult to find pre-written games written with it to learn from and examine.

It's really not as bad as it seems. Download the VC package, toss the .lib or .a files in the /lib folder, the .dll files in the /bin folder and the .h files in the /include folder. Throw the linker options in the linker and you're all set to go. Check out lazy foo's setting up SDL in Visual Studio tutorial if you haven't already.

[Trask]

Setting up a dev environment can be a real show stopper if you haven't done so before or if it involves more steps than the norm, especially since there can be so many versions and quirks to do so. Best advice? Once you successfully do it once, document it. Nothing worse than your PC crashing and you having to redo the setup and not remember to change a particular setting in VS.

As for keeping interest, especially when you're approached with learning curve is to definitely work on projects that keep you interested. Game development can be tricky, so keep your first few projects simple, take them one step at a time, but by working toward the goal of something you want to do.

[EccentricDuck]

Personally, I'm a fan of frameworks that allow you to draw something to the screen relatively quickly and with little hassle. What I'm working in currently is XNA (in C#) and it's a decent environment for that. There's pretty good beginner tutorials for it by Microsoft and some others (though there's a deficit of good advanced tutorials IMO). It's not the simplest though and, as I've been finding lately, you spend a large amount of time learning to work with the framework/library (as you do with OpenGL or SDL I'm sure). You do really do anything in XNA that you could do inside OpenGL or Direct3D (which XNA sits upon). That being said, the limitations are that you can only create for Windows/Xbox. The framework also doesn't have the same degree of freedom to extend it's functionality (unlike OpenGL and all of the libraries like SDL that use it) - although it's more extensible if you're just making a Windows game as opposed to an Xbox game.

You can get something drawn to the screen within about 30 minutes of getting VS and XNA installed though if you have even a little programming knowledge (the caveat there being that you need VS 2008 and XNA 3.5 for Xbox development and VS 2010 and XNA 4.0 for Window Phone development - the phones will be launching in December). I do still have an interest in their stuff - they have the most massive set of tools you could ever want and, though I hate to admit it because I don't think it's designed in the best way, tons of documentation.


Another platform I've been working with in my computer science class (in Java) is Env3D:
http://env3d.sourceforge.net/
At it's current stage, it's lacking a lot of more advanced features (it doesn't support shaders for example), but that may be improving over the next little while (it was designed as an educational platform and the focus has been on core functionality). It's done under the GPL license, although the creator (my instructor, Jason Madar) is very flexible with it. Even if it's just to get a simple graphical game up and running, I think it's a pretty good option (and there's definitely plans for future improvement on it - including a current extension called Whalechat that incorporates a chat room and a simple Python scripting environment). It also follows a design that closely mimics an entity-component approach (which has been all the buzz here since it showed up in AiGD 17).

Most importantly for getting something drawn quickly (as well as rapidly creating gameplay) is that you don't even need to worry about the rendering. You create objects and if they have a "String model" variable, they will automatically be rendered into the environment (and then you can set "String texture", "double x, y, z, rotateX, rotateY, rotateZ, scale, etc" and it handles rendering for you, leaving you free to play around with game logic while still having a render environment).

There's also several beginner tutorials (though don't mind the choppy input, there's better ways to do it that it will get to/you can check out in the documentation).

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions.

[eatcomics]

I don't keep interest :P I for one program in short bursts, get bored, then get really motivated... Lately I've been sort of motivated, only I've had no damn free time on weekends

[epicasian]

I don't keep interest :P I for one program in short bursts, get bored, then get really motivated... Lately I've been sort of motivated, only I've had no damn free time on weekends

Well, you need to find some because the DC emulator is calling your name :D

[eatcomics]

I don't keep interest :P I for one program in short bursts, get bored, then get really motivated... Lately I've been sort of motivated, only I've had no damn free time on weekends

Well, you need to find some because the DC emulator is calling your name :D

actually it is not, for I do not have one installed. New operating system, started from scratch, gotta get my dev setup goin :D

Although dude I'm totally up for a double date :D Me and my lover C and you and her twin :D

[epicasian]

I don't keep interest :P I for one program in short bursts, get bored, then get really motivated... Lately I've been sort of motivated, only I've had no damn free time on weekends

Well, you need to find some because the DC emulator is calling your name :D

actually it is not, for I do not have one installed. New operating system, started from scratch, gotta get my dev setup goin :D

Although dude I'm totally up for a double date :D Me and my lover C and you and her twin :D

That sounds like a plan:D. I'll talk to you more about it on Skype tomorrow or something:D

[eatcomics]

That sounds like a plan:D. I'll talk to you more about it on Skype tomorrow or something:D

Alrighty then :D