Lets say I want to program Tetress with no pre-made art in C++ language.

All I think I need is a way to draw the art and a way to learn C++ and a way to organize the code and something to put my code into to run.

All the sites that this place directs me to seem complicated, all I want is a single list of what multiple things I need to download to get started.

To draw the art, you just need a graphics editor. Any will do; you can use MS Paint that comes with Windows, even.

As for learning C++, grab a book from Amazon (I'm sure plenty of recommendations will be forthcoming), and have a lot of time and patience.

For organizing your code, that comes through practice and learning to program. There are things like design patterns, etc. you can look into, as well.

For something to put your code in and run, you need what we call an IDE (short for "Integrated Development Environment") and a compiler. They often come bundled together. If you're on Windows, try Visual Studio Express from Microsoft (it's a free download). If you're on Mac, take a look into XCode. And if you're on Linux, give CodeBlocks a shot.

If you need more info, drop us a line.

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

First you need some basic C++ programming skills.

As theraje says, a book is great for that. Here are a couple of good ones:
http://www.acceleratedcpp.com/
http://www.stroustrup.com/Programming/

Alternatively, you can attend an online course at Game Institute:
http://www.gameinstitute.com/C++_Programming_for_Game_Developers_Module_1.html
It comes with a book, too.

The full C++ basics course at Game Institute actually consists of 2 courses (which I think you can get together at a discount), but the first one gets you pretty far, I think. So with that, some extra study on the web, and guidance from the friendly and wise people here, you should be able to make a decent Tetris clone.

After the basics, I would suggest learning and using the SFML library for such a project:
http://www.sfml-dev.org/

Hope that helps!

Tetris can be pretty complicated. I had been programming for a year+ before I was able to write a fully function tetris game. So, first of all I'd look into Code::Blocks IDE for writing and setting up your code; it's an awesome way to get started, best of all it's free.

Then I would look at this site here: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/
It is a good tutorial on C++ (in fact, the only one that effectively taught me how to use pointers).

So, once you feel comfortable with the tutorial. Then I'd recommend you start looking for a good SFML tutorial. SFML is what will make you able to use graphics and sound when programming C++.

Good Luck!

I find it strange the the wiki doesn't offer much content to answer these types of questions. The only thing that came close was the "How to begin" page, which seems very confusing and generalized.

Each language category on the forums should have a sticky for this topic, or we could make pages in the wiki for it.

Something like:

C++: How to begin

1. Learning the language
   
   • Resource 1: Short description
   • Resource 2: Short description
2. Choosing an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
   
   • Choice 1: Short description / pros&cons
   • Choice 2: Short description / pros&cons
3. Choosing your libraries
   
   1. 2D Graphics
      
      • Library 1: Short description
      • Library 2: Short description
   2. 3D Graphics
      
      • Library 1: Short description
      • Library 2: Short description
4. Building your game
   etc...

Keeping each resource list to one or two of the most popular choices would be preferable to keep people from being overwhelmed with options.

Personally I like how generalized it is. Sure there are some languages and apis that are more predominate than other but I would hate to tell people they have only x number of options when really there are xʸ options out there. Also I don't think IDEs are necessary and can even been hindering to newbies. However I do agree it could be organized and presented better than it is now, it's just a matter of people having time to do so.

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Makes sense. Also, I don't know how you can gauge popularity.

Maybe a topical "Getting Started" page or series of pages would be a good option. For each topic, there could be a "Learn More" link that the user could click on to get a more detailed explanation of that particular topic, along with possible options (software and the like).

It would keep the general overview aspect, as well as give more help to those who want to get their hands dirty.

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

Personally. I'd skip over the tetris thing and go for a much simpler game such as pong or snake. Both can be done collision free using a simple array (like tetris can) but require only a few actual interactions to first. Also, Pong can be expanded to include actual collision tests really really easily since there are only the objects. Also, I know there are C++ tutorials on how to explicitly make both.

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