My middle lad is interested in Game Development and has got a work placement with a local games developer, its in January and I want to get him to a point where he understands, and gets the best out of the placement.

They use C++. now I work in IT but I have never done any C++. I know there are game devs on here so was wonderign what tools he would need to get started writing C++. ok, I know he wont be doing game development but just a way of getting the constructs of the language and a feel for it, he has used various level designers but not done coding, he may not end up doing that as there are loads of other jobs but I think its a good start.

Is Visual C++ a good place to start ?

 

I haven't done any C++ for a very long time.
Get him familar with object oriented programming, because that will potentially be more challenging than the actual language I'd imagine.

Last time I done games programming was back in C64/Amiga days.
To be honest I never really enjoyed it that much
I always tinkered with assembly language and jumped at the job opportunity(as any young buck would)
But when a game takes you approx 2 - 3 months in the same place doing the very same thing day in day out, it soon becomes a bit of a let down

 

If he's going to write games, his c++ is going to have to be guru level.

Visual C++ is an excellent place to start to use the language. game shops might use other dev environments and compilers, but for the moment this is moot.

how's his mathematics? essential for 3d engine dev

He will have to learn to code for multi threaded processes, so this is beyond your design pattern object orientation. what i'm trying to say is, he needs some proper guidance not to get into bad coding habits, otherwise it's like trying to correct a sh!tty golf swing.

is he going to uni?

 

Echo that sentiment, getting the right mindset for object orientated programming is far more important than the actual coding itself. Syntax is easy to learn No idea if they use it in the gaming world but have a look at Unified Modelling Language (UML), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language Nice graphical technique for designing and understanding OO developments.

As for actual coding, pretty sure M$ do a freebie version of Visual Studio, good place to start messing around:-

while( 1 )
{
printf( "You suck!" );
}

 

If you are using Visual C++, make sure that you don't use any of the Microsoft/Windows libraries (MFC etc). Makes it a nightmare to move the code to other platforms.

If he currently knows nothing about OO coding, then I suggest he starts with something like Java or C# to learn the concepts with. There's a lot of stuff in C++ that has very little to do with OO, and that can get very complicated very quickly (templates spring to mind)...

 

like they don't have templates in c#?

the game shops will have their own libraries.

 

True, (if you count generics - so does Java) but the C++ ones are far nastier

 

as chef said maths are a large part of games programming

not sure if id go the visual C++ route, but then i never used it a great deal
i went: really old stuff -> C, C++, Java

A friend of mine on the same course did the same basics, and then after the 1st degree did a computer games course in Oxford, after all that he now works for a finance company coding and doing very well out of it

the games market is bloody hard to get into!

 

Have a look at Microsoft's XNA if you have a 360 or a PC with an ok graphics card.
It has lots of tutorials (even example games!) and is C# so he'll get some relevant skills (Most games companies currently program their tools in C# which is probably where they'll start him...or working on UI )
If you sign up for it I believe they point you in the direction of a free copy of visual studio...

PM me if you want further info, I have a few years experience working in the games industry

Cheers

Dan

 

I'd have a tinker with Processing.. http://processing.org/
Very easy to get stuff moving around the screen without having to worry about setting up graphic modes like DirectX or OpenGL... The language is pretty much java so a lot of the skills learned will be transferrable to C/C++ as needed.. Plenty of tutorials on there too..
I wouldn't dive straight into C/C++ first.. stuff like allocating memory and pointers can wait, although if you do visual studio express is free.
Also wouldn't be worried about hardcore maths or multi processor coding yet.. need to learn to run before you can walk..