The Begin Loop

Last week finished up a few things. First Connect Four was put to rest and I finished the book Code Complete. So this weekend was a bit of a interim break. But now it is Monday and time to get started.

First off, I have started C++ For Game Programmers. It is what the title says it is. I am only a few chapters in, but so far so good. Very meaty and it will take a while to digest.

Also this weeks starts what I have been calling the Maze Mover project. An exercise in tile map creation and some basic collision detection. I have also done some design work on how I want to move forward with the project. Over the weekend I formalized my general design philosophy.

Never use a complex idea when a simple one will suffice

Not really earth shattering, but it is keeping me from over designing too much complexity in to my project. I have a decent understanding of Object Oriented Programing, but I never really cared for the whole idea of making everything an object. I still like some things to be procedural. I would say that my coding method is "procedural using objects." Not what purists would call OOP. I really don't care what the purists say.

That isn't to say that as I learn more about the inner workings of C++ I won't utilize all the tools it offers, but sometimes simple C type structures is all that is needed for a particular solution.

Another key point that I have to keep reminding myself is that I should focus on 2D work in SDL. Every now and then I think how I will have to modify one of my classes for 3D in OpenGL, but then I reel myself back to stay where I am now. Eventually I will get to OpenGL, but I should not waste too much time writing for future development. The topics I need to focus on right now are complicated enough in 2D.