It can take hours, days or months. Some people see it and think wow thats easy, some people look at it like its an alien language. Some people start slow but become great programmers.

In general you should be able to write simple Hello world programs in a couple of hours though. I wouldn't start with windows forms or XNA programming if you are a totall beginner.

What tutorials are you using? Maybe they are not great and you ned a different approach.

I have taken the suggestions stated in this thread. I thought about the post I made, and it does sound ridiculous. I guess I still have that new angst, where I want to learn it now.

I guess I was just getting frustrated because it usually doesn't take me that long to pick up on computer stuff. I'm going to stick with it, and if I can't learn the very basics in the next few months, then I'll complain! =)

 

EDIT: So are there any very basic "Hello World!" like tutorials out there? Stuff like basic calculators, the basic framework of C#. That way I can know what each variable and statement mean?

Check the links in my post in this thread.

Thank you so much! Again, everyone in here is so helpful. Except for The ZMan, he is mean... J/K! =p

No, not months.  Actually, where you should start is with basic object oriented programming concepts.  Once you understand these basics, you can jump from language to langauge with less effort.  After that you can focus on the syntax and libraries specific for the language.  Good luck.

Cool. I keep on studying, and watching these vid's. They are a big help, but I am taking it really slow that way I don't get overloaded.

 I do have a theory though. Tell me what you guys think. Anyone can learn to program, however, some people are more geared to do the graphics end and concept work. These very basic principles just don't "click" with people like me. It's interesting, especially with studies of "Right Brained" people and "Left Brained People".

 

Just to clarify, I am not giving up, I'm still going. I am just taking it real slow.

Hey, I am 16 and I have currently been learning programming basics for two years in school. I really love this stuff, my friends think I'm crazy but I am actually interested in pursuing this field for a career. Of course, like anyone else here I would love to make games I have so many ideas and would really like to bring them to life. The biggest problem for me is to find that one tutorial out there that will put me over the edge. I am not sure if most are bad or if I am just ill equipped to understand them but none have gotten me going.

 I just can't find a "game making" tutorial, especially one geared toward XNA. After watching the GDC keynote and traveling to this webpage and I am dumb founded at the oppurtunity given here. Make games, release it on xbox live and get paid...are you for real???

 Well any tips would be greatly appreciate it, I am going to dwell on this site for a while trying to make sense of it all. I hope I can make a game, it would be great!

Which tutorials are you using? Since you're new, I'm going to go ahead and direct you to the "Help! I'm new!" FAQ. That will help explain things to you and get you going in the right direction. As for getting paid, yep, it's a reality. Make your game for the XBox 360 and you can release it on XBox Live Community Games (not to be confused with XBox Live Arcade). When you release your game, you can set the points your game costs and as people buy it, you get paid. Check out the FAQ on XBLCG for more information on that.

Finally, if you're really hunting for a great complete game walkthrough, I highly recommend Nick Gravelyn's Alien Aggressor tutorial. It takes you from  start to finish on making a Space Invaders clone. Great starter for beginners.

Welcome to the forums and best of luck as you learn to make games!

Thanks for the help. The tutorials I was referring to were random java and C++ tutorials that just didn't make any sense to me. Also I found a bunch of video tutorials for XNA but they were for the beta version so the code was different and the code they would use on there was giving me errors on my end. I will check out that tuorial!

Hey i can learn to program on my own but i was wondering how does it cost any money to download the software and if it doesnt do i need a higher grade account to download the studio. Plz help.

Rebelgamer:

Hey i can learn to program on my own but i was wondering how does it cost any money to download the software and if it doesnt do i need a higher grade account to download the studio. Plz help.

XNA Game Studio is free of charge. Read the Help! I'm New FAQ for more info on how to get started.

No your not slow, im new at this and iv downloaded visual c# and have looked at tutorials on youtube, xna.com, google, ect. for the past 2 months or so and have been picking up little things here and there. But i have yet to make a game (im working on one), just made simple little applications.