Hmmm. I'm not to shure on where to tell you to start, but when I learn basic on the old braille lite and bns, I just picked a quick start guide. I really didn't get to big in to ++ until the bgt stuff started coming out. So I guess start with bgt and go on and learn C++. I've heard that one you learn kind of how to trouble shoot and how the computer expect things, that other langerages will be easy enoug. OF course MTSU may be just trying to give me a really good reason to major in computer science fthere. Computer science my major for the time being, I may change. In short, I don't know where to tell you to learn, but Where ever it is, it will be painfully slow and any site you go to, may not be werth it to you. The BGT thing should be enough to use for writing a game, and from what I heard, you will learn along the way. From what I remember from computer science class last week, don't leave your code up on the screen when you know another coder is in the area. Trust me, they can make it hard for you, but it sounds like you won't have to worry about it on your computer.

You cannot avoid going through lists of errors. What you can do is start small, meaning there will be fewer errors to go through. Make lots of small games/programs that test out specific things like playing sounds, producing speech, taking keyboard input and so on.

If at any point you need to copy and paste chunks of code don't, put it in a function instead. Functions let you make what is essentially your own command, that way if you need to change anything in that bit of code to fix a problem then you only have to change it once. Try to avoid duplication as much as possible. Also despite what some people think you should use functions instead of goto, or else use loops or if statements. Keeping the flow smooth and clean makes it much easier to manage the code later on.

I have a couple of questions reguarding BGT. What programming langauge does BGT use? Also, as most of you may already know, i am trying to start programming my own accessible mortal kombat shaolin monks game but, honestly i just can't figure out where to start. I have sound effects, i just need a little kick out the door so to speak. Any advice? Sorry to jack this thread by the way but, it relates to programming.

HI,
BGT is a language itself. It uses the Angelscript scripting engine (that's what interprets and/or compiles your scripts) and that is written in pure C++ as far as I know. It should even be crossplatform in itself. For BGT to become crossplatform, Philip would have to rewrite those parts of the engine that use DirectSound, DirectInput, Sapi etc for the respective api counterparts in each individual operating system.
And sorry to repeat this but you really just won't start programming such a huge thing without prior experience. And how can one gain experience? By testing projects, by trial and error. So, just like Cx2 wrote, create lots of small, even pointless scripts that will however teach you how to do the various tasks. I never needed to do just that, I learned most of the language over the week that it took me to write Soundfall and then just gained more practical experience and talked lots of things over with Philip at the beginning.
Don't you want to join me though? I am working on a Mortal Combat style game myself and am finally getting somewhere, the basic fighting already works in fact. I don't want to say much more in public yet. For now, you could provide feedback, ideas and testing and perhaps learn your BGT in the process, and you could provide especially the sounds, lol. Later, when the game is finished, we could make an arrangement for you to possibly take advantage of the code in a way that would make it possible for you to create a modification of the game that would better suit your liking, or we could create it together, etc. What do you think?
Lukas

Hi Lukas,
I want to test the game.

Burak, I am not offering any other positions for beta testing yet. When I start looking for beta testers among thepublic, which I certainly will and it should be quite soon, I will ask people to fill out an application form which I'll prepare.
Arqmeister, now that I think of it, it seems very unlikely to me that you would be able to understand anything from the code. It's not commented at all for the time being, it has already reached a size of over 40 kb (not counting the dynamic_menu and sound_pool include modules) and it is already getting quite complicated in places. I will certainly compile an exe for you though, provide detailed explanations of everything and keenly listen for any ideas and/or observations you might have. I really need feedback from someone who has more personal experience with the more recent Mortal combat games than I do (my first and last experience was the Deadly Alliance game for only a few months, but those were rather intense, and then the games Tekken 2 and 3 for the PSX which are based on a similar concept). I will gladly show you individual, separated parts of the code if you explicitly say that you are interested in them, and I am willing to provide suggestions and check over your first coding attempts, etc, but I think that you can understand and accept why I feel reluctant about letting someone outside of the development team see the entire code when the game is not ready for any kind of public presentation yet. So if you are okay with this arrangement, I'll let you know when your version is ready.
Cx2, I completely agree. I have just started exploring Vinux (a special distribution of Linux made especially for the visually impaired) today and am getting quite intrigued about it! I hope BGT will eventually be made crossplatform one day. If that happened, there would be no match for it.
Lukas

Lukas I don't know if its true but I heard from someone that the Orca screen reader used in Vinux has lost its backing from Oracle, I don't know if they were even backed by anyone. If this is true then it seems the Orca project may fall apart and stop producing new versions, I would be cautious before acting on this information. I'll probably have to run a search later to confirm whether this is true or not. I have no reason to distrust the person who told me but I don't know who told them.

Maybe we should try to hold our own classes over skype to try and help people get started with learning programming, and then record them for the benefit of people that don't attend directly.
It took me several years before I felt like I understood java3d enough that I felt like I might be able to use it if I could see the results, not because of the visual aspect, but because I was trying to learn from extremely formal documents written by people closely associated with Sun. (Or are they part of / became Oracle, now? I just know that each time I visit an official java-related website it seems more and more confusing. ).
The BGT documentation is much easier by comparison (well, and BGT itself is much simpler).

thanks for the offer, Omar. Again, if we need sounds, we'll be offering an application or rather audition form.
The classes are a good idea, Cae, but who has the time to organize them? I don't, unfortunately, not for now.
Lukas