Programming a 3d game.

[Lemures]

Having just beaten Darwinia, I have decided what my new interest is. I figure people here could help point me in the right direction though, since though i know my interest, i dont know anything else about it. lol. Here is the text of my post on Darwinia's forums, along with a link to it. Could anybody HERE help me? It would be much appreciated.

http://forums.introversion.co.uk/darwinia/viewtopic.php?t=2490


________________________________________________________

Well, I'm definitely new to these forums. I just beat the game for the first time not 15 minutes ago, and I absolutely loved it. Very well made, very fun, and I fully intend to begin another playthrough tomorrow :)

I have always been interested in programming a game such as this. Something small... or rather, not that this game is small, but simplistic. This game is not that advanced, but used the few things it has in such a creative way that adding anything else would mess it up. I have been interested in designing such a game, even if it is as simple as having the terrain and a few guys to mess around with. Knowing how to program something like this would provide me with infinite fun, my own virtual playground/sandbox if you will, where I could create anything i wanted and do anything i wanted, and share anything fun i created with others.

however...

I have no idea where to begin. Dont get me wrong, I am not new to programming, Its just that all of my programming knowledge is several years old, and all related to simple windows apps. I took a few classes on VB and C++ a few years ago, and they were all about how to work with databases for business applications and other things i would never use. I know basic VB, C++, java, autoit, basic, etc. I love to program, so its not that i wont be able to figure any of it out, I just dont know where to begin when it comes to programming a 3d world such as this. (C++ I'm sure, i just dont know anything beyond that)

What I would like is either an online site with free step by step tutorials into basic 3d game design, or a book with a similiar theme. I dont even know where to begin though. All i know is "C++ will probably be used". Beyond that, I am lost. Can anybody point me in the right direction, or perhaps recommend a current book, or something that i could use to begin pursuing such an interest?

Thank you in advance!

-Lemures

[Adisharr]

You may want to consider some books along the following lines..

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672318350/102-0030658-2742518?v=glance

You may also want to consider using an established engine to do a mod of sorts. That seems like a good way to get your feet wet. These days it almost seems pointless to reinvent the wheel time and time again when there are so many good engines out there.

If it's more of a learning exercise then I'd go the book route. Either way good luck and I hope you learn lots :)

I'll be back in five years to collect my fee :p

[G19]

Yes. Starting off with an already modable platform/engine is a great start. Those will already have tutorial sites on modding different aspects of a game. Then once you understand how the engine runs after familiarizing yourself with the industry tools (mapping/modelling software etc), hopefully they have an SDK released for what you are modding and you can take it to the next level of programming. Good example of this is ET which is based on rtcw.

[Zoma]

My book recommendations:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1932111913/qid=1125026624/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-8036948-4232702?v=glance&s=books

This book gives a really good look at how a game is structured, with lots of nice code tidbits in it.

To learn how to render using DirectX, I also like this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1556229135/qid=1125026711/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-8036948-4232702?v=glance&s=books

I'd also recommend reading articles/forums on gamedev.net, though a lot of the articles are beginning to show their age. The Game Programming Gems books are nice, but tend to be very topic specific, and are better once you have an idea of what you are doing.

WRT the above suggestion:
While I grew up with LaMothe, that book may be a bit tough for a first book and lead to some discouragement. It covers software rendering to give the reader a really good understanding of what is going on. The problem with this is that it is a lot more detailed than just getting basic rendering, and even after reading over 1000 pages into it, you still won't know how to get a game with hardware rendering working.

[Doomah]

All i know is "C++ will probably be used". Beyond that, I am lost. Can anybody point me in the right direction, or perhaps recommend a current book, or something that i could use to begin pursuing such an interest?

You don't have to use C++. C# and Managed D3D can serve you almost as well without the C++'isms. ;) But that's just my preference and is subject to debate in another thread.

There's not a lot to it really. It's more of a task of learning a 3D API, rather than programming all the hard stuff yourself. But, if you can learn the hard stuff, it will be good for you down the line when/if you need it.

Recommendation: Learn OpenGL or Direct3D. Be prepared to spend a lot of time with it. You can't do it all in one day, or even a week for that matter. Unless you're a maniac and caffeine runs through your veins.

http://www.ultimategameprogramming.com/
http://nehe.gamedev.net/
http://www.two-kings.de/tutorials/dxgraphics/
http://www.msdn.com (the big one, search for 'direct3d tutorial')

Have fun. :)