What are some good programming languages to program games in? C++? Thanks

Hi kab012345 I cant help you but the best programing language is C++ but I have some problems too

Here is a little background for my questions...
I'm not that old but when I was a kid I used to own a TK85 that loaded programs using k7 tapes. Basic was pretty much all this computer had and I used it to modify some simple games. I had major fun doing this but unfortunately one day the computer died right in the middle of the most exciting programing moment. Much later I learned linux shell scripting and learned a little bit of C. My C knowledge was only enough to fix minor things when I compiled linux from scratch. More recently I have been using PHP for web projects.

I like to start working on games as a hobby. I have been looking at the great wiki but I don't know where to start.
I have been thinking about starting with c++ and OpenGL Is that a good idea?. How about also using a game engine? Or maybe something like Game Blender? I already have a tiny bit of experience with blender. Maybe I could play with the code of a game already made. Can anyone recommend any simple game I could get the source code? I have an idea for a short, funny and simple side scroller that eventually I like to try making. It would be also fun to make a funny version of pong.

I'm running windows XP but it would be nice to make things cross platform.
My goal is to have fun doing this so I'm looking for the shorter and most documented route
Should I use visual c++ express?

thanks for all the help in advance )

the best game programming languages... um... um...
aha... not C++ not C, defenitely not assembler but Lua, yes Lua indonesian for moon (i think) it uses low system resouces, easy to learn, and pretty easy to debug. games that I know have been programmed in Lua is Supreme Commander. I'm slowly trying to learn Lua in my spare time, but for some reason aren't interested.
PHP=Web
Lua=Games
Assembler=AV products (i.e. NOD32)
C++=normal programs
JAVA=UI interfaces
etc

Ok, thanks for the suggestions and explanation. I think Im going to stick with C++ for now as I will be able to use it for most than just programming games.. But I might think about learn Lua or other Languages later though.


You have a good start. If you already know C, try moving into C++.
Python is a good choice also. Python is a dynamic object-oriented programming language that can be used for many kinds of software development. It offers strong support for integration with other languages and tools, comes with extensive standard libraries, and can be learned in a few days. Many Python programmers report substantial productivity gains and feel the language encourages the development of higher quality, more maintainable code.
It runs on almost anything too! Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, OS/2, Amiga, Palm Handhelds, and Nokia mobile phones. Python has also been ported to the Java and .NET virtual machines.

This post has been edited by kab012345: Sep 22 2007, 02:40 PM

Well, i like language's like Python, Ruby, but there "slow", altough Python isn't that slow Ruby is, but the greta thing about Ruby is its multi-functional, and there is the side of C++ which is a fast great, but i bit weird syntax(owh c'mon private,public before a class?) but i like it and so its a choice of the dev i think..

If you want to have fun, then try Game Maker XP. It's free (although the paid for version has a few more features) and has an easy to use language called GML, or Game Maker Language.

If you want to start building a game, i recommend you to learn the programming language first. Most of the Game Programmer use VC# to build game. You have to understand the language, open GL, direct X etc etc etc. But if you just want to have some fun by making simple games i recommend you to use Game Maker by Mark Overmars, it's simple and straight forward, or you can also use FLASH. Btw, for me, i'm in progress of learning VC#. There are lot of free e-books bout programming in internet. just download those stuff, start reading, start practicing and Good Luck.

I am create a game in Flash.