Wow this resource is awesome. I don't really write games per se, but I enjoy writing interactive visuals - and this will definitely help me get to the next level. Thanks!
Thats the thing - Its hard for me to give you an exact resource - since the first thing I ever coded was a visual, using logo, when I was a wee lad. Over time I just kinda picked stuff up here and there, mostly by reading code that others have done. For a long time I was obsessed with coding straight up pixels, and writing putpixel routines. Even lots of the html5/canvas stuff I do these days is just getting the context imagedata buffer and writing straight to that. It was a totally organic process with zero structure.
So if I were going to start again from scratch, I would probably do the following:
- Choose one platform to target (HTML5/Canvas, WebGL, OpenGL, DirectX, etc)
- Pick up a book and learn the basics of that platform, and do the exercises
- Learn what you can about the APIs and start playing around.
- Fractals and cellular automata are always fun - you can find Mandlebrot and game of life examples in pretty much any language.
- Think of something in your head and try to make it happen!
- Add interaction
- Rinse and repeat
