Hello everyone! I am in need of some advice.

Goals:Game Programming and Computer Graphics Design

Question(s):
1.How should I go about getting started on programming games ? (I would also like to learn how to program websites.)
2.How should I go about getting started on creating graphics and animation ? (I know this forum is about programming but I was hoping someone just might know. :) )
3.My understanding is software engineering explains how to READ and WRITE code. Sort of like learning any other language. Is this true?

Previous advice:
Before coming here, I was told to play around with Maya trial. Also for programming to learn software engineering first then pick a language. Also to learn JavaScript. (Note:Some mod makers and programmers suggested these. )

Background:
Straight out of High School. I have only a little experience making modules for NWN1 & NWN2. I also use to edit and make mods for Unreal. But I really enjoyed adding new graphics and making my own scripts, etc. Not to mention, there were guides telling how to do all these things. So it lead me to those goals.

Current Books:
1st- Sams Teach Yourself C++ (This book seems to be an old version. Also it doesn't explain HOW "x" works or WHY that "x" does what it does. It simply explains what to type. Which doesn't really help me. Because I need to understand.)
2nd- Learn JavaScript, by Jerry Lee Ford,Jr (Just got this book about five days ago. So I haven't really had a chance to get into it much. So far it looks fine.)

I really appreciate any help you pros can offer me!

Thank you for any advice!

-Damish

Hmmm, thats a pretty big question. Well your first question is 2 parts so here goes:

1a. Regardless of what you use to program a game (C++, VB, C#, etc) you need a STRONG understanding in math. (Linear Algebra for example) Rendering a sprite to the screen and being able to control it through keyboard input is easy, getting it to react to hitting an object, that becomes difficult. (Read: Physics engine) For video games I prefer the XNA framework (Wrox publishes a book on this framework: Professional XNA Game Programming: For Xbox 360 and Windows) Purists will say it's not "real" programming because it works on a higher level then a game wrote in C++ others will argue that you don't need such a low level understanding of everything to write a video game. For me, it is exponentially eaiser for me to dev a game in XNA because I have a deep understanding of C#, what you choose to do is a matter of preferance.

1b. It goes without saying that programming a website is nothing like programming a video game but I need to counter your question with a question: How do you want to program websites? There are many server side languages out there: ASP.NET, PHP, PERL, RUBY, Cold Fusion, etc. ASP.NET and PHP are, IMHO, the 2 most widley used Server Side languages in regards to website development. I recommend ASP.NET but I am a MS guy to the bone so my advice is a bit skewed.

2. This isnt really a question I can answer; you are either artistically inclined or you are not, you just have an "eye" for things. (I am a developer and couldnt create an "amazing" image in photoshop to save my life)

3. There is much more to designing software then reading and writing code, that is almost an after thought but yes, in a nutshell, this is what an engineer does. There are many more dimensions to it though: writing software that does things the most effecient way possible, knowing when you could get away using an integer as opposed to a double (hence saving memory consumption), etc. There are entire books wrote on this topic but that is it in a nutshell.

What does Maya have to do with software engineering? It is an amazing 3D animator but it really doesn't have anything to do with designing software.

JavaScript won't do you any good without and understanding of (X)HTML, but its a great language to know once you start working with websites. My suggestion would be to work from the ground up, pick up some XHTML books, understand how things get built from the ground up.

Let me know if you would like me to ellaborate on anything further!

hth.

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Thank you for the reply!

Note:I am also looking for advice on which courses I should take to get me started. Or if I even need to learn the programming side of things at college.

1a.This is probably the first time I have even heard of XNA. I will have to look into it as well as other langs.

1b. I was actually looking at making websites with ASP.NET. Does anyone know what college course would teach ASP.NET ?

2. I am a decent artist. If anyone knows books or courses I would appreciate any information. :D

3. Anyone know good books or courses for the basics of software engineering then?

Note:Maya wasn't suppose to have anything to do with Software Engineering. I am afraid I wrote that down wrong. I will edit that line.

Any Idea on a good book for XHTML ? :)

No problem.

First, XNA is NOT a language. It is a framework that Microsoft created to allow programmers to develop games that run on Windows as well as the Xbox 360, the language specific to XNA is C#.

The rest of your questions I am going to group into one response. All of the things that you inquired about here are very specific sections of programming and, someone may correct me, you are going to be hard pressed to find a college that offers a program that is going to encompass all of these points. (I don't even think Trade schools offer a Video Game/Website design program because they are at opposite ends of the specturm).

However, a multimedia type program is something that is becoming more common place in schools where students learn Web Page design, how to use Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc but I doubt you will get much exposure to the programming side of things. More I think these programs are designed for people who want to become designers and people involved with the presentation layer of web development.

Software engineering is most closely associated with a Computer Science degree but, i should probably stress, unless you go to a specialized school you probably will NOT get much hands on training with programming. (My CS course only required me to take 1 language class) College is alot of theory and will not necessarily "teach" you how to program but knowing the theory behind everything is invaluable.

All that said, I learned how to program from, quite literally, breaking things. I would write something, it would throw and error, debug, recompile, run, repeat. Books are an invaluable wealth of knowledge and you can learn almost anything from them and that is where i learned alot of the stuff that I know.

Unfortunately, I can't give you any links on books about software engineering or the design side of things.

In so far as XHTML goes, this book should be a good place for you to start:
http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTit...764570781.html

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Hey everybody. you can find lots of good sources on the following links
http://www.whatusearch.net/Computers/
http://www.verygooddirectory.com/ram...?pr=Computers/