I would like to write some simple Mario-like game from scratch using language C. But honestly I have no idea how to do so, and I can´t find any good tutorial for this, which is for free.
But to the actuall question, I have only written WinAPI programs so far, so all event handling and user input was handled by OS, with minimum work, But to develope game, with for example menus with non-rectangular buttons, animations, and so, I guess, there is no such thing in WinAPI taht could help me with this more than just some basic routines mouse pointer location and keypresses.
So, is the right way to write your game to write entire draw part of game engine by manipulating objects for player, enemies, and even background yourself, and than just use directdraw for output to screen?
EDIT:
I actually want to learn how to write games from scratch, becouse it must be great programming experience, and if you consider games like Commander Keen on DOS, created with no framework or libraries, but still so great.
A good approach to this would be to have a look at the SDL library. I'm not saying it's necessarily the best library for 2D games, but it's easy to get started with and the web is flooded with tutorials and open source code samples for simple homebrew 2D games written using SDL.
I do recommand the SDL too, but you should definitely have a look on lazyfoo tutorial, which is just great.
When I started programming I started doing it with Allegro, back in the good old DOS days. It was the first usable library which worked with SVGA libraries, and had a good sprite support. Then version3 came and they added support for windows (using GDI and Directy X, you could choose at runtime which engine to use). The linux port came to life, and all is good.
It's a very basic 2D library, and it will teach you the very basics of graphics and animations. Now it even contains audio support which is a very needed addition (well, I still remember V 2.9X...). They are in betas for version 5, and I think this is an interesting project for you to look into.
http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/
What are you guys talking about, the WinAPI has low level drawing routines.
Although using an established library like SDL is probably a better idea you could create your own abstractions to the WinAPI drawing routines without too much difficulty.
Then it's just a matter of creating the while loop that has all the drawing instructions and interpreting input. For 2D games this isn't too difficult.
I also used SDL, but try to look at HGE. It requires at least DirectX 8.0 so your applications will work only on Windows but on their forum you will find many topics on how to port it to OpenGL. In my opinion HGE will be easier to learn than SDL, because SDL is a low level library and you will have to learn how to handle many things by yourself. HGE is more ready to start just out of the box.
In short, yes - there's nothing in the WinAPI that will help you much. However, there are dozens of game engines that you could build your game on that would take a huge amount of gruntwork out of creating the game itself. A bit of Googling will help you.
(Personal recommendation: although it's technically a 3D engine, something like Unity is an excellent engine that includes tutorials for creating 2D games. Unity isn't C, but it does make your life a lot easier...)
EDIT: I actually want to learn how to write games from scratch, becouse it must be great programming experience, and if you consider games like Commander Keen on DOS, created with no framework or libraries, but still so great.
This is actually not quite right. Commander Keen (and any DOS games) do use libraries: the ones provided by DOS, BIOS, etc. Without libraries of one form or another, you wouldn't be able to do anything useful with C. For game programming, you really do want to leave all the low level details to someone else.
I'd recommend Allegro as a beginning game programming library.
Check out this one Game dev starting
They have realy a big resource related to game programming and a lot of beginner stuff. SDL is good, but you should consider about learning basic game techniques before start coding and even before start thinking about the api/libs you use.
Clear out how much "intelligence" you need (Ki), consider about loading/Saving a an early time, ... so much things that you should keep in mind if you want to finish your project.
Do you need a game editor? (Also..work) What about sound/graphics? Writing all this stuff on your own will take a lot of time (if you do not have experience). Creating the content is another big issue which can consume a lot of time, if you make it at all.
Maybe it will help you to have a look on some dev kids, because that will give you the idea how their engine works. Like this one (outdated) Dev kid
I've just started a similar project a few days ago, you can check it out over at GitHub.
It should give you some ideas about how the game is structured. As well as some details on a scrolling 2D map with collision (which turns out to be quite complicated if you want to get it 100% bug free). Oh, and it's using SDL as many here have already suggested.
As for me, this is my first C project. But I'll have to admit that I've done similar stuff in Java and Python before, so this was a good way for me to quickly learn C. And since it's learning and not any productive stuff, I'm using plain C99, which makes the task even "funnier".
