apis or librarys for game development

[Twk Amz]

Hi, I read a few books about c++ and i think i understand the basics of c++ and I can handle console apps pretty well.

I wanted to know about game programming in general and where to start. I read that sdl is highly recommended, but I don't know much more.
I started with some sdl tutorials but I'm not sure if it can be used for " professional" game development or just learning.

I'm not going to use an engine becuase i think that the fun(or at least complicated)part of the coding is already done and I'm relly interested in game developing

Just one thing more, do people start from 0(without apis or librarys) or is sdl ok?
thanks a lot

[Disch]

I read that sdl is highly recommended, but I don't know much more.

I prefer SFML over SDL. But they're comparable.

I started with some sdl tutorials but I'm not sure if it can be used for " professional" game development or just learning.

If you want professional game development, you want to use an existing engine. Some options are Unity, Unreal, and CryEngine.

Very few professional game developers actually write their own engine. Most use and/or modify an existing one. Reinventing the wheel and all that.

But since you say you don't want to use an engine... then probably the most "professional" API you'll get is using OpenGL or DirectX directly.

A good combo for that is to use SFML for window creation/audio/etc... but then don't use it for drawing. Instead do the drawing with OpenGL.

An excellent OpenGL tutorial is here:
http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/

Just one thing more, do people start from 0(without apis or librarys) or is sdl ok?

It's impossible to write any meaningful program without an api or library. Even "regular" C++ comes bundled with STL, which is a library (that's what the 'L' in STL stands for). IE: if you are #including any header that you didn't write (like <iostream>), then you are using a library.

My advice is dive right in with what you want to do. If you want to make graphical programs, then that's where you should start. SFML and SDL make is reasonably easy... and you shouldn't have any trouble if you're already familiar with the language.

[Twk Amz]

would you say that an engine is better than a library?
I thought you could only do what the engine let you do, i find it pretty limitated. But as i said i don't know a lot so, what do you say?

[Disch]

would you say that an engine is better than a library?

They are two different things. So I wouldn't say one is "better" than the other.

But an engine will certainly let you make a more complete program more quickly than coding one from scratch would.

I thought you could only do what the engine let you do, i find it pretty limitated

I suppose there's truth to that. But that doesn't seem to be a problem for <insert professional game development company here>.

To be honest I don't have a lot of experience with using an existing engine myself. So I can't tell you what they are and aren't capable of. But I'm sure they'd give you a reasonably high amount of freedom.