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Serious about learning to program
RetroGameConqueror - Jan 26, 2021
  RetroGameConqueror Jan 26, 2021
Hello everyone, I'm a short time member but long time lurker on the forums. So short explanation is I really want to learn how to program and help out on translation projects, do my own homebrews, and ports. The bad thing is I have zero experience with any of it, like none at all on any platform.. I'm extremely serious and dedicated to learning, so my question is where do I start?

 EmeraldNova Jan 26, 2021
Find a book on C and learn from there. The tutorial on emeraldnova.com will get you to hello world.

 RetroGameConqueror Jan 26, 2021
Wow thank you. Your site has a lot of helpful stuff! I'm going to try and catch a live stream of you coding one day. Also I will be grabbing a book on C and watching many videos. So from my understanding I should use the Jo engine correct? Also thank you again for taking the time to chat with me. I'm normally very introverted and find it hard to talk even online sometimes. I will be studying my but off for now on C.

 EmeraldNova Jan 26, 2021
Jo Engine is the best choice for beginners, and is what my tutorial is meant for.

 Xenos-Interactive Jan 27, 2021
Starting with C is a great idea. You'll be independant. But you can also look into any other of these topics, if you like (Not all of them at once, of course! Pick one only):

- Music, either recording from an instrument you play or using a tracker.
- Pixelart, many of the sprites and textures on Saturn all still closer to pixelart than textures in later consoles.
- 3d Modeling (and later on texturing, rigging, animating etc.).
- Scouring the internet for royalty free resources other people made (and are ideally redistributable, so one could make a community library).

Artists seem still quite rare in our community. I do 3d modeling and scouring the internet. I don't bother with pixelart or making music and I'm still new to coding.

 SatireOfComedy Jan 27, 2021

Picard23 said:

Disagree with there not being many artists. Just watch the showcase. Plus everyone is an artist with untapped potential... it is no different than coding. Oh and to achieve a decent art quality is easy and has rules just like math and coding.

I was able to create this tree after watching my first tutorial on pixel art... it is really about following rules and guid lines. No one would describe me as artistic but if I can do this tree than imagine what you can do.
This is the course I have been using
This individual competed in a competition where he created a whole game from scratch in 48 hours so his art is very minimalistic and to the point but I am sure he can be much more detailed if he wants.
Here is some free tutorials by him as https://youtube.com/c/uheartbeast...

Here is a free channel that kicks ass in tutorials too

It is good to read about horizon line vanishing point. Complimentary colors, primary/secondary colors, light sourceetc. as Adam mentions something about when animating your sprites you want to visualize if the art is moving where the weight is going. Etc

it is so much easier than math/coding... there are rules and it is a lot more lenient.

I think the artists in the showcase do a fine job btw and don’t think they scarce. I posted this mainly for you because it seems like you doubt your potential to be an “artist” (something everyone can be)

as for topic creator... I would shift between learning various aspects of game development so you don’t get burnt out. Switch between learning C,pixel art and music construction/theory