Concepts needed to write games

[Nicholasvan]

Hello,

I am a C++ newcomer who has also studied java. So far, I understand reasonably well concepts such as functions, pointers, basic input/output, arrays, strings, data types, etc. I also plan to learn the SDL multimedia library. Can anyone give me a list of concepts essential to begin writing games? I'm talking super simple "pong" style games.

[helios]

Can anyone give me a list of concepts essential to begin writing games? I'm talking super simple "pong" style games.

I'm sure you'll figure it out.

[Moschops]

The ability to think about the problem in a logical, coherent way such that the solution lends itself to an efficient programmatic solution (aka "how to program"; memorising syntax is not learning to program).

For anything involving showing shapes and colours on a screen, the ability to cast common ideas such as movement, direction and distance into mathematical terms is a must.