Best programing language for vidieo games

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EvaDoomGal
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30 Aug 2017, 5:13 pm

What is the best (prefibly free) programming language to develop some good MS DOS-style games?

I'm planning on making computer games. Any game design advice is welcome.

Thank you

-Eva



Aristophanes
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30 Aug 2017, 5:27 pm

For gaming you will need to know C and C++ (C++ is basically an upgraded C, if you know C++ you pretty much know C). You can find tutorials online for free and there are free compilers available as well. For old-school 2-d graphics I'm not exactly sure what game engines are recommended, but I know for 3-d gaming there's Unity, Hero, and Unreal engines (and a boatload of lesser known ones). As for learning C/++ it's the most widely used programming language in the world, it's older than I am, and thus you'll find tons of useful information using google. Just remember: learning isn't about your brains/smarts, it's about putting in the effort and concentration, especially if you're learning on your own.



EvaDoomGal
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30 Aug 2017, 5:31 pm

Aristophanes wrote:
For gaming you will need to know C and C++ (C++ is basically an upgraded C, if you know C++ you pretty much know C). You can find tutorials online for free and there are free compilers available as well. For old-school 2-d graphics I'm not exactly sure what game engines are recommended, but I know for 3-d gaming there's Unity, Hero, and Unreal engines (and a boatload of lesser known ones). As for learning C/++ it's the most widely used programming language in the world, it's older than I am, and thus you'll find tons of useful information using google. Just remember: learning isn't about your brains/smarts, it's about putting in the effort and concentration, especially if you're learning on your own.


Thank you! I'll consider downloading C or C++. I was actually thinking of starting out with Q Basic first since I am very familiar with MS DOS.



Misery
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01 Sep 2017, 6:41 pm

EvaDoomGal wrote:
Aristophanes wrote:
For gaming you will need to know C and C++ (C++ is basically an upgraded C, if you know C++ you pretty much know C). You can find tutorials online for free and there are free compilers available as well. For old-school 2-d graphics I'm not exactly sure what game engines are recommended, but I know for 3-d gaming there's Unity, Hero, and Unreal engines (and a boatload of lesser known ones). As for learning C/++ it's the most widely used programming language in the world, it's older than I am, and thus you'll find tons of useful information using google. Just remember: learning isn't about your brains/smarts, it's about putting in the effort and concentration, especially if you're learning on your own.


Thank you! I'll consider downloading C or C++. I was actually thinking of starting out with Q Basic first since I am very familiar with MS DOS.


Even going for DOS itself, QBasic was never exactly the best option. Reason: The results you got were always slower than a sack of bricks due to the way that QBasic worked. Basic as a whole was typically like that back then. Real game making never happened on that because the results were usually unplayable. It was more of a learning tool than anything... sort of.

C or C++ are indeed the right ones if you're looking to mess around with and make stuff for older devices and DOS itself.



whatamievendoing
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02 Sep 2017, 4:02 am

Objectively speaking, there's no such thing as the "best programming language". Each programming language has their own strengths and weaknesses. From what I've heard, though, a C-based language (i.e. C, C++ or C#) is a good starting point if you want to get into game programming, since they're so widely used and thus useful to have even a small bit of knowledge in.


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mr_bigmouth_502
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02 Sep 2017, 12:37 pm

Objectively, the "best" language for game programming would be pure assembly, but only if you're coding for one specific architecture and don't plan on having your game run on multiple platforms! ;) Realistically, C or C++ would be better options, as they give you something simpler and more portable to work with. I'm no programmer however, so I barely know what I'm talking about.


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remmargorp
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16 May 2018, 9:48 pm

It depends what your platform is. If it's a PC game or modern console game, then C or C++ is probably the best. If it's something for the NES or GameBoy, then you pretty much have to use assembly.

If you're a beginner and want to make MS-DOS style games, there's a language called QB64, which is a port of QBasic to Windows.



Zanardi
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19 Jun 2018, 11:29 am

Hum... the original post is a little old... but I would like to suggest a game engine, Like Unity3d, or Construct. You can do a LOT these days with your logical/code knowledge and the support of game engines.