Game Programming: Which Language?

[prejudged_fire]

I've been wanting to learn how to program video games for years now and my efforts have been futile. People have told me to try C/C#/C++ but I cant find any good books or tutorials that really explains it all that well. I think C is just a little bit too complex for me until I get more experienced. I've also tried Java but I dont like it because every time a new version comes out, the entire environment changes. Basically, I'd have to find a book that teaches the exact same version of Java I have or I'll be loaded with compilation errors. Anyways thats not the point. I just would like to know what programming language you guys suggest I start out with for game development. Any resources, tutorials, websites, and books that you might think would be helpfull would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Cabhan]

First off, Java is backwards-compatible, and the entire environment doesn't change with a new release. New concepts are added, sure, but a book on Java 1.4 is still useable in a 1.5 environment. I know also that O'Reilly has a book called "Game Programming with Java" or something like that. I haven't used it, but I do love O'Reilly.

Otherwise, you can't go wrong with C. Most games for Windows are done using DirectX, the *nix (and Mac OS X) equivalent is called OpenGL. You could also use a toolkit called SDL that is platform-independent (it's actually what Neverwinter Nights uses).

The greatest book on C is called "The C Programming Language", and it is an excellent explanation of the language. You will need to familiarize yourself with game libraries and terminology, of course, but there must be books and websites out there that have introductions for writing games in C.

Best of luck!

[prejudged_fire]

First off, Java is backwards-compatible, and the entire environment doesn't change with a new release. New concepts are added, sure, but a book on Java 1.4 is still useable in a 1.5 environment.

hmm.. well for some reason, i've always had compilation problems when using Java.

Otherwise, you can't go wrong with C. Most games for Windows are done using DirectX, the *nix (and Mac OS X) equivalent is called OpenGL. You could also use a toolkit called SDL that is platform-independent (it's actually what Neverwinter Nights uses).

As of now, I'm only planning on making games on Linux (which is why I went to a Linux forums board ) But I will keep that in mind.

The greatest book on C is called "The C Programming Language", and it is an excellent explanation of the language. You will need to familiarize yourself with game libraries and terminology, of course, but there must be books and websites out there that have introductions for writing games in C.

Ok, I will check it out. I appreciate your quick response. If anyone else has anything they'd like to add, I'd really appreciate it! thanks

[X.Cyclop]

C++ is the best. But, if C is complex for you (and it's a little bit easier than C++), try Python (search for PyGame).

[prejudged_fire]

ok I've heard about pygame before and I decided to check it out but when I try to install it I get errors saying that I need FONT, IMAGE, MIXER, and SMPEG. I looked everywhere to find out what the dependencies are for pygame but I cant find anything specific. Can you help?

[X.Cyclop]

Check it out.

[DeoXMAN]

There are special languages made for game programming, they should be efficent. They may be slow though, cause they are based on c/c++

[prejudged_fire]

awesome, thanks Cyclop. XMAN, what languages are you referring to?

EDIT: I installed the other dependincies (I also needed SDL) but after compiling and installing them from source, I still get an error saying that it couldnt find SDL. It found the rest of them though, but it says that I need it. Any ideas?

[prejudged_fire]

Sorry for the bump, but is anyone still there???

[Javasnob]

I think the languages DeoXMAN mentioned may be languages like TorqueScript, which is open source but I believe you have to pay for a license to use it commercially.