Computer Games Programming

This site contains many pages of notes and tutorials on games programming. It is aimed mainly at the beginner to intermediate but should have something for everyone interested in games programming. A lot of this site originated from notes I have provided for students studying on the Games Programming Course at the University of Teesside.

March 2009 DirectX SDK - June 2009

OK I know I am a bit slow in updating here but I have just added details of the March SDK to the DirectX 9.0c page.

Beginners page updates - March 2009

The beginners area on this site gets a lot of hits so I have rewritten it and added a lot more useful information for those thinking about getting into games development. I have also added to the XNA area. I have also gone through my links and got rid of all the dead ones.

Main Site Areas

Games Index
The main index page for the games programming section.

T2
T2 is a free terrain texture generation program

Beginners
If you are a complete beginner to games programming looking to get started you will want to first take a look at the beginners page. Other pages of interest are the resources page for books and links and the Glossary that describes some common terms.

XNA
Notes on Microsoft’s XNA SDK for PC and Xbox 360 programming

Direct3D Basics
This section contains many pages of notes about Direct3D. It starts by describing how to get started with Direct3D (creating a basic Window, creating the Direct3D interfaces) and then moves on to 2D graphics describing how to use sprites, textures and display text. Also has a Direct3D FAQ

3D Rendering
Once you understand the basics of Direct3D you can move on to 3D rendering. This section describes each of the steps (Z buffer, Matrices, Lighting, Materials, FVF, Buffers and the Rendering Steps required to render a 3D world). More advanced Direct3D techniques are then introduced with 3D models (.x files) and notes on the different graphic card states that can be set. More recent additions include effect files and vertex and pixel shaders

Graphic Techniques
Graphic techniques used in games like collisions, skybox , camera , terrain and picking.

General Games Programming Techniques
This section includes answers to common game programming question and a section on 2D Games Programming Techniques, including 2D animation and 2D background scrolling. Other game areas like input, sound, terrain following and C++ basics.

Video & Music
This section describes how to use DirectShow to play back video in a new window or in the existing game window.

Games Industry
This is a growing section of the site describing what it is like to work in games, how to get a job and some of the current trends in the games industry.

Games Resources
Many resources for the games programmer. Includes links, books, organisations and journals.

Change History

DirectX 9.0c page - updated for the DirectX SDK March 2009
Nothing to do with games but a friend of mine repairs violins and has recently put up a web site that I would like to help support The link is: http://www.violinworks.co.uk/ (he makes and repairs Violins, Viola, Cellos)
C# - January 2009
XNA - January 2009

Feedback is always nice to get, if you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail: webmaster@toymaker.info

Last modified: 27 June 2009