Becoming a games programmer

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Postby Stewsburntmonkey » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:14 pm

Rkiver wrote:
Chris wrote:That said, none of us learnt to program in C++. In fact I tried and failed several times to get into C++ when I was younger.


Yes, I believe that was called Uplink. :wink: (Harken back to that nightmare quote you made.....)


Haha, I was going to be kind an not mention the travesty of C++ programming that was Uplink. :)
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Postby martin » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:11 pm

Montyphy wrote:
xander wrote:
martin wrote:yay! there is hope for me :D

No, there isn't.

xander


On a related note, martin, don't you think it's time you changed your avatar? :P


I probably should change my avatar sometime - although I don't see what that's got to do with anything :P
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Postby RabidZombie » Fri Apr 13, 2007 1:44 pm

KingAl wrote:Inter-series rivalry will always be relevant. ALWAYS. Also, as I have pointed out before, crowbars = fun.


:P
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Postby wwarnick » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:32 pm

Justice has been done. martin is free.

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Postby xyzyxx » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:45 pm

martin wrote:
Montyphy wrote:
xander wrote:
martin wrote:yay! there is hope for me :D

No, there isn't.
On a related note, martin, don't you think it's time you changed your avatar? :P

I don't see what that's got to do with anything :P
That's why there's no hope for you.
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Postby martin » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:42 pm

xyzyxx wrote:
martin wrote:
Montyphy wrote:
xander wrote:
martin wrote:yay! there is hope for me :D

No, there isn't.
On a related note, martin, don't you think it's time you changed your avatar? :P

I don't see what that's got to do with anything :P
That's why there's no hope for you.


/me just gives up. :P
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Postby wwarnick » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:37 pm

"...never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense..."

- Winston Churchill


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Postby NeoThermic » Sat Apr 14, 2007 2:08 am

zoombapup wrote:Hmm, I'm not a student, so you'd have to ask them for a real response. I've heard of work occasionally going awry, but our system is generally pretty good (unless there are more than one lecturer doing the module, which could confuse the office staff who accept submissions).

Exams could never go missing, or at least I've never heard of it.


So it's just my uni. Joy!

zoombapup wrote:How are you finding the education approach to becoming a game programmer btw? Did you program before you started the course? Do you do much of it outside of Uni hours?


I'm generally fluent in C++ before I started, and had a firm grip on DirectX basics. The course dropped us into OpenGL with DirectSound and DirectInput in C++, and I'm finding it rather straight forward, if it were not for the fact that I'm fighting the incompetents of the uni at every corner.

The course has taught me concepts in game programming that might not seem overly obvious to anyone who isn't learning them; it's a decent approach. As for hours I do outside of uni will vary per day (as what lectures I have and what's on at the student pub will alter how many I do ;) ), but it's somewhere between 2 and sometimes up to 9 hours a day. I then shoehorn in various other things (working for phpBB and making sure these forums are in check, doing some art and generally being annoying to my flat mates), so 2 - 9 hours is about all I can give IMO.

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Postby zoombapup » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:09 pm

I guess the one thing that we have going here, is that in general our office staff are really good and our students know they'll get help if they really need it.

We're moving to a sort of "office aunty" system right now, where a really good administrator takes care of all our students and sorts out any problems they have within the admin system (so its a lot more personal and she gets to know where problems occur).

It frees up us academic staff to do some more fun stuff academically.
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Postby niksonpsi » Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:19 am

hello!!!
I'm new to the forums, and I want to say that I LOVE DARWINIA, DEFCON and UPLINK!!! THE BEST GAMES EVERRRR!!!!

now to the topic...
I know (something) about C# and I've programmed a few programs, that although work properly, I didn't, err, published.. hehe just for hobby.
Now, I'm starting to learn managed DirectX on C#, and I'm really smacking my head on the keyboard (or the wall) and the olny thing I can do is to impport a mesh and nothing more (still learning, though)
so my question is: Is really c# useful to make games (i've read that some recent games are managed coded).

p/s: I *REALLY* hate c++! it is impossible to make a thing without messing around with the includes and that sort of stuff....

p/s2: Excuse my english
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Postby wwarnick » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:35 am

As a C# programmer, naturally I'd support it. However, I won't deny the flipside. I'm no pro game developer, only a novice using xna (not dx). If you're looking for the overall best language for game development, C++ would be your best bet. If you're a beginner (like me) looking to start small and work your way up, C# is plenty good. It's a great language. The difference is in the performance (and, for the moment, compatibility). C++ has an edge over C#, but it is more difficult to use and as a beginner who isn't doing anything large enough to demand higher performance, C# works just fine. If you're having trouble with even managed dx, you might try xna, but then again you might have your sights set higher than I do.

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Postby xander » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:30 pm

C# is part of .NET, isn't it? This means that anything that you code in C# requires the .NET frameworks, which require Windows. As such, C# code is not portable -- you can't compile it for Mac or Linux. You have the same problem with DirectX. You may not care about those OSes, but I have to say that one of the things that I really like about IV is that they serve those markets, as well. As far as I am concerned, as a Mac user, .NET and everything it contains is entirely useless. C++ and OpenGL are the way to go.
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Postby shinygerbil » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:45 pm

This is true, xander, but of course IV are the exception, not the rule. C++ and OpenGL are most likely a lot harder to learn than XNA or managed DX - and I have to say, I dabbled with C# and it really is a doddle. It's like child's play when compared to C++! This can only be a bad thing for minority OSes, though.
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Postby Stewsburntmonkey » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:59 pm

There are some attempts to bring C# and .NET to non-Windows platforms, but I think they are in the same realm as Wine and attempts to bring DirectX to non-Windows platforms.

I think C# isn't a bad choice for doing the initial work on a game. Combined with XNA you could get a game sketched out pretty quickly. Once you have things where you want them you'd want to recode in C++ probably with OpenGL for portability, speed and stability.
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Postby niksonpsi » Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:42 pm

hehe. thank you guys! i really appreciate your help :P
I've tried XNA (Beta), but the thing is, do I really need to download C# Express to use it? Because I have Vstudio 2005 and XNA needs c# 2005 xpress...
I know this would sound a little offtopic, but...

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