   Please enlighten a noob
  Hello all! This is my first post. Tonight, I have become a bit frustrated not understanding a lot of things, which is why I have joined these forums. I have worked with Blender for years, and I have enjoyed it. I have coded quite a bit with python (similar to c++) which can be used inside of blender. However, I have come to find that Blender is very limited. Tonight I tried to find a way to play mp3 and ogg files in my Blender game, unsuccessfully.I would really like to make the move to real game programming. I have heard many things about how to do so, but I am VERY confused by everything. I have heard about free code available to build games with - Ogre3d for graphics, bullet physics, fmod sound, pygame sound etc. I have no idea what the proper name for these projects are. Are they API's? What are DirectX and OpenGl?Basically, I would really like for someone to tell me straightforward what options I have right now, because I have no idea where to start. Thanks!   
Quote:Original post by anoncompboyI would really like to make the move to real game programming. I have heard many things about how to do so, but I am VERY confused by everything. I have heard about free code available to build games with - Ogre3d for graphics, bullet physics, fmod sound, pygame sound etc. I have no idea what the proper name for these projects are. Are they API's?The general term is 'Middleware,' or 'third party libraries.'Quote:What are DirectX and OpenGl?DirectX is a collection of technologies for low-level graphics, input, sound, and networking (as in, talks almost directly to the hardware - and does things that Windows doesn't let regular applications do). OpenGL is similar, but only covers graphics.   ;  http://www.gamedev.net/reference/start_here/:)   ;LinkdifiedYou're already at a great start by having programming experience. There are even Python bindings for various engines (pyGame comes to mind).Good luck to ya.   ;  If your on windows I'd recomend picking up directx. with opengl you are going to have to pick and chose many different librarys for handling lots of simple stupid crap. not that I don't like opengl. I acually perfer it. But I also like to write my own image/input/math librarys too.before you move into acually writting a game you need to understand how a game works.don't worry about the huge amount of librarys out there. it will make your head spin they have a library for everything.what things would be required for an average game.-user input(glut/sdl,directinput)-display (opengl,direct3d)  -frame buffer  -3d primitives  -materials  -lighting-sound(opengl/oss,directsound)-file IO (SDL_image,pnglib/jpeglib/tifflib)-networking(directplay)... well networking is optionalof course knowing these concepts is just the very surface. alot of work goes into the display. you need to know about scene graphs, which would pretty much just be your scene heirarchy in blender. Basicly all of the game librarys out there try to do the same thing blender does without a nice gui to develope in. once you get through the low level code the rest of building the game will be pretty much the same thing you did in blender with the game engine.(more performance)   ;  Thanks for your replies.I had already visited the beginner's page, but I went back and read more. So, C++ is really the best choice huh? Sounds good to me, I have had a bit of experience with it. So, I have downloaded a C++ compiler...but I dont know what I need to do next. Should I install the DirectX SDK? I want my target audience to be windows users.   ;  That depends on which compiler you downloaded. Was it Dev-C++, VisualC++ 2005 Express, or something else.? You'd still need to install the SDK, but getting a DX app in Dev is different from VC++.   ;  Could you explain a bit more? Dev C++ is my favorite free compiler, though I do have a student copy of Visual C++ (2000 I think)   ;  If you're developing on Windows, the easiest choice really is Visual C++ 2005 Express edition. It's a free download, and has a generally much nicer and friendlier UI than Bloodshed or MinGW or Dev++ or whatever else you can find. Especially the debugger is WONDERFUL in VC, and pretty bad in those others.To get set-up for game development, you probably need to download and install the following:- Visual Studio C++ 2005 Express (from Microsoft)- Win32 Platform SDK (from Microsoft, at msdn.microsoft.com)- DirectX SDK (from Microsoft, at msdn.microsoft.com)Now, you CAN write a game from scratch using only those tools. However, if you want to create a GAME, rather than work a lot of time creating infrastructure, I heartily recommend a working game engine of some sort. There are several choices that seem popular:1. Nebula 2 (free, www.nebuladevice.org)2. Torque ($100, www.garagegames.com)3. Crystal Space (free, www.crystalspace.org)4. Ogre3D + ODE (free, www.ogre3d.org + www.ode.org)There are others, too.Using a pre-made engine, and spending your time actually building your GAME, is well worth it if, in fact, it's a game you want to build.;  And hit the books/tutorials too, hard. Pretty much anything that you can find, read it multiple times. But reading isn't enough! Thou shalt practice as well! And the most important thing is to have fun doing it, no matter how frustrating it can be.(Sorry the coffee's talking.)   