I think people that are experienced programmers take it for granted just how confusing the simplest things they take for granted can be
Last time I programmed was about 1987, it’s been a long time and even then it was old school basic. I had forgotten even the most basic things. declaring variables, functions and types were completely alien to me initialy, and without simple knowledge like this I had to rely on Krylars beginner articles for Blitz2D to understand the basics of Bmax.
It took me a while to figure out how Blitzmax knew what X and Y were, even though I could see it was working I found the whole thing pretty confusing, and I obviously still didn't quite get variables and how they worked with commands, despite the fact that I had been using them in working code.
Anyway, I finally got it a few days ago, and am finding it a lot easier now that I realize how simply a computer thinks. And how linear the computers processes generally are.
I'm going to persevere, Partly because I paid the $80 but also because when you understand the concepts behind a game, and a lot of the technical aspects behind how an engine works it's frustrating having to wait on other people to do things for you, and then not having something done as well as you would like for whatever reason. My hope is that in the future I'll be able to help with the basic setting up of a game design and do some of the things that are important to an artist like myself but often prove tedious to a engine coder that focuses more on the technical side of things.
All I can say is that its damned hard to start with, but it does get easier, and I think with a mature IDE with more user friendly functions and proper debugger will help a lot and make things easier still.
Last time I programmed was about 1987, it’s been a long time and even then it was old school basic. I had forgotten even the most basic things. declaring variables, functions and types were completely alien to me initialy, and without simple knowledge like this I had to rely on Krylars beginner articles for Blitz2D to understand the basics of Bmax.
It took me a while to figure out how Blitzmax knew what X and Y were, even though I could see it was working I found the whole thing pretty confusing, and I obviously still didn't quite get variables and how they worked with commands, despite the fact that I had been using them in working code.
Anyway, I finally got it a few days ago, and am finding it a lot easier now that I realize how simply a computer thinks. And how linear the computers processes generally are.
I'm going to persevere, Partly because I paid the $80 but also because when you understand the concepts behind a game, and a lot of the technical aspects behind how an engine works it's frustrating having to wait on other people to do things for you, and then not having something done as well as you would like for whatever reason. My hope is that in the future I'll be able to help with the basic setting up of a game design and do some of the things that are important to an artist like myself but often prove tedious to a engine coder that focuses more on the technical side of things.
All I can say is that its damned hard to start with, but it does get easier, and I think with a mature IDE with more user friendly functions and proper debugger will help a lot and make things easier still.