Where To Get Started Programming For The Xbox, Where to get started programming for the Options

[jippie]

Couple of weeks ago I sent a message in the forum about me coding minesweeper for fun.
Now I get a least 1 message a day asking for help, where to get started.

Most of what I know I learned from here http://www.xfactordev.net. There are some really good tutorials.
There is also some source code for xinvaders on this site. I read this to understand a bit.

If you have done anything in directx before then you have no problem. It is the same.
If you are new to directx then don't bother with the XBOX YET!!
Just code stuff in the directx on your PC, it much quicker.

This is a site good for this http://www.xbdev.net/ for both Xbox & PC tutorials.

Start with the PC stuff at the beginning with the most simple tutorial.
Understand it before you move on, it will make you life easier later on. Trust me :-)

Google search for loads more http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=direc...ctx%20tutorials

nexe & andypick are both good sites for the PC. Use them.

In the XDK itself, there are loads of examples, and they are good to play with.
X:\Program Files\MS Xbox SDK\Samples\Xbox\Graphics\Tutorials

Three weeks ago is the first time I have started anything in Directx.
And I have almost finished two games. You must start simple. Don't start thinking you going to code QUAKE4, you are not. Think of a simple game and try.

I have 10 year of C programming, almost no C++. Not a lot of programming on the PC.
No maths, so a lot of the time I get very lost in what is going on.
It will take a long time, a lot of frustrations. But it can also be a lot of fun.

I started badly as I never used the XDK examples/XTL framework.
Use it!!

Edit: Visual Basic is a no no for XBOX, if you aim is to code on the xbox then you will never be able to code with Visual Basic.

Good luck and here are the links:
Fr*shgloop - wishi's site, with source code
xfactordev - one of the best but not updated anymore

Freakdave made a good comment, we are talking DirectX + C, but what maybe is a good step is SDL + C
http://www.lantus-x.com/SDLx/
I would think it is a lot easier to get started. I found DirectX fun and I had been wanting to learn it.
SDL has been around for a long while. There is a lot of good games + scores out there to play with.


jippie

PS maybe someone can add stuff to explain the debug bios??

This post has been edited by jippie: Apr 30 2004, 06:06 AM