3 ms·

When I was a kid, I wanted to write games. I wanted to use the same techniques that "real" games used, not some dumbed down "for kids" thing. I disliked everyth

by bla3 5y ago

When I was a kid, I wanted to write games. I wanted to use the same techniques that "real" games used, not some dumbed down "for kids" thing. I disliked everything that stressed ease-of-use and instant gratification and I liked everything that looked like it was written for professional use. In hindsight, this probably wasn't the smartest decision. But it did lead to me learning C++, DirectX, OpenGL, 3d math, and so on. And I did end up in a place where I'm more or less paid to do what I did for fun back then. Also, the learning process taught me frustration tolerance, which is a very useful skill to have in the industry, and which many others seem to lack.

sitkack 5y ago
> taught me frustration tolerance You made it through. Many kids don't. I too wanted the "real" stuff, but so much so I didn't embrace the medium I had before me. One could make Battle Zone in Logo or Flappy Bird in QBasic.
- sitkack 5y ago
  Frustration Tolerance should be its own area of study. It is the demarcation line between quitting and enjoyment.
TillE 5y ago
I basically did the same things for the same reasons as a kid. I'm very glad to have learned C++, but I bounced off DirectX pretty hard. The API wasn't great (this was DirectX 7), and the tools available for free were mostly nonexistent. So I never made much progress there. I'm really glad that kids today can build games with real-world professional tools that are much more friendly, like Unity or Godot.
- mwcampbell 5y ago
  I learned C without too much difficulty as a teenager, and also began to learn C++ at that point (I doubt anyone ever finishes learning C++), but I abandoned Win32 and MFC in disgust when I briefly tried to learn them at age 18 in the late 90s. Maybe I would have gotten further if I had started younger, or if I hadn't been spoiled by Java first. As it happened, I didn't really master Windows programming until my 20s when I had to do so for a paid job.
- Agentlien 5y ago
  My story starts in a very similar manner. I started with C as a kid (9) and tried my hand at DirectX 7 when I was a bit older (maybe 12?) but found the API quite hard to understand. I stuck with making text based games for a few years and moved on to 2D programming using a library called Allegro[0] in high school. It wasn't until university that I came back to 3D programming and learned OpenGL. It clicked in a whole other way than it did as a kid and I've loved it ever since. I even ended up with a career as a graphics programmer. [0] https://liballeg.org/ https://liballeg.org/
shadowgovt 5y ago
I went the opposite way. Started playing with HyperCard and made some fun demos. Only later did I begin to really wonder how someone goes about making HyperCard and got deeper into how frameworks are created. Different strokes for different folks. Some find the distance between the fundamentals and a working demo extremely frustrating in a lower-level API.
Agentlien 5y ago
I started learning C at the age of nine because I wanted to make games and somewhere along the way I realized it was a viable career. I still love coding and computer graphics and feel very happy that I'm able to do it professionally. Right now in the room next to me my son, who is five, is playing with Nintendo's Game Builder Garage. He likes watching me work, he likes using the Game Builder with me to make his own silly games together. And he spends a lot of time goofing off and making his own silly prototypes that don't amount to anything but give him a lot of pleasure. He's also very much into Minecraft and makes some astonishing things in Creative Mode which I didn't think you could (a city on land but encased in flowing water yet dry on the inside?!). He's at an age where he loves creating and he has a surprising attention span for his age. I showed him code because he asked what it was, but he can't read yet. I've tried showing him actual game development tools since he said he wanted to learn. Despite being very smart and intensely focused that kind of exercise doesn't quite work for him, yet.

by bla3 5y ago

sitkack 5y ago

> taught me frustration tolerance You made it through. Many kids don't. I too wanted the "real" stuff, but so much so I didn't embrace the medium I had before me. One could make Battle Zone in Logo or Flappy Bird in QBasic.

sitkack 5y ago
Frustration Tolerance should be its own area of study. It is the demarcation line between quitting and enjoyment.

TillE 5y ago

I basically did the same things for the same reasons as a kid. I'm very glad to have learned C++, but I bounced off DirectX pretty hard. The API wasn't great (this was DirectX 7), and the tools available for free were mostly nonexistent. So I never made much progress there. I'm really glad that kids today can build games with real-world professional tools that are much more friendly, like Unity or Godot.

mwcampbell 5y ago
I learned C without too much difficulty as a teenager, and also began to learn C++ at that point (I doubt anyone ever finishes learning C++), but I abandoned Win32 and MFC in disgust when I briefly tried to learn them at age 18 in the late 90s. Maybe I would have gotten further if I had started younger, or if I hadn't been spoiled by Java first. As it happened, I didn't really master Windows programming until my 20s when I had to do so for a paid job.
Agentlien 5y ago
My story starts in a very similar manner. I started with C as a kid (9) and tried my hand at DirectX 7 when I was a bit older (maybe 12?) but found the API quite hard to understand. I stuck with making text based games for a few years and moved on to 2D programming using a library called Allegro[0] in high school. It wasn't until university that I came back to 3D programming and learned OpenGL. It clicked in a whole other way than it did as a kid and I've loved it ever since. I even ended up with a career as a graphics programmer. [0] https://liballeg.org/ https://liballeg.org/

shadowgovt 5y ago

I went the opposite way. Started playing with HyperCard and made some fun demos. Only later did I begin to really wonder how someone goes about making HyperCard and got deeper into how frameworks are created. Different strokes for different folks. Some find the distance between the fundamentals and a working demo extremely frustrating in a lower-level API.

Agentlien 5y ago

I started learning C at the age of nine because I wanted to make games and somewhere along the way I realized it was a viable career. I still love coding and computer graphics and feel very happy that I'm able to do it professionally. Right now in the room next to me my son, who is five, is playing with Nintendo's Game Builder Garage. He likes watching me work, he likes using the Game Builder with me to make his own silly games together. And he spends a lot of time goofing off and making his own silly prototypes that don't amount to anything but give him a lot of pleasure. He's also very much into Minecraft and makes some astonishing things in Creative Mode which I didn't think you could (a city on land but encased in flowing water yet dry on the inside?!). He's at an age where he loves creating and he has a surprising attention span for his age. I showed him code because he asked what it was, but he can't read yet. I've tried showing him actual game development tools since he said he wanted to learn. Despite being very smart and intensely focused that kind of exercise doesn't quite work for him, yet.