5 replies to this topic

[sana]

Okay, so i know python and very little c++.

I want to start making small games, probably with python, but I will use c++ in the future.

I just need to know a few things about game programming.


What is OpenGL? What can you do with it?
What is SDL, Ogre, Pygame etc? Is it game engines, libraries? What do they do?

And finaly, whats the easiest way to start with easy 2d games like tetris, snake etc?

[geon]

Did you even do a 10 minute google research?

[supertails]

I know you didn't say anything about Allegro but it many ways Allegro is easier then SDL cause in Allegro you don't have to worry about transparencies. In Allegro the color magenta doesn't exist. Anything that's magenta in Allegro become transparent. I'm not sure about OpenGL but in SDL you have to state the transparent color. btw the color for magenta is #FF00FF or (255, 0, 255). Allegro will resize the images for you which could be a lot easier and would look better then if it didn't. Also when making sprites and sprite sheets always do them in powers of 2D, like 2 to the power of 2 or 4. It will make it easier and faster to load. even a small game like tetris can benefit from that.

[SamuraiCrow]

sana said:

What is OpenGL? What can you do with it?
What is SDL, Ogre, Pygame etc? Is it game engines, libraries? What do they do?

OpenGL is a graphics library that implements hardware graphics acceleration on most operating systems. SDL is a collection of libraries that make multimedia programming for different operating systems practical. PyGame is the a library wrapper that allows you to use SDL from Python. Ogre3D is a 3D graphics engine but only the graphics.

Personally I'd recommend SFML and PySFML over SDL and PyGame because SFML makes better use of OpenGL to make games run more efficiently. It is also much easier to use than Allegro because it is written in an object-oriented form from the start.

[Goldbott]

If you don't know enough about programming to code up a simple application in pure C++ without using anyone else's work I would suggest starting out smaller and working your way up. Maybe get your start with an easier language like A7+c-lite and move up to one that uses a simple scripting language like Unity then go from there. Just my suggestion.

[Nerd_Skywalker]

supertails said:

I know you didn't say anything about Allegro but it many ways Allegro is easier then SDL cause in Allegro you don't have to worry about transparencies. In Allegro the color magenta doesn't exist. Anything that's magenta in Allegro become transparent. I'm not sure about OpenGL but in SDL you have to state the transparent color. btw the color for magenta is #FF00FF or (255, 0, 255). Allegro will resize the images for you which could be a lot easier and would look better then if it didn't. Also when making sprites and sprite sheets always do them in powers of 2D, like 2 to the power of 2 or 4. It will make it easier and faster to load. even a small game like tetris can benefit from that.

I will support allegro...I use it extensively right now. It has all the features that I want in a 2d game library.