Good Direct2D tutorial out there?

[AceDawg45]

So, after the past week or so I have been searching for a good 2D game programming book / tutorial in Direct2D. Why D2D, you ask, and not SFML, or SDL? Well, I am going to want to learn Direct3D soon, and it will be easier if I already know quite a bit of advanced COM programming, plus the Directx ways anyway.

I have seen one Youtube series that looked promising, but it ended subtly after a 3rd video (no, it wasn't mid series, that 3rd vid is about 2 years old). MSDN, IMO, is pretty useless when it comes to certain things. This is one of them. A book, at the least? I found this book on amazon that seems promising:
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-2D-Games-Charles-Kelly/dp/146650868X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411690017&sr=1-1&keywords=programming+2d+games
But that has a $50 dollar price tag. It isn't that it is too expensive, I just want to know if there is a better option out there before I spend that, and realize there was a better one for $30. As for the other books I've looked at, they all seem kind of dated and not very good.

Anyway, I would appreciate it if you guys can share your recommendations with me.

[novellof]

I have that charles kelly book..Its okay but you deff should start by learning WIN32 how to program a window..then start directX.. Otherwise you will be so lost...I made this mistake bought the book and I hated life by doing that

DirectX is a pretty steep learning curve because you are introduced to new WIN32 datatypes..

For example

HINSTANCE, HRESULT, LRESULT, LPARAM, WPARAM...

Get used to programming just a WIN32 window then learn directX

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb384843.aspx

This is something i wish someone told me

EDIT The Charles kelly book is actually really good..I just have developed this sort of stigma towards the book because of what I mentioned before..Downloading the source code is a must when programming using that book though so keep that in mind.

[AceDawg45]

Thanks for the advice, and I probably should have said that, but I already know a LOT of WIN32 stuff. That is why I feel it should be easy to learn Direct2D, since I already know a bit of WIN32. Any other suggestions?

[novellof]

Then I would say get the Charles kelly book. Download the source code from his website.

[novellof]

Got any recommendations for me for win32 :P

[liuyang]

Programming Windows by Charles Petzold would be nice to start learning Win32

[AceDawg45]

Yeah, and if you want UI, then theForgers tutorial is good. It is a little dated, but it still is good for the basics. You could just google it "theForgers win32" and it should come up.

[novellof]

Can we get this guy an Answer for the DirectX....He already knows win32...I didn't mean to hijack this thread

[AceDawg45]

I appreciate that, novellof, but its fine that you asked for a Win32 reference. They're hard to find, and MSDN really... sucks.

[novellof]

I dont understand..Programming Windows or DirectX is quite a big deal...yet there is little to no books on either subject and or, that they are outdated....I don't understand....Pretty frustrating.

Like for the 2D Dx. That Charles Kelly book was the only one I found for 2D Games...

[AceDawg45]

Well, the thing is, Win32 itself is pretty outdated too. People just use Windows Forms and .NET for their GUIs now - or some other graphics framework. You can find Win32 books out there, actually, a lot, but none of them are GUI stuff, because, like I said, people just use easier frameworks to draw their GUI.

I found Windows Via C/C++ really good, but it is pretty advanced and assumes you have a knowledge of Win32 already. But, it is only system programming, so just know that before buying it looking for GUI stuff. You can take a dive if you want into that if you want to -
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-via-Jeffrey-M-Richter/dp/0735624240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411829146&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+via+c+c%2B%2B

Another problem is Windows 8. With the new UI and "applications" thing on it, Microsoft had to update all of their frameworks or make new ones for it. You can find a "Windows App Development C# or C++" anywhere now.
And, Windows 9 is gonna be unveiled on September 30th, and I assume that they are gonna show DirectX 12 alongside it. That is why I am hesitant on learning Direct3d, because Dx12 is probably going to have a lot with it because of the new xbox power and UIs of Windows 9.

Anyway, I have a bad habit of lengthly posts, sorry about that.

tl;dr
Win32 for GUI development is outdated due to newer, faster frameworks out there. Windows 8 doesn't do it justice because of it's "metro" UI.

[helios]

That is why I am hesitant on learning Direct3d, because Dx12 is probably going to have a lot with it because of the new xbox power and UIs of Windows 9.

You don't need to concern yourself with that unless you're in the AAA game industry. Most modern graphics programming concepts were already implemented in DirectX 10.

[AceDawg45]

Thanks for that tip, helios.

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

Oh, and before I click "submit", one more question - instead of learning Direct2D, would it be possible to just program a 2D game in 3D? Like, just set the Z value to 0, and have the camera just follow the player? Can you even use 2D sprites in direct3d?

[helios]

I would imagine. In OpenGL you do it by setting the transformation matrix mode to orthogonal and drawing everything on a plane perpendicular to the camera.