yuheng0426/game_programmingreference

This repository is a structured learning project for C++ game programming. It is aimed at people who want to understand how common game systems work before (or alongside) using an engine like Unreal Engine 5 or Unity. All code runs as command-line console programs using C++17, with no dependency on a graphics framework, which keeps the logic readable and debuggable before moving it into a larger project. The content is organized into numbered folders that progress from beginner to what the README calls "grandmaster" level. Early folders cover the game loop, player movement, and collision checks. Middle folders cover weapons, shooter mechanics, stamina systems, dodge and parry timing, enemy AI that patrols and chases, combo attack chains, inventory, and quests. Later folders cover more technical systems: object pooling to reuse bullets and enemy instances without creating garbage, behavior trees for boss AI that changes phases, deterministic command replay for recording and replaying a session precisely, rollback networking for multiplayer input prediction, entity-component systems for separating game data from game logic, and loot tables with difficulty scaling and pity protection for item drops. Each folder has its own README explaining what the system does and a .cpp file with teaching comments throughout the code. The comments explain the purpose of each data structure and each gameplay decision, not just what the code does syntactically. The recommended approach is to read the folder README, run the program, change one value, rebuild, and observe what changes in the output. Aside from the numbered systems, the repository includes a beginner introduction folder that defines basic vocabulary like frame, delta seconds, velocity, and collider before any code is introduced, a guided learning roadmap that explains what to study and in what order, and separate troubleshooting guides for common problems in Unreal Engine 5 and Unity. The project builds with CMake or Visual Studio on Windows and targets C++17. All code comments are written in English for an international audience.