But back to the game, you really need to think about your design before you start coding, write it down on a sheet of paper, or if you're like me and you don't have tree stuff in reach write it in pseudocode.
Think about as many possible game states as you can, nothing's worse than having to re-implement the whole player/map/whatever stuff from scratch just because you did not think about feature XYZ before.
Design is very important, if you don't have a goal to begin with, your project will reach a point where it fails, just like my Tuff did, well it also failed due to missing music and somebody who would have designed enemies, etc.
Speaking of graphics and such, bear in mind that the game will consist of much more than just the plain code. If you aren't good in graphics then take that into account while designing. Because you will quickly lose your motivation when the only things on the screen are colored rectangles.
Action Arcade Adventure Set (originally published as a book) is probably one of the most complete tutorials on how to write a 2D side-scrolling game. Although an older reference, many fundamentals for developing a 2D side-scroller have not changed.
Full source code examples and some tools to develop a side-scroller are provided as downloads. There is only one external library used to handle graphics primitives. As this is an older DOS program, you may have to use a DOS emulator like DOSBox or modify the examples for more modern environments.
I suggest you skim chapters 1 to 9 and focus on chapters 10 to 17.
Related
I'm learning C (I just finished Chapter 2 or Unit 2) of the C Programming Language, I skimmed to the end and saw that at no point anything was said about how to create a GUI, and from what I've looked up, it seems I have to use a framework, but I hate the idea of that. How would I create a GUI without a framework? How exactly do these frameworks work and what language are they written in? I'm not making a massive application, even if it takes me a week, would it be feasible to write a GUI application (in C) to do something simple like creating a window?
You can build your own framework based on OpenGL or Xlib. Or use good graphics library like Motif or CGUI. Or use something awful like GTK.
Not the best road to take. I would suggest a cross platform library, like GTK+.
Yeah, no go.
C can't do anything except manage memory and possibly do software interrupts (if you do pointer hacking).
You need a library to do anything.
GUI is very complex, you can't do anything "simple" with it. It's a problem I face every single day.
If you want a window in C, you need X11, GTK, Windows API, Video hacking, or other fun stuff.
Oh, and Video hacking is a no go, OS will throw an exception if you even try to touch video memory without its permission.
Oh, and the "simple button" you speak of, in Windows API is actually a Window itself, not very simple.
You can make a basic framework using the WINAPI
There is a great tutorial here.
The problem with using C and primitive frameworks like WINAPI is that manging layout and state becomes exceedingly difficult.
If you targeting a normal operating system, the C only requirement becomes unreasonable. I recommend you go with C++ and Qt and compile your C code in a C++ compiler.
Problem
Having grown tired of writing functions to move sprites and characters diagonally and assigning keys that do not flow with the 4 main directional keys(UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT) such as W,A,S,D is a bit of a drag and a bore. However i recently got this usb controller http://www.logitech.com/en-us/gaming/controllers/devices/288 and i would like to be able to add its usage to my console based games or windows applications. AS it has the analog sticks that support comfortable diagonal movement.
Workaround/Possible Solution
There is a fair amount of documentation on doing this in C# but i am more comfortable in C and know next to nothing about C#.
Question
Is it possible in C without additional libraries and if so how can i could use the usb controller support in my programs(and add the functionality to my future projects). Any resources or tips are much appreciated. Linux or Windows solutions are welcome. thanks in advance.
If you are using Windows you may try Direct Input, or XInput it has excellent support for Joysticks and GamePads. It is also used in XBox development. Many Game Projects use this, here is a complete list
Another good option is SDL, it has adequate support for GamePads (which is built on top of DirectInput on Windows Systems) and is Platform-Independent , so that may be an advantage. Also I think Allegro supports them, but I'm not sure.
NOTE: Sorry, if you don't intend to reinvent the wheel and write a driver and api for every damn GamePad in the market, you'll have to use an additional library.
