GDI+ Game Programming Series - Introduction

I've decided that I'll share my progress with GDI+ game programming in Visual Basic. This series teaches the basic principals of game programming. It's still a work in progress, but should kick-start the young VB game programmer and get you on your way to developing simple classic style, 2D RPGs and such.

You'll learn how to use a tile set for tile-mapping, how to create and move a character around the screen, how to track mouse movement and input, how to create semi-transparent menus, and more.

In terms of performance, GDI+ is horribly inefficient, but should still work for creating games like you might see on the old Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis consoles. As long as you don't use too many on-screen objects simultaneously and keep the number of drawn tiles down, it should perform fairly well on most modern machines.

If you want to dabble in 3D, arcade style games, I recommend learning XNA or DirectX programming in C#. These environments will make much better use of your graphics hardware and allow you to produce many more rich environmental effects.

At any rate, I hope this helps get you started and feeds the creative fire that all of us aspiring game programmers have burning inside. Good luck with your project, and feel free to share your progress with all of us! It's always encouraging to both share and see other peoples' success stories.


Aardaerimus

Introduction

Let's keep this simple, for now...

I have this vision of creating a blog that is both entertaining and beneficial to my fellow aspiring coders. Sounds simple enough, right? Well - truth be told, I've tried this before and failed miserably.

Usually, I start out posting with gusto, only to peter out after a short while. So, what makes me think I can do better this time around? Well, to be honest, my confidence has been dramatically improved by the overwhelmingly positive response to my recent game programming tutorials.

They're certainly nothing epic, but the positive feedback and code-hungry viewers have really driven me to continue in my endeavor to teach both myself, and others.

Mainly, I focus upon laying the foundations for game design in the Visual Studio (specifically VB) environment. Visual Basic is not typically pursued as a viable programming language for game production, but I've always maintained that it is highly underrated. In lazy man's terms: It's what I know, so it's what I do. ;-D

I have a deep fondness for the old, retro RPGs. I grew up playing the old Ultima series, as well as those golden classics, such as Dragon Warrior (NES), and Final Fantasy (NES, SNES). With the arrival of superior 3D environments and flashy game play, I feel that games have lost a great deal of the depth of play and richness of dialog that they once possessed. That's not to say that I don't enjoy, immensely, the all out bloodbath of those good ol' FPS games, like Quake and Unreal, or the arse-kickin'ness of games like the Battlefield series.

Still, when I attempt to make my own games, I pretty much always feel inclined to mimic the design of my favorite classic RPGs.

That said, I'm easily distracted... When it comes to programming, I find it difficult to stick with one thing for any extended period of time. that, or I simply learn a new trick or technique that takes me down so many rabbit trails that I forget what my initial intentions were. I also have a terrible tendency to procrastinate. To make things even worse, I have the memory of a goldfish, and I most always fail to take notes. Boy does that get me into trouble... ;-O

So, here we are... Another blog. :-P

If you find the contents helpful, or even fun, PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE leave me a note or something to let me know you were here! It's the feedback that drives me forward and will help to keep this blog from becoming yet another stagnant pond in the backwaters of the internet.