Tag Archives: directx

The Starter Code Dilemma

Humans are inquisitive beings.  We tend to question things, and that’s a quality that I’m quite proud of.  Personally, I like to know how things work.  It’s not enough that something fulfills its purpose at the moment.

The reason I bring this up is kind of complicated.  For Graphics Programming, my professor gave us DirectX 11 starter code because it would have taken too long to develop the core framework and teach it at the same time.  When he first told us this, I was elated.  Setup is often tedious, especially for lower level stuff like this.  For the first few assignments, I had no problems.  Drawing geometry was easy.  The shaders worked well.  Texturing was a breeze.  It didn’t hit me until recently that this code might have to be the basis for my team’s game.

And herein lies the issue: I don’t really know how it works.  Because of this, I lack control.  I have a solution though, and this may be the start of something very wise.  I’m going to do it all from scratch using a few online tutorials, but I’ll be modding the code as I go with my team’s game in mind.  This way, I’ll avoid the issue of blindly copy-pasting and I’ll end up with something that I understand.  It will take time, but doesn’t everything?  It’s better than being ignorant.

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Adventures in Graphics Programming

This semester, I’m working in a team of 5 to make a game using C++ and DirectX for my Graphics Programming class and I’m terrified.  Yeah, maybe that wasn’t the emotion you were expecting, but I can’t be the only person in the class who is a bit anxious about this.  But it’s a good kind of anxious.  Graphics programming is liberating.  There’s so much control, I just have to overcome the initial shock of having nothing to really start with.  This is definitely going to be an adventure. Continue reading

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