   How low is a beginner here?
  I'm in high school, and I'm taking a class on this stuff. I thought it would be good to join this website to learn more about game design, but now that I've taken a look around some of the threads, some of these subjects seem really advanced. So this forum's supposed to be for beginners, but exactly how low would a beginner be? Are there any other high schoolers here, or is this all for college or post-graduate people? (Please don't flame at me if I'm supposed to already know some things I don't).   
  You are the perfect person for "For Beginners" don't worry.  A lot of us just use it for things like "I'm a beginner in collision programming so i'll start in the For Beginners forum".  It's kind of a catch-all low-hanging-fruit forum.Don't worry that a lot of it seems "advanced"-me   ;Quote:Original post by KorishobaI'm in high school, and I'm taking a class on this stuff. I thought it would be good to join this website to learn more about game designYou've made a good choice!  There are plenty of articles to read, as well as a very active group of users waiting to answer your questions.Quote:... now that I've taken a look around some of the threads, some of these subjects seem really advanced. So this forum's supposed to be for beginners, but exactly how low would a beginner be?We're all beginners in one area or another.  Reading around, asking questions, and practicing are the best ways to change this, for all of us.Quote:Are there any other high schoolers here, or is this all for college or post-graduate people? (Please don't flame at me if I'm supposed to already know some things I don't).There are indeed other high schoolers, as well as college-aged folk, as well as established professionals.In short, don't worry about being a beginner.  Keep an open mind, take the advice you're given to heart, and don't stop practicing.Welcome to GameDev!-jouley;  A beginner here can be anyone, from people who have never programmed in their life to seasoned veterans who are just learning a new language. Welcome to the forums.   ;  Hey buddy. I asked the same thing when I joined like a week or two ago. Im a sophmore in high school, and my only programming experience was a semester class where we made games with visual basic (in 9th grade). I thought it was easy, so I looked into doing some out of class. This year Im taking some AP Comp Sci class which works with Java.On here Im trying to learn C++ because it seems to be pretty popular (please dont get mad for that last thing)....Yeah I really dont know very much at all, but am trying now to make tictactoe....   ;  Unlike some forums, people don't get flamed here for asking anything, even if inappropriate, as long as it's within the rules.   ;Quote:Original post by FlyingMudPuppyHey buddy. I asked the same thing when I joined like a week or two ago. Im a sophmore in high school, and my only programming experience was a semester class where we made games with visual basic (in 9th grade). I thought it was easy, so I looked into doing some out of class. This year Im taking some AP Comp Sci class which works with Java.On here Im trying to learn C++ because it seems to be pretty popular (please dont get mad for that last thing)....Yeah I really dont know very much at all, but am trying now to make tictactoe....By the way thanks guys. I was kind of worried I was stepping out of my league. Cool you're a sophomore? Me too! The only real experience I have is with Game Maker. I'm making my own Mario game (I've done 3 levels working on the 4th). I'm also getting used to 3DS Max.Cool I know about C++ but I don't think my school has it. I do know a kid who uses it though. In Game Maker I know how to make a basic scrolling shooter and platformers, but I really want to get into the 3D stuff.   ;  I rarely come to gamedev anyomre because the topics are so advanced, I spend most of my time at allegro.cc. But I can almost understand a few of the topics here.   ;  Some of the stuff may seem advanced, but thats just because you don't understand what it means. If you were studying that area you would understand it right away. In this forum you get questions ranging from "why does this hello world program in c# not compile" to "how do I do a jacobi transform on this vector". You get a lot of questions like "should I use <acronym #1> or <acronym #2> as my collision detection library", and if you don;t recognise the acronyms then the question may seem advanced. Because its the Beginners forum, you don't get mocked or laughed at.;Quote:Original post by KorishobaBy the way thanks guys. I was kind of worried I was stepping out of my league. Cool you're a sophomore? Me too! The only real experience I have is with Game Maker. I'm making my own Mario game (I've done 3 levels working on the 4th). I'm also getting used to 3DS Max.Cool I know about C++ but I don't think my school has it. I do know a kid who uses it though. In Game Maker I know how to make a basic scrolling shooter and platformers, but I really want to get into the 3D stuff.It sounds like you have something that is designed for making games. We just learned the basics (like really really really basic) of programming and problem solving that is involved. The most complicated thing I did in visual Basic was make Snake and a program that would read in Sudoku files and would correct the player and give hints to the answer. It was a lot easier because we had a form, and could make our objects on it. I mean we could drag and drop timers.... It was all so easy... C++ and Java seem to be different in that with just a compiler I don't know how to make objects yet. Because of that I'm stuck making word games on the DOS prompt (and that is about as fancy with the lingo as I can get now).My goal is to be able to make some 2D games (using physics, which I am taking this year) by around Christmas. Im just planning on getting some books from a library, and then just working my way up starting simple.....   