[CompGame]

I just finished my degree in computer programming and now I'm looking to get into game programming. I played a little bit with games when I was a kid but it's been so long none of the technology I used is around anymore.

I don't want to make major 3D games right now, just card games, puzzles, etc... I've already made a Gin Rummy game but I want to extend it to run online and allow two players, and also a chat area for the players.

I've been looking for books and scanning different websites for about a week but I'm completely lost as to where to start. Most "Game Programming" books I find don't actually show you much about making a game, they just talk about different technologies.

I guess I need an idea of where to start, and what to use, do I use C++, C#, Java for online games? How do I turn my card game into a two player game, and add chat... i.e. what technologies should be used?

[macosxnerd101]

This thread is a great place to start.

Which are you most familiar with? C++, C#, or Java? Java has the advantage of Applets for client-side interaction if you go that route. If you want to deal with client-server programming, take a look at the java.net API, including technologies like Sockets. We have some tutorials on Sockets in the DIC Java Tutorials Section.

Hope this helps some.

[CompGame]

Thanks,

I'll look at that thread. I seen it once before I posted but I've looked at so much stuff lately I'm just completely confused with what to do next.

I am the best with C#, but I'm also Java certified. I don't like Java much, but I can use it if that's needed. I have seen websites like pogo.com which have Java based games. Those are the types of games I'm interested in starting out with. Small games I can do myself, not large games like Half-Life.

I was going to go with Java but I heard a lot of bad things about it online, most of it may not be true, but it kind of steered me away from using it.

This is all I want to start:

I have a Gin Rummy game that I created, it's written in C# and uses a Windows Forms application (with picture boxes holding the card images) as graphics. The game engine and validation engine are very extensive. I've had several offers from companies wanting to buy the validator engine / computer player component, so that got me thinking I wanted to do something else with the game.

So I want to upgrade my game:
1. Add support for two players... so I'm assuming something online will be required, maybe a browser-based game so I was thinking Java.

2. A chat feature to let the two people playing the game chat with each other.

3. Slightly better graphics, nothing major but something to make the game a little more fun.

[macosxnerd101]

I'm not familiar with C# or C++. I do know they both have networking capabilities. Java is the only one that's really designed to run in your browser window.

[Kilorn]

If you've got more experience with C#, take a walk over to the dark side and check out the XNA tutorials on this site in the Game Programming Tutorials section. XNA is a powerful framework for developing games, and has pretty much everything built into it so you won't really need to use any extra API's or libraries.