In article <Xns98FBA00CC40F8scientist@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
A Rocket Scientist <scientist@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>I have no programming experience. Well, I've dabbled with C++ in the past
>but not long enough to actually accomplish anything. The reason I'm
>interested in C# is because of something called "XNA Game Studio
Express".
>http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/directx/aa937795.aspx
If you want to do some simple stuff quickly, then C# and XNA Game
Studio Express is probably a good place to start. C# doesn't have a
large following, but MS is definitely pu****ng it and it's unlikely to
go away anytime soon.
For personal programming at home, the above, or
http://www.blitzbasic.com/
(might cost a little more), or
http://www.pygame.org/news.html
(probably slight more obscure, but is
probably the best non-Windows option for beginners) are good choices.
Most commercial game development for top-name console titles use
C++. That gives the most performance, but only if you're willing to
sink the most time and effort into it.
My bottom line: just about every programming project takes longer
than first estimated. It's *REALLY* best to begin with a project like
pong/brickout/tetris/etc, so that you get a good idea of everything
that's involved with a simple game. Most commercial games these days
are done by teams of dozens of people, and have at least 50-100
man-years of development time invested. Do NOT try and replicate such
a title from home unless you're *very* *very* good. (And if you have
to ask, you're probably not (yet) in that category).
Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A.
Heinlein
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