--- kclug-request@kclug.org wrote:
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 12:20:26 -0600 (CST) From: rsobba@kcnet.com Subject: Game programming To: kclug@kclug.org Message-ID: 55888.144.73.71.1.1101752426.squirrel@144.73.71.1 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
I am not a gamer but an on again off again home OOP programmer. I need something to keep my interest up while I am learning. Have any of you done any game programming? I am wanting to program in C++ and Open GL but am curious about the graphics end of it. Will I need to create images using a package like Adobe Illustrator first or is this all done somehow within Open GL.
Thanks in advance. Rick
There are, of course, many types of games in the world. Whether or not yours would require something like Open GL, Adobe Illustrator and/or a knowledge of differential calculus, linear algebra, fast forier (sp) transforms, bits of assembly language, and (not mentioned yet) collections of models, textures, and sounds depends entirely upon what sort of game you eventually decide to attempt to create. May I suggest starting simply? and starting small?
After all, you say your primary goal is merely to keep your skills as a programmer up. You could, for example, spend some time and effort making a version of checkers or Othello or something, and there'd still be some 2D graphics work to be done and, optionally, some sound work.
If you chose to allow single player play, there'd be plenty more to be done in working on the AI, and the neat part is it wouldn't require calculus to get the job done. (But it would still probably be helpful one way or another.)
Although, I suppose if you were going to try and come up with a really nifty AI, you'd want a thorough knowledge of various logic puzzle solving hueristics often used in such games--like min-max and all that.
But a neat part here is, if you don't mind re-inventing a poor imitation of a wheel, you could just bang out a long series of if-elseif-elseif-...-else statements to try and get the computer playing in a not-pathetic manner and, in the process, you'd be learning a whole lot about what works for your AI and what doesn't.
Then afterwards, you could open up some books on AI and Linear Programming to try to help shed more light on how to make the AI work better. (This would probably involve reinventing it from the ground up--at least it always seems to for some reason.)
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