While a lot of my knowlege of game programming comes from trial and error (I've been doing it off and on since I was 12), a lot of it I learned from some really good books.   Here's some of them:

 

Tricks.gif (7076 bytes) Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus.
Really good 'C' game programming book.  Goes over sprite basics, some low level DOS stuff (which you might not want to do now a-day's :), and fairly good coverage of 3D programming.  I mostly used this as a reference when working on TunnelWars (... now how do you figure out vectors again??? <VBG>.)  CD-ROM with tools and a Full 3D game included with the book.

 
You can buy this book now at Amazon.com, a Really Good Place to buy Books.

 

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