So I took the first step in actually investing in myself as a programmer. I've had an interest in C# and Bought my first C# book, "Head First C# 2nd Edition" by Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene, published by O'Reilly. I really like the approach on this book and it's teaching style is motivating me to continue with it. It's about 750+ pages of content and teaches you how to use C# from scratch and use it to program video games and applications.
I'm excited for this because it has taken me way too long to build up motivation for this. I've been using Game Maker for too long when it comes to my video game projects. All of my projects since 2005 have been built with GM. It was a nice entry program. It gave me a taste of what it's like to make video games. And I've enjoyed using Game Maker a lot, but I want to go further than the basics and get a taste of real project management and learn my way around a C# environment.I've developed web programming skills with Php & Mysql, Html, CSS on my own. That's basically the only coding I've forced myself to improve on. I've really been slacking in improving my skills in game programming. I should have really started learning a more advanced language earlier, but now is better than never. I'll be using Visual C# 2010 Express while I'm learning how to use C#. After the RPG4D competition, I may start my first project in C#. Hoping for the best. It really comes down to me putting effort in it. Wish me luck.
Hmm, I will have to check out that book.
This is it: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920000679.do My local Barnes and Noble had it.