I have started programming in visual basic which I think is a bad program even though I still use it. You can only make the program compile to work on windows so I looked for a compiler that can compile to windows, linux and unix. I have found several compilers but I was wondering how to make games in C++. I know the VERY BASIC! commands and I want to learn how to make games. Can someone please help me and email me at Stormcloud012@aol.com Thanks
P.S I find this hard because I am only 13!

If you want to make games you more than likely want to use a different video mode than the standard DOS text mode (3h?). I suggest either 13h or X. www.gamedev.net is a good place to start, look for articles on either mode 13h or mode X.

Here

Mode 13h: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article347.asp

Mode X: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article356.asp

I have written several games in 13h and have limited experience with X so if you have any other questions I can probably help.

Oh, he mentiones pascal and some of the code is pascal specific (except the ASM) but most of it is easy to convert to C

You might like to investigate SDL at http://www.libsdl.org/

No no no... do it hardcore, it's much more rewarding

Much less portable, too.

He's not writing goddam commercial software, he is trying to learn how to do things, god you guys piss me off sometimes

and what better way to learn how to do things? do them the way everyone else does. that way there is much more help avaliable.

...he's got a point...

But if he's not writing commercial software now, but is just learning, then what will happen when it comes time for him to start writing commercial apps, the knowledge he gained doing mode 13h will not be useful...

Learning mode 13h isn't a waste of time, but it isn't usefull on its own. It's an easy way to learn about the internals of a computer and perhaps a good way to learn asm. But it's not used for anything anymore. Everybody uses DirectX, openGL and others to handle the hardware interface.
So unless you're planning on writting drivers, you're better off learning DirectX or an other API.

RedX

Why learn a harder language if no one uses it? gotta keep with the times to make money

Learning OpenGL or D3D is MUCH harder than 13h. Besides, it is very rewarding making your first graphical game, it will keep him interested in programming

If you can program in a language like C++ already i would heavily argue that learning 13x is much more complicated than OGL or DX. with OGL and DX, you just need how to use the c++ language a certain way, with a few new functions. with 13x you have to learn ASM which is not the easiest language to understand. Then you have to learn how to create graphics using it. Complex stuff for a beginner

And don't forget that most modern compilers don't allow you to do 13h...