Before you can do this tutorial, you will need the following:

1.  Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition*.
2.  A knowledge of basic C++.
3.  A burning desire to make games.

* - other versions of C++ compilers will also run DirectX, however, there are some language specific changes you may need to make in each of the demo applications.

Before you go into the depths of Windows and DirectX code, let's back up and look at the broad overview of how a game is supposed to operate.  If you don't know that, you certainly won't know how to use certain code.  In this lesson we will briefly cover how a game works and the sequence in which code is essentially run.

In order to program games, you must understand Windows code.  This lesson we will cover the very basics of building a Windows program by writing a program that puts a simple message box on the screen.

This lesson will cover how to build a blank window from scratch, and all the little bits of information you will need to know to handle this code properly while programming games.

This is your first lesson into the subject of speed and game efficiency.  Learn a new function that will get rid of a lot of idle time your program can easily and unnecessarily create.

In your game, timing is everything.  For example, if you run your game on a brand-new computer with top-of-the-line graphics technology, you game will probably move so fast you won't be able to keep up.  This lesson will teach you a simple method to avoid all that and keep your game moving at the same speed.

A blank window is useless without the ability to put something in it.  Let's take a break and put something in our window.  We'll start with text in this lesson, and then go on to other additions.

There is a lot more to Win32 programming, and there is quite a bit of it that is useful to a game programmer.  These include manipulation of graphics and controls, input with the keyboard and mouse, icons, menus and more.