Hello World. Naturally, I have a question about starting to learn programming.

My background: I’m 37 years old and have been working professionaly in level design and 3D environment art for games for about 10 years. I’ve worked in six different engines (Serious Engine, Unity, CryEngine, OpenMW, and more). Most of my work has been in level design, and I’ve also developed and released four solo games, three with Construct and one in Unity using the Adventure Creator plugin.

When it comes to programming, I’ve looked at other people’s code over the years, copy pasted, read it, and more recently I built a prototype with GPT’s help. I can now grasp what’s going on in code a bit, but naturaly I can’t yet write anything. To build a stronger foundation, I recently started Harvard’s CS50 course before committing to a specific language.

So far, I’m mostly a game designer, level designer, and 3D artist, but now I want to invest much more of my time into programming. My main interest is in learning a language that complements the kind of work I’ve been doing.

For example, I’ve always been fascinated by game engines and would love to understand how they work under the hood. I’m also curious about how graphics work in general, things like OpenGL and the workflows behind engine development. I don’t necessarily plan on building a full game engine myself, though maybe one day for a specific project, but for now I’m motivated by curiosity and a desire to really learn.

My question: What programming language would you recommend I start with? Are there any good books, courses, or other resources you’d suggest for someone like me?

I’ve read a bit here and there, and while I admit I’ve felt somewhat discouraged lately with the rise of AI, I still really want to learn programming for myself, and hopefully to support my future projects.

Thank you