Hello, I'm new

edited March 2015 in General discussions
Hello everyone! I'm new in this forum, my name is Sabino, I'm 16 and I'm from Italy. I am interested in programming: I know a little bit of C++ but I've just ordered a book "Sams teach yourself C++ in 21 days". I can't wait! :laugh:
Game development is such a fashinating topic for me! I hope that I will realize my dream and that a day I will be able to help the community. Oh, and I plan to release my mini games as open source to help the community. I've also installed on my smartphone "Flying Jelly", a game powered by Orx. :)
By the way, I've some questions to do:
The core of Orx is written in C, are there compatibility issues when using C++?
There is a "Donate" button on the left of the homepage: will donating improve Orx engine and the documentation?
Is Orx good for a programming beginner? :unsure:
Thank you!

Comments

  • edited March 2015
    sabino wrote:
    Hello everyone! I'm new in this forum, my name is Sabino, I'm 16 and I'm from Italy. I am interested in programming: I know a little bit of C++ but I've just ordered a book "Sams teach yourself C++ in 21 days". I can't wait! :laugh:

    Hi Sabino, and welcome here! =)
    Game development is such a fashinating topic for me! I hope that I will realize my dream and that a day I will be able to help the community. Oh, and I plan to release my mini games as open source to help the community. I've also installed on my smartphone "Flying Jelly", a game powered by Orx. :)

    Best of luck with your learning phase and any community contribution is always welcome!
    By the way, I've some questions to do:
    The core of Orx is written in C, are there compatibility issues when using C++?

    There's no compatibility issues when coding in C++ and using C code: C++ is a strict superset of C. You can easily include C in c++ by using the extern "C" keyword.
    That being said, later on, if you decide to use Scroll, which is a C++ wrapper sitting on top of orx, you won't even have to worry about that detail anymore. :)
    There is a "Donate" button on the left of the homepage: will donating improve Orx engine and the documentation?

    Well, even if you don't donate anything, we'll try to improve the engine and the doc based on comments and request. The donate button is very new (it's been here for about a week) and so far there's only been one donation, so we don't really rely on that for anything yet.
    What I hope is that it'll help cover the hosting costs (website, domain name) over time.
    Is Orx good for a programming beginner? :unsure:

    Well, this one is a bit more tricky. I'd say it is suitable to game development beginners, but I don't know how suitable it is for entirely new programming beginners. It also varies quite a lot depending on the people. Some non-programmers have found it easy to learn it in the past but I can't say they are the majority of the community, by far.

    Now that being said, the advantage you'll find with our small community is that we are usually pretty reactive and give lenghty explanations when needed (you can make your own opinion by perusing a bit this forum).

    In any case, don't hesitate if you have any questions or feedbacks! :)
  • edited March 2015
    Hi sabino,

    Just to repeat what iarwain said, but from the perspective of a "hobbyist" C++ programmer, Orx is a great engine for learning.

    Also, I don't know any C at all, only C++ and I have no issues. You don't need to know. C.
  • edited March 2015
    Thank you! Very friendly :cheer:
  • edited March 2015
    Can I create my first game in C and then go to C++ (if needed)? :)
  • edited March 2015
    Yes, you can, but I would recommend that you focus on learning one language until you are confident with it.
  • edited March 2015
    I think I will go with C. :)
    My main target is Android OS: do I need to add OpenGL ES code? Or, will Orx Engine tells the compiler what to do to set Android as platform?
    What changes will I have to do to recompile the game for Windows and Linux? Thank you.
  • edited March 2015
    The game I recently released was deployed to Android, Windows, Linux and MacOSX. I used C++.

    But it's really up to you.
  • edited March 2015
    @sausage->; Did you change part of your code? If yes, did you add platform-specific API code (OpenGL ES) or did you change just inputs, resolution...? :S
  • edited March 2015
    Nah you don't need to do that. Lydesik has created bootstrapping java code for the android build.

    You should have go at compiling and deploying the demo project to an android device.

    I am in the process of updating the Orx Android documentation to supplement Lydesik's work, but I am a little behind with this. I'll get my act together :)

    But check out the existing Android documentation in the wiki.
  • edited March 2015
    As Sausage previously stated, you won't need any special code for different platforms. You shouldn't have to write any OpenGL ES code at all.

    Most of the changes can be done on the config side and won't require any code (the only potential exception I can think of would be to handle multiple touches, but even that could still work on other platforms as well).

    That being said, I'm glad Sausage is working on a newer version of the Android tutorial as it's slightly more tricky to setup the first time than, say, targeting windows. Or maybe it's because I'm more used to develop for computers. :)
  • edited March 2015
    Bootstrapping java code? So my C app will be packaged in a java app and there will not be performance improvement? :S
  • edited March 2015
    I probably should let Lydesik explain it better.

    However, the android builds have some java setup up code that effectively starts your application for you.

    The speeds are great. I did some metric testing recently for my android release:

    https://forum.orx-project.org/discussion/7199&catid=12#7199
  • edited March 2015
    Hi sabino, welcome to the Orx community :) Don't worry about your C app being packaged in a Java app, it still runs directly on the device's processor, the Java bits are essentially used to start you C code (and keep it communicating with the device).

    As for a true multi-platform setup, I'm currently working on creating a single repository with a single build configuration (cmake) to build (and cross-build where possible) for all of Orx's target platforms with a single command. I'm mainly doing this for my own projects, but I'm going to share the basic setup along with a tutorial explaining how to use it to build for all the targets.

    For now, just focus on getting your game to run on your computer, Android integration should be fairly easy when you get to it.

    As for whether Orx is a good place to start programming; I'd say it's an amazing place to start learning C, and a nice platform for getting things done with C++, but never forget that what's a good practice in C is not necessarily a good practice in C++. If you want to be a professional C++ programmer (which is a very valuable skill), you should support your C++ habits with true C++ libraries (like Boost), and Orx's Scroll is a very nice example of handling a C library in true C++ spirit.

    One last point :) IMHO, neither C nor C++ are good languages to learn programming per se, they are very close to the computer, and you command great power with a lot of responsibility. You can get much cooler things done with much (MUCH) less knowledge using, say, Javascript. Don't get me wrong though, C/C++ are very valuable languages for a programming professional, I'm just saying that you should be prepared for a tough ride, especially initially.
  • edited June 2016
    This post is really old. But still i will introduce my self here, since i am also a newly registered member. I am alex bochis a creative director of mobilegamegraphics dot com. Hope i will get more ideas from this community to build more graphics for game development.
  • edited June 2016
    Hi Alex, welcome to the Orx forums. It's always nice to see new faces :) Note you can also catch some community members for chat on gitter: https://gitter.im/orx/orx
  • edited June 2016
    Hi Alex, welcome! Always hit us up if you need any help.
  • edited June 2016
    Thanks for warm welcome.
  • edited June 2016
    A bit late to the party but welcome here, Alex!

    As Enobayram hinted, over the last few months we've been more active on the chat than on the forum. =)
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