[Question] Just Programming

[olderpokemonfan]

I'm interested in learning how to program games. There's a ton of resources on the Internet, I know, and there are also engines that allow you not know much about programming, like RXPGXP, but I'm still interested. Partially because I want to be able to more easily write and maybe share custom scripts for my Pokemon fan games, and partially because I want to develop my own stuff based on what I've learned from working with game development software.

Where should I start, though? I wasn't fortunate enough to have taken programming in school---it wasn't offered in high school and in college I wasn't sure which classes to take that would still be relevant. I guess this is a pretty basic question, but I would like to give myself a good background in Ruby, C, and Java, as well as learn some GBA console programming, but I'm just not great at teaching myself anything. I'm patient and can learn from project-based tutorials, but there's not a lot of free stuff like that out there.

 

[NewAgeSteel]

I'm interested in learning how to program games. There's a ton of resources on the Internet, I know, and there are also engines that allow you not know much about programming, like RXPGXP, but I'm still interested. Partially because I want to be able to more easily write and maybe share custom scripts for my Pokemon fan games, and partially because I want to develop my own stuff based on what I've learned from working with game development software.

Where should I start, though? I wasn't fortunate enough to have taken programming in school---it wasn't offered in high school and in college I wasn't sure which classes to take that would still be relevant. I guess this is a pretty basic question, but I would like to give myself a good background in Ruby, C, and Java, as well as learn some GBA console programming, but I'm just not great at teaching myself anything. I'm patient and can learn from project-based tutorials, but there's not a lot of free stuff like that out there.

theres a thread on here that's intro/basics of ruby programming. that's one of the best places I can suggest to start.

 

[mgriffin]

NewAgeSteel covered Ruby above, I don't have anything to add there.

I don't think that you should bother with C or Java unless you have a specific reason to use them (e.g. you're going to apply for a job, or want to use an engine that requires them).
It's hard to recommend a resource for learning C, there's an infinite number of terrible ones out there, so the best I can give you is C Programming Language, affectionately known as K&R.

Having said that, if you wanted to write a GBA game you'd be doing that in mostly C (or C++) and potentially a little ARM assembly (which is actually quite a nice language, but would be a huge pain to actually develop anything big in). Tonc and GBATEK were the tutorial and reference I consulted when I looked at this 8 years ago.

 

[olderpokemonfan]

theres a thread on here that's intro/basics of ruby programming. that's one of the best places I can suggest to start.

Thanks, may I request a link to it.

 

[NewAgeSteel]

Thanks, may I request a link to it.

Go into the Scripts,Tutorials, and Tools threads right here on Game Development. It's the second thread from the top, it's a moderator thread called the Basics of Ruby Language or something like that