Hello everyone. The C++ programming language is the most used programming language in game development. The gaming industry keeps growing, this can be seen by the number of new games, game tools, new 3D features, and many new gaming technologies that come in every week, and by the enormous incomes from game marketing. If you want to start game development for free or if you are just interested in learning C++ then download C++ Builder 11 CE and start to take your first steps into the amazing world of C++ game development.
According to global game marketing analysis, it will keep growing up in the next 5 years analysis. For example, according to this source;
“The global gaming market size reached US$ 202.7 Billion in 2022. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to reach US$ 343.6 Billion by 2028, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 9.08% during 2023-2028. The growing utilization of smart devices, wide availability of free-to-play games online, and increasing popularity of e-sports and multiplayer video game competitions represent some of the key factors driving the market“
Developing a good and effective game might be the dream path to fame and fortune, but it’s also a path which typically requires a lot of effort and not a small amount of luck too. You don’t need to spend billion dollars to develop games. You can start with simple but effective games. C++ is one of the most powerful programming languages that we can use to create games in 2D or 3D. You just need an idea, a C++ editor, and passion to develop it. C++ Builder and RAD Studio have built in features to help you so you can easily deploy your game in app stores or on your web page.
Table of Contents
How can I start to develop a game in C++ for free?
If you don’t know anything about C++ or the C++ Builder IDE, don’t worry, we have a lot of examples on the LearnCPlusPlus.org website and they’re all completely free. Just visit this site and copy and paste any examples there into a new Console, VCL, or FMX project, depending on the post example. We keep adding more C and C++ posts with sample code. In today’s round-up of recent posts on LearnCPlusPlus.org, we have new C and C++ posts with very simple examples that can be used with the following:
- The free version of C++ Builder 11 CE Community Edition.
- or a full paid version of C++ Builder and RAD Studio.
- or free BCC32C C++ Compiler and BCC32X C++ Compiler.
- or the free Embarcadero Dev-C++ IDE with TDM GCC Compiler
What is new in C++ Builder CE?
C++ Builder 11 CE, the free Edition of C++ Builder, has been recently released. Embarcadero has made available a Community Edition license for the most recent 11.3 release of Delphi and C++Builder. This is a free edition of either Delphi or C++Builder for students, hobbyists, and startups (as the license is revenue-limited).
There is also a new Delphi CE version 11 edition, you can develop games in Delphi too. The C++ CE version and Delphi CE version cannot exist on the same machine. The full commercial versions of RAD Studio with Delphi and C++ Builder can co-exist though, and, in fact, RAD Studio can choose between the “C++ personality” and “Delphi personality” so you can use it for both languages as your needs dictate.
What are the basics to develop games with C++ Builder CE?
C++ Builder is the easiest and fastest C++ IDE for building professional applications with powerful GUI components. Each component can be ‘skinned’ with professionally designed Styles to change their visual appearance. Styles are very powerful and because of this it can sometimes take a little to get used to how they work. In the first post, we explain how to change background color of a component. https://learncplusplus.org/how-to-change-background-color-of-a-component-in-an-fmx-c-app/
C++ is one of the most powerful programming languages that we can use to create games that are playable with mouse, keyboard and gamepads or joysticks. We also use C++ in commerce, industry, in robotics, and in the control of IoT devices. Despite competition from other programming languages the games market is still very much dominated by C++. The simplest examples of interfacing with game controllers on Windows is by using the XInput library. Even though XInput has been around for a long time it can still be used with the latest C++ Editor and compiler for Windows.
Many games seek to go beyond keyboards to control the gameplay by using specialized controllers either in addition to or instead of key presses on the computer’s keys. Two of the most well-known controllers in these areas are joysticks or gamepads. The FMX framework of C++ Builder is a great GUI framework that uses the CPU and GPU of the user’s computer very effectively. We explain how you can communicate with a gamepad or joystick controller in C++ Builder using FMX and the Xinput library. https://learncplusplus.org/how-to-use-gamepad-or-joystick-controller-in-a-c-builder-fmx-app/
We also explain how you can use gamepad or joystick controller in C++ using the VCL framework in C++ Builder and Xinput library. https://learncplusplus.org/how-to-use-gamepad-or-joystick-controller-in-a-c-builder-vcl-app/
You can use gamepad or joystick controller in C++ DOS / Console applications too. In the next post, we explain how you can use a gamepad or joystick controller in C++ with Xinput library. https://learncplusplus.org/how-to-use-a-game-pad-or-joystick-controller-in-c-on-windows/
Graphics, graphic libraries, faster 3D operations, OpenGL, DirectX and many other libraries or game engines can be used in C++. We have few more examples about how you can develop 2D, 3D or text-based games. You can create a mine-craft like game, or you can develop a simulation that fly the Ingenuity 3D helicopter model, or you can add your own 3D models in your 3D applications.
Learn to develop games with C++ Builder CE
LearnCPlusPlus.org has been producing daily articles for more than 2 years at the time of writing and is packed full of educational posts about C and C++. Here are our post picks for today.
Here are more examples that we released before that are about how to develop simple games with C++, C++ Builder, C++ Builder CE, Dev-C++,
Get in touch and tell us what you’d like to see on the blogs
We like to hear your feedback. You motivate us so much with your likes and comments on social media – find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter and all over – and here on the blogs too. Thank you for your valuable comments and questions. All of them help improve the quality of our future posts and new code in these posts.
We have a lot of unique posts waiting to come. We keep adding new topics every week about C++ in general and specific topics for C++ Builder, Dev-C++, and for the other C++ compilers. Please keep following our LearnCPlusPlus.org website for the latest posts and updates. Feel free to comment and share with your colleagues, students, members – knowledge is power, and knowledge shared is empowering.
Note that, we recently hit a major achievement by reaching 10,000+ active users on our C++ Developers Facebook Group. This is quite a remarkable thing. Thank you for validating our efforts and trusting us to be at the core of the C++ community.
What might be next for C++ Builder?
According to David’s post, C++ Builder is aiming to include some amazing features; CLANG v15, support for C++20 and a lot of C++23 features, Win64 primary OS, new code completion, Visual Assist C++ navigation and refactoring, and lots more.
Note also that a month ago, Embarcadero also announced the release of RAD Studio 11 Alexandria Release 3, also known as RAD Studio 11.3, along with Delphi 11.3 and C++Builder 11.3. This release is focused on quality and improvements, building on the great new features in RAD Studio 11 Alexandria three previous releases.
C++ Builder is the easiest and fastest C and C++ IDE for building simple or professional applications on the Windows, MacOS, iOS & Android operating systems. It is also easy for beginners to learn with its wide range of samples, tutorials, help files, and LSP support for code. RAD Studio’s C++ Builder version comes with the award-winning VCL framework for high-performance native Windows apps and the powerful FireMonkey (FMX) framework for cross-platform UIs.
There is a free C++ Builder Community Edition for students, beginners, and startups; it can be downloaded from here. For professional developers, there are Professional, Architect, or Enterprise version.