Elysian Shadows

So I've been learning C++ for the past 4-5 years. I'm at the level where I can develop stuff with relative ease (nothing too complicated D:). I have been dicking around with SDL for the past 2 years or so, and I feel comfortable with it. I just never remember the damn API calls D: (always google them)

Thing is, I don't know what to do now...

I have taken the 2 C++ programming classes at the college I go to, they teach you all the way through inheritance, heaps, etc. I don't really understand heaps yet (should be something to research). I am about 1 year away from transferring to UC Santa Cruz and their "Computer Science: Computer Game Design" B.S. program (associates = CS) and they use Java. I do not know Java, although I hear its relatively easy to transfer into from C++.

I was thinking of trying my hand at OpenGL, but I'm always scared by how the code looks. I am just now finishing my 2nd year of calculus, and I'm about to do discrete.

I am going to take computer architectures next semester, which should be interesting :3

I'm about to turn 18 (yay...), what do I need to do next? Am I at a level of competence considering the amount of time I've put into learning programming etc?

If it helps, I think I'm taking the right next step by learning vectors (2d for now). I've been recreating Pong for the past 2 hours, it's pretty much done, but I think I'm fucking the delta timing up :P

EDIT: Thought it would be useful to post where I'm starting to learn vectors from: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=14154.0 (I have had exposure to vectors before hand in physics)

EDIT2: I have been mostly doing PHP work as of late, and less and less C++ work :/

Just keep on learning/trying things out I would say.
Learn OpenGL, maybe look at DirectX, look at the source of different big engines (and how they did stuff).
Mabye take a look at http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SDK_Docs (especially the technical part)

Atleast this is what I'm doing at the moment and it works pretty well for me.

Milch wrote:Just keep on learning/trying things out I would say.
Learn OpenGL, maybe look at DirectX, look at the source of different big engines (and how they did stuff).
Mabye take a look at http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SDK_Docs (especially the technical part)

Atleast this is what I'm doing at the moment and it works pretty well for me.

I agree but please don't turn to the dark side of DirectX! :'( Come to the light of OpenGL!

Heres what i think

Milch wrote:Just keep on learning/trying things out I would say.
Learn OpenGL, maybe look at DirectX, look at the source of different big engines (and how they did stuff).
Mabye take a look at http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SDK_Docs (especially the technical part)

Atleast this is what I'm doing at the moment and it works pretty well for me.

Very good advice.

N64vSNES wrote: I agree but please don't turn to the dark side of DirectX! :'( Come to the light of OpenGL!

Aha so true... But (from a professional standpoint) a good programmer should know both to some extent.

Okay then, I suppose my learning pipeline is

1) make sure I understand heaps
2) vectors (pretty much done)
3) OpenGL

I have a few good places for OGL tutorials so I'll be sure to check them out. Thanks guys.

xiphirx wrote:Okay then, I suppose my learning pipeline is

1) make sure I understand heaps
2) vectors (pretty much done)
3) OpenGL

I have a few good places for OGL tutorials so I'll be sure to check them out. Thanks guys.

OpenGL can actually be used with Java as well as C/++ so for that reason (Not that reason alone, I'm very biased and won't get into it) I think you should get into OGL.

Instead of learning random stuff how about making a cool game?

Eventually it is using 3D graphics => You can learn a lot about the basics of 3D graphics and OpenGL.
Eventually you need to use a heap or "the heap" => You will learn about that.

The point is that making a game is much more rewarding and motivating. Furthermore, you can show the finished product to hot chicks (they will still think you're a nerd though).

I am actually making a game for the PSP atm, but it isn't 3D. I wonder if I can shove heaps in it somewhere :P

By heaps do you mean dynamic memory allocation?

K-Bal wrote:By heaps do you mean dynamic memory allocation?

I mean the data structure. I learned about it about 9 or so months ago :P

xiphirx wrote:I wonder if I can shove heaps in it somewhere :P

I could imagine it using it for some AI-dependend stuff, for example for an artificial animal.
Just build up a heap-tree containing the "needs" of the animal and work through it.

Right, so I'm jumping into OGL stuff, but looking at a few intro tutorials from NeHe, it seems as if I need to learn WinAPI... Can I get by without having too much knowledge on WinAPI or should I stop and learn WinAPI?

Use SFML/SDL.
This skips most of the plattform-dependent stuff

xiphirx wrote:Right, so I'm jumping into OGL stuff, but looking at a few intro tutorials from NeHe, it seems as if I need to learn WinAPI... Can I get by without having too much knowledge on WinAPI or should I stop and learn WinAPI?

I would suggest if you want to jump into OpenGL then like Milch said you can use SFML which uses OpenGL behind the scenes and it makes things a LOT simpler but if you are seriouse about using OpenGL itself I'd suggest using SDL with it.

1- SDL is extremly basic
2- Using OpenGL with it is a matter of passing a single flag in initialization
3- SDL is also cross platform

Thats my opinion but it looks like every day that passes more and more people are getting into SFML.

N64vSNES wrote:but if you are seriouse about using OpenGL itself I'd suggest using SDL with it.

This is an INCREDIBLY biased statement. Whether or not you're "serious" about it should have absolutely no bearing on which API you choose. Both have their pros and cons.