Authoring tools such as Macromedia Director have long been used for the development of games. Many current and past commercial games have been developed using these types of programs. Director, which is arguably the leading development tool in this area, has several strong features that make it a possibility...

Java is a portable language developed by Sun to compete with C++. It has borrowed many aspects of the C++ language, although it seems to be a little easier for beginning programmers to learn. The programs you develop can be platform independent, and most can run embedded in Web pages. The language became...

Delphi is very similar to Visual Basic in that its ease of use and IDE are its most important features. Like VB, Delphi has had tremendous support from the large user base, including complete 3D engines and third-party controls for accessing DirectX. We’ll not get into the VB versus Delphi argument...

While the previously mentioned programming languages seem to offer the most, there are a few additional choices when it comes to game programming. They range from programs very similar to Visual Basic to others that are designed specifically for game programming.

There are countless user groups and training materials for Visual Basic, and like C and C++ it would be impossible to list even a fraction of them. Most colleges offer low cost courses in Visual Basic. For beginning programmers, you can check out the book Learning Visual Basic with Applications. It’s...

The biggest disadvantage for VB is that it is a proprietary language. That is, a program developed in VB can run only on the Windows platform. That being said, many games are written only for Windows anyway because it is by far the most popular operating system on computers today. Additionally, the .NET...

It is the most popular language in the world and has a tremendous user base and support system. The VB IDE, which can be seen in Figure 6.2, is excellent, and even a novice programmer can pick it up and use it rather easily. Visual Basic can use DirectX, which enables it to compete with historically...

Basic has been around for some time now, although Microsoft has clearly captured the market with one of the most popular languages for development of business applications. It is the most widely used language in the world because often it is easier for beginners to learn and use. One of the problems...

Like C, there are too many resources to limit this to only a list. Check the listings at any online bookseller’s Web site to determine which books are best for the version of C++ you are using. There are also many good programming classes at your local community college that might be helpful to a new...

Depending on the situation, C++ may be slower than its C counterpart. It can also take some time to get used to if you are unfamiliar with structured programming.