I have programmed in c and I know about data structures and algorithms, but It has been a while since I programmed in c. I forgot things like how function pointers and some advanced stuff in c work. I want to try graphics programming using sdl. my question is how much of c should I know (for example should I know function pointers) before getting into this. Or in other words will I be stuck if I dont remember a lot?
I think basic knowledge of C should be enough. Look for some SDL tutorials and follow them closely, you will refresh your knowledge of C and at the same time learn how to use SDL. It might go a little slower at first, but you will get into it.
Try for example: SDL Tutorials
Or: GPWiki SDL tutorials
Or: Lazy foo
The first one offers also C tuts. As for functions pointers, you might need them later, when you get to the more advanced stuff. With the basics, you will see everything in tutorial source code and believe me it is easy to understand.
If you like books, try: Focus on SDL
Dont know if there are better ones.
I see PeterK posted lots of good stuff, but I figured I'd throw my two cents in as well. When I started using SDL (3-4 months ago), I had a little experience in Java and no experience in c/c++. Using LazyFoo's tutorials (http://lazyfoo.net/), I was able to get up to speed very easily. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn SDL.
Right now, I think a combination of C and openGL is what I need to learn, but it seems like there is still more to it that I need. Also, I'm not sure where to start. I know some C, from reading the C Programming Language (K&R).
If you understand the concepts behind 3D computer graphics then OpenGL + C is about all you need. If you need some help with the concepts then I'd suggest the NeHe OpenGL tutorials and a good reference book like The Red Book.
It depends on what you are trying to do:
If games interest you and you just want to develop amateur stuff without all the fuss, XNA + C# is by far the easiest way to start.
If you plan on becoming a professional game developer, your best bet is DirectX + C++.
If you like open source and just want to mess around with general 3D, OpenGL + C/C++ will offer you a nice community of dedicated people.
There are of course a number of engines and library you can use on top of the last two, such as Torque, Geometric Tools, etc.
I suggest you to take a look at .NET possibilities, i.e XNA Framework
I don't think there is more to it. What makes you think so ?
C and OpenGL is enough to begin with.
I've found that using 3D Studio Max and actually making models helped a lot when it came to learning some OpenGL. I could understand all the intricacies with normals and whatnot.
I would really recommend against trying to learn C and OpenGL at the same time. They are both complicated and more so when you mix them.
I would recommend extremely highly getting, reading, and working through some of the examples in the book Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice. Yes, the book is MASSIVELY out of date; it's still the canonical reference for this sort of thing.
I was recently diagnosed with a cascading dissociative disorder that causes retrograde amnesia in addition to an existing case of possible anterograde amnesia. Many people have tried to remind me of how great a programmer I was before -- Right now I get the concepts and the idioms, but I want to teach myself whether I know or not. I think I can overcome the amnesia problems in part with it.
My question for you, stackoverflow, is this: I recently found Clojure and it... it feels good to use, even in just copying down the examples from whatever webpage I can find. My goals in learning a functional programming language are to create a simple webserver, an irc AI bot of some variety, and a couchdb-like database system, all of which lightweight and specifically for education. What flaws does Clojure have? Is there a better functional programming language to use right now for education /and/ application?
I think Clojure is a very nice language. If I should point to any defect it is that it's very new, and even though the language seems very mature and production ready, the tools and frameworks around it aren't. So if you are going to make, for instance, a web-app, don't expect to fire three commands and have a "Your first web app is running, now read this documentation to create your models"-page on your browser.
There aren't that many libraries written in Clojure yet either, but that's not a huge problem if you consider that you can use almost anything written in Java.
Haskell currently has a large following and a growing base of libraries and applications. It's also used for education and research. I find it a very nice language to use.
Haskell, Erlang and Clojure are all good choices. I would personally recommend Clojure, you might be able to do some interesting database stuff with the Software Transational Memory system that is part of Clojure.
You list CouchDB in your question, and it's written in Erlang, which is meant to be a pretty engrossing language once you get into it.
I have no personal experience with Clojure, but i really recommend F#. It's quite a powerful language in the style of OCaml. I really like it because it's debugging tools and IDE are second to none, and you can take advantage of practically every library on the (huge) .NET platform.