   .NET and Graphics Programming
  Sure...I bought a book on CLI/C++ and .NET. I thought it would be great. Unfortunately it's miserably unlcear on the thing I was actually trying to focus on: graphics programming. This is the 2nd book I've bought in an attempt to try to   do some basic graphics programming to even make a tetris game. WTF? I've tried OpenGL, SDL, the Win32 API and now .NET. Can someone just tell me "This is what you need to do basic graphics programming!" please? I'm going nuts here. The good news is that I learned a lot about CLI and .NET, but..that's not really helpful at the moment. Too much to process.   
http://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/gamedevelopment/rocketcmd/default.aspx;Quote:Original post by abnormalhttp://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/gamedevelopment/rocketcmd/default.aspxThat's in C#...I don't use C#.   ;Quote:Original post by BringBackFuturamaQuote:Original post by abnormalhttp://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/gamedevelopment/rocketcmd/default.aspxThat's in C#...I don't use C#.It is very similar. All the tricks you learn in C# are equally useable from any language. Graphics in .NET languages can be approached many ways. You can use basic picture boxes and move them around. You can GDI to draw to the form. You can use Directx to render to a form or control. You can use a .NET opengl port. You can use a premade engine. There are hundreds of options.Graphics prgramming can be quite an advanced topic and it really shouldn't be approached until you are quite familiar with your language of choice.   ;  If your just trying to create a game like Tetris you can do that in GDI+ in .NET either with C# or C++/CLI (both great languages).  You can even do it in GDI+ from plain C++ without .NET.However if you are going to do any 3D stuff you might want to look into DirectX.  One way to get into this is just by downloading the DirectX SDK from msdn.microsoft.com and getting started.  Coding4Fun has a game development series.  The Rocket Commander videos are also a great learning tool.  Sure its in C#, but C# is very close to C++/CLI.If your more interested in non .NET DirectX programming (straight C++) there are many good books on the subject.You can also learn OpenGL, sort of the competitor to DirectX.  You can do this in .NET using the Tao framework or from C++ directly.  Search google for NeHe - that site has a great OpenGL tutorial section.   ;  Gah! This isn't helping me! Even my WMP 10 beta won't play the stupid tutorial you guys linked me to. And why do I have to do so much just to make such a simple game? Everyone else seems to be getting it so easily...am I just completely braindead or something? Is there something I'm missing that's right in front of my face, or is it really this hard? Maybe I just wasn't meant to program...or maybe Bill Gates hates me. Who knows...   ;  If software development was really easy everyone would be doing it and good programmers would not be making over 100k per year.  It takes time and lots of work to get the hang out it.  If you really want to do it then don't give up, keep plugging away.theTroll   ;Drunken Hyena Tutorials. very basic, very explicit, decent at explaining how to get stuff working. From that you can at least shamble towards tetris.   ;Quote:Original post by BringBackFuturamaGah! This isn't helping me! Even my WMP 10 beta won't play the stupid tutorial you guys linked me to. And why do I have to do so much just to make such a simple game? Everyone else seems to be getting it so easily...am I just completely braindead or something? Is there something I'm missing that's right in front of my face, or is it really this hard? Maybe I just wasn't meant to program...or maybe Bill Gates hates me. Who knows...Because making a simple game is not simple. How many people do you know who's done it? Compared to the total number of people you know? What you're missing is that game programming is still programming.That means you should focus on your programming skills. DirectX andother graphical libraries are nothing more than a distraction. A handful of functions you have to call from your code. Once you know your language, and can program, it's no big deal. But if you're still learning that, it seems like black magic, and will just discourage you.So go back to square one, do all those "boring" text-based apps, read a book or two *on programming* (not on making a graphical game), do more "boring" text-based stuff, and sooner or later, you'll be ready to attack separate libraries such as DirectX.(And yes, everyone has to do it that way. Doesn't mean Bill Gates hates you)   