I agree completely here.Majin Tenshi said:From what I've read about you lot wanting to make a Berserk game, I'd suggest you take the approach I've taken with all my major programming projects: Work in stages of functionality. Start out with simple goals, but design those goals so that they can be advanced upon. WIth something like flash, I think you'll hit a wall at some point, I recomend C++.
Well, I suck at spacial reasoning. :( So you've definitely got me beat there...My last 3d project was with openGL, and I've always had a good head for "spatial reasoning," so a 3d game doesn't sound too bad. I'm vaguely competent1 with 3d graphics , but I've always done movie level poly counts rather then game level.
The biggest problem I see is I don't know the math for 3d collisions with rotations. I've considered it some and haven't been able to devise an effective approach myself. I think that means its either annoyingly simple or mind-numbingly complex (or maybe in a way, both). I imagine its something that wouldn't be too hard to look up, but I consider not being able to effectively solve one of the fundamental problems of the project myself to be a bad sign.
If you're tallent pool doesn't have a head for it though, I s'pose its a bad idea.
And yeah, I don't think we've got the necessary knowledge available atm, so 3D would be a bad idea.
If you're calling me a novice because I'm self educated, that's a bit off. I've dedicated most of my spare time over the past two years to learning programming, although I do unfortunately lack knowledge of uncommonly used libraries that are really necessary for the type of stuff i want to do (boost.asio, IOCP, etc) due to lack of decent examples (and documentation) online from which to learn.From what I can tell, we've got a wide variety of skill levels here. Unless I misread, we've got novice, college, and career level programmers. Now I've never really worked on a group project2, but the varying skill levels in this group seem like an extra complication in addition to the normal dificulties.
However; I know WINAPI (this includes windows as well as processes/threads/fibers), OpenGL (never really tried 3D though), Windows GDI, Common Controls and Common Dialogs, Windows Sockets, GLFW (small cross-platforming library for OpenGL), GMP, SDL, Win32 SEH, etc.
I also know basic assembly (not enough to create a useful application from scratch, but enough where I inline it in nearly all of my programs), which isn't really much to brag about but it's a useful bit of knowledge for sure.
I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get my point by now.
Well, I showed the necessary classes and stuff to the old school x86 programmer I mentioned a few posts ago and he told me not to waste my time. He also says not to waste my money on programming certifications, apparently most employers won't take them for a position requiring real programming ability. I've also checked a few of them out and they all seem really stupid, mostly based on knowing how to use a specific tool (for example, almost all of Microsoft's programming certifications require extensive .NET knowledge, which to me is the most useless programming tool out there).That is because a real degree usually requires at least a year and a half worth of genEd stuff so if you are talking about an associates which is a 2 year degree, the genEd portion will dominate it. If you want short termed focused studies then you would be better off doing certifications; it is advisable in many cases really. It does not take a CS major to be your average network or system Admin. Those kinds of certifications take 6 months to a year.
I use Dev-C++ sometimes, Code::Blocks other times. Mainly depends on the size of the project, I prefer Code::Blocks for large projects because it's easier to manage large codes and it compiles more intelligently. Dev-C++ doesn't take long to load (Code::Blocks takes about a minute for me), so I use that for quickie stuff.What development tools are you guys using for C++? I have DevC++ and Borland Builder at the moment. Not sure yet what my class will use in the fall though.
I had Visual Studio 2005 express for awhile but never used it for anything but debugging (disasm rox).