Hi Laurel, Well, its different for every person out here, and its possible to teach yourself to program and write games. If you pay for a service such as http://safari.oreilly.com you can pay to read college level programming books on a variety of programming languages, game design, and specific topics like artificial intelligence, and so on. However, I will warn you that it can get expensive using a service like Safari, but is much cheaper than paying for college level courses that will essentially teach you the same thing.
As for myself I attended a college, Wright State University, where I took a number of computer science courses on C++, Java, Visual Basic, and SQL. After leaving college I used Safari to update my programming skills by reading books on Python, C#.NET, VB.NET, DirectX, artificial intelligence, and basic game design and programming. So my education was pretty extensive before I actually sat down and wrote my first audio game. That said, my aim was to get a degree in computer science so I could enter the work force as a professional programmer. I had hoped to get a decent paying job with Microsoft, IBM, or some other well known software company making $60,000 a year. that didn't happen, and the kind of education I had isn't necessary for an independent game developer who wants to create games on the side as a hobby. Today there are some much easier and less expensive ways to program games. You can try an all purpose game engine like Philip Bennefall's BGT which contains all of the basics such as DirectInput, SAPI, DirectSound, etc all wrapped by a light weight scripting language known as Angelscript. It is a good entry language to programming, and is much simpler than picking up an all purpose programming language like C++, Java, or Visual Basic and having to learn it with DirectX, SAPI, and everything else you need. However, if you are seeking a more semi-professional education in programming to write games as well as other applications I think that http://safari.oreilly.com is the best place to get started. They have hundreds of books that you can read online in your web browser for about $50 a month. You can go as fast or as slow as you want, and essentially get a college level education in programming by using the same textbooks used by students and professional programmers. Last but not least, I am working on building a developers website that will teach new game developers to program games from a beginner level and slowly work up to more advanced topics. There isn't much here yet but http://developers.usagamesinteractive.com will hopefully soon be a low cost resource for people like yourself who wants to get into game programming at the entry level. Right now I am busy just uploading tools, APIs, and other software required by a developer, but I'm also working on tutorials I haven't uploaded to the website yet. Cheers! On 1/30/12, Laurel <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey, > I have a question for those of you who write games and all. How did > you learn how to write the games that you have created? For example, > how did you learn the computer coding languages you needed, and how to > build your game from an idea to an actual game. Was there a course you > took, or something online or an accessible book you read that helped > you? I have several ideas I'd love to work on, but I really don't even > know where to begin. /smiles/ > Laurel and Stockard > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
