4 Great C++ Games to Program for Beginners

In this list of beginner friendly games we will look at some fun and creative game ideas to help with learning C++. All of the ideas have the potential to expose you to the fundamental basics of the programming language. Before we start on the list let’s take a look at why you would want to learn C++ through game programming.

Why Learn C++ By Creating Games?

When starting to learn C++ it can be frustrating and in some ways boring trying to learn all the syntax and definitions. With game programming, learning to code is made fun and interactive. It is also an extremely efficient way for beginners to learn programming because it more often evokes enjoyment when learning. According to “THE EFFECT OF ENJOYMENT ON LEARNING” not only does enjoyment make learning more fun it also “positively affects the memorizing of information”. With this in mind it is absolutely logical to conclude that learning programming by creating games is a great way to dive into the subject.

Why Use C++ for Games?

C++ is an amazing programming language for gaming for many different reasons. Most any AAA game you come across will be coded in either C or C++. Why? It turns out the main reason is because C++ has what is known as low-level memory control. In a nutshell, this means that the programming language is “close to the hardware“. Breaking that down even further it means that code written in a low-level programming language is closer to the language a computer natively understands (think machine code). Because of this it allows for more direct control over things like memory management which is crucial to game programming. While this list will not include any kind of programming that wouldn’t be beginner-friendly (and certainly not AAA games), it will include fun game ideas to get you started in the world of C++ programming.

Now that we’ve got some of the technical details squared away lets start the list.

1). Question and Answer Games

This is a simple type of game that only requires a question be output to the console and an answer be provided. It is probably the easiest C++ game for beginners to make. These kinds of games are pretty straightforward. Creating a game like this will teach you all about the standard library as well as objects like cin, cout, and endl. All of these are fundamental in C++ programming and the knowledge you acquire from making a game like this will help you in all sorts of ways. You will learn about how the console reacts to certain inputs, how different statements work, and the aforementioned objects in the standard library.

2). Number Guessing Games

A bit of a more advanced kind of Q&A game. Number guessing games are a great way to dive in to game programming in C++. Creating them will expose you to things like the rand() function as well as the commonly used if statement and while loops. You can learn to utilize math operators and even create calculators. Mastering the programming concepts displayed in a game like this are crucial to becoming a competent programmer. 

3). Turn Based Battle Games

Turn based battle games are interesting because they will involve quite a bit more effort to program vs. a Q&A game. If you’ve never heard of a turn based game go ahead and do a quick google search for pokemon GameBoy games and you will quickly find out. Basically, the game works by having the player select an attack to attack the opponent with. Generally, there will be different characters you can use to battle all with different moves that do different things. Most of the time these games have what is commonly referred to as hitpoints and when a character runs out of these they have lost the battle. Games like this have been popular for ages and are an awesome way to start learning some neat programming concepts.

4). Text Based RPG Games

While a little more advanced, text based RPG (or role playing games) are an awesome way to dive into C++. When learning to code these kinds of games you will be exposed to things like vectors, strings, variable types, and just about anything else you want to be exposed to. These most every concept you would learn from creating the other games. Most of the time games like this will require some use of functions to make sifting through the code a bit easier. It is recommended you try to create the other games before moving on to a more advanced kind of game like this. The possibilities with an idea like this are pretty much limitless. The thing about these kinds of games is that they can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. The options for text based RPG games are pretty much limitless since you can add whatever you want to the game at any time.