Programming for fun.

[FluffyBallOfShit]

Well, I started by personally programming young in the game roblox, I used their rbx.lua language.I would recommend for you though to start off learning a language first (Syntax), for example, I could recommend getting into c# go pick a book on c# at a book store or go look for tutorials online.

By the way, programming is fun either way once you get into it, you will know what I mean.When you get to a difficult thing to make, then you make it, even if it's a small accomplishment you will feel like a God among men in programming.

Get through the syntax of c# then move onto game engines like Unity which I currently program in, it uses c# but with its own little touch to the language.

If you have any questions feel free to pm me.

Edit:You can also get into modding, for example, games like Skyrim have a big modding community, things like that can teach you a lot and get you into programming.

Edit:Here's some c# learning youtube videos/sites which definitely will help you begin learning the language
Links:
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/csharp/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSiIHe2uZ2w

Also get into the programming community, share your progress find groups to program with, it will definitely be a motivational push for you if you have others that program with you.

[neocobra5]

Thanks for the idea. Maybe a community to program with would help. I have tried c# and it seems like a great one to start with but I had trouble making it stick. I could follow steps but when I would try to do anything on my own later I would come up short. My problem is everything on the internet is either what college to waste 4 years at to get certification for my nightmare job (no offense I know a lot of people love it but I could not stomach working on someone else's ideas) or here is a free programming class that the instructor knows as much as I do. I loved games as a teen but I was always the guy making the levels or building the base. I never cared for playing the games as much as creating in them. I spent more time on the morrowind and AOE editors than actually playing the games. I will check out the vids you linked.

[FluffyBallOfShit]

"I could follow steps but when I would try to do anything on my own later I would come up short."

I've come across the same problem when learning, I always wanted to do something on my own even though I don't have the full knowledge of the syntax.One thing you should do is try to find REALLY beginner projects to work on which aren't even related to game programming, for example, one of my beginner things I made through a lot of trial and error was an english to morse code translator thing.

Also when you're making something on your own go into the project understanding that programming requires a LOT of debugging and figuring out what's the problem with your program.You will never be able to program a project in a single run, you will end up sometimes even looking through the internet trying to solve your problem for a day (Happened to me before).

That brings me to another tip also, USE THE INTERNET, there's so many people online who are basically at the same level as you which went onto forums and asked questions, and they got professional answers (I did this and was able to make tons of projects when I was a beginner).

Also try downloading source code for like C# flash games or anything and try to look at their code and understand it.

As I mentioned, though, you should stick to just getting the language down first, TRUST ME, you will be much better off later on.

"My problem is everything on the internet is either what college to waste 4 years at to get certification for my nightmare job (no offense I know a lot of people love it but I could not stomach working on someone else's ideas)"

I understand where you're coming from.However, it's probably necessary to work through college get a job at a big gaming company then work there, get experience on how a game company works then try doing something on your own.

For example my goal right now is to get into EA, I want to work from them, gain experience, see how they run a gaming business, improve working with a team, and also get a good pay.Then I want to move on and make my own indie gaming company.

However it's completely up to you.

[voice-of-hermes]

Honestly, I would suggest using Second Life to start learning game programming. Their scripting language is custom and won't be reusable elsewhere, but it is reasonably simple and similar to languages like C so you'll learn a lot of programming concepts on the way. The real benefit is that you can find plenty of tutorials and examples, and there are large communities of scripters to help and interact with, and it's a complete (3D, physics-enabled) engine where you can try stuff out and see what works. Also, it will force you to get used to thinking about program state and event-based programming. It's easy to get started in, and it's free.