What do we need to become a Game Programmer?

gaurav_indian

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Aug 6, 2005
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I started this thread bcoz I am confused about my future and so are many people here.Someday I think I could become a good software developer and other day I think it would be better if I try myself in Game Programming.But I don't know where to start from and where should I go.What things I and other needs to become a game programmer?Which language we should learn?Which tools we have to master?So anyone going to help us?
I also wants this thread to be stickie if it's not been discussed earlier.
 
I would say (holding same ambitions as yourself) that learning C/C++ is a must because those are the two most often used languages. Be good to try a few others such as Delphi and Java as well. The more languages you know, the more useful it is.

I read somewhere in a magazine there is a team of game developers - theres the designer who designs and plans every aspect of the game, all the levels etc., theres the game artist who designs and creates the games characters and objects and theres the game programmer who puts it all together.
Game programming is definately the hardest job of those. I would also say you need to know a lot of physics and mathematics to be able to make realistic physics.
 
Game programming sounds really hard to me and you need to study really really hard if you are to become a good game programmer...
 
Bilal91 said:
Game programming sounds really hard to me and you need to study really really hard if you are to become a good game programmer...

Not really. I haven't been studying it really really hard and I reckon I could create an ok game. Also, I am only 14, having been coding for 2 years.
Anyone can program, click on my sig.
 
Now these are some vital qualities you need to become a great game programmer:

-Work within your boundaries - take on what you can do;
-Cooperate with other programmers and specialists;
-Keep up to date with the most recent technology and methods of programming;
-Always try to stay on task and not become sidetracked;
-Try to complete your projects. :p
 
I was thinking about being a game programmer. But I'm not sure if I can cope with that much work.
All I know is you've got to be willing to do a lot of work, 4 unit maths, study hard in physics and go to uni for a computer science degree. You should try if your confident enough.
 
If you are to become a game programmer, you should definitely learn C++ (not C initially, since C++ has a lot more features that just make it a lot more interesting IMHO, and C++ can do almost all that C can anyway). But if you don't have any experience with programming I'd recommend you learn an easier to pick up language like Visual Basic first, which also makes it very easy for design interfaces. Most of the "text-based" (Non-Graphical) games that can downloaded from the internet are made in VB.

Your school would have a computer science course - see what they're teaching there(it'll most likely be C++ at the senior secondary level). You can also consult books (Robert Lafore's Guide to C++ programming and the Visual Basic Blackbook spring to mind) and/or join a course at an institution like NIIT,Aptech etc in India.

If you are interested in game development, and not game programming per se, you can hope to become a game designer. You can try your hand at making levels for games that you like -- there are lots of level design tools on the internet(and they're mostly free). You require a sense of design and balance, and ofcourse some knowledge of mathematics (particularly, coordinates and 3-d space, triogonometry) for this. Many many people have gone on to work for professional game studios by designing good levels/scenarios and getting noticed because of them. "The Levelord" ofcourse is the foremost example of this. Also, John Romero hired several freelance designers for his project "Daikatana"(which incidentally was a super failure!) when he founded Ion Storm.

Game designing is a field of tremendous potential (worldwide revenues from Video Games far outstrip those from Cinema) and requires passion, grit and determination. Degrees and work experience do not mean necessarily much in this field, however your ability to transform your thoughts to digital form by programming and designing certainly do !
 
I wanted to do Game designing/programming until a while back i decided it would be to difficult. What I want to do now is maybe 3D modelling for a game or a skinner etc. I'm planning on making some items for cricket 2005 when I am off for 2 weeks. I recently bought Adobe Photshop CS2 as I received some money. ((((I totally suck at it and I need some tutorials. For a start I don't even know how to rotate a picture! Sorry to go a little off topic here but if anyone has some Adobe Photshop CS2 tutorials can they pm me?)))
I also wouldn't mind being on the "storyboard" for a games company. My imagination is good so I would be good at thinking up story lines etc.
 
Dunno about writing teams at game companies ! Games are not exactly known for their original storylines, and the most popular genre of First Person Shooters has that one standard storyline of "future and outer space and mutants and androids" which keeps getting refreshed year after year. But it does seem that the trend is changing. Games like Warcraft III and and the GTA series have great storylines and we know that they have been tremendously popular in recent years.
 
I also forgot a job i would like.
A games reviewer for a website or magazine. I can sit through a game and still be interested and would enjoy writing about them. I am also heading for a B or higher in my english GCSE so that would help.
 
To be a game programmer, you need all the degrees and skills and stuff, but a lot of patience, determination and be able to do the simple things right.
 
gaurav_indian said:
I started this thread bcoz I am confused about my future and so are many people here.Someday I think I could become a good software developer and other day I think it would be better if I try myself in Game Programming.But I don't know where to start from and where should I go.What things I and other needs to become a game programmer?Which language we should learn?Which tools we have to master?So anyone going to help us?
I also wants this thread to be stickie if it's not been discussed earlier.

If you have prior knoledge of programming why dont u help with TCP.

"Hugely successful cricket game" how would that look on ur CV :p
 
Game development is a particularly tough art, since you not only need to be a good programmer but also need skills in 3d design, artistic skills and lots and lots of patience and practice. In fact, creating high quality 3d visuals may be beyond individuals.

I suggest that any game programming aspirant gets into 2d first and then goes on to 3d. There are quite a few 3d development tools around, some free. One high quality free 3d modelling software I recommend is blender (www.blender.org).

If you are an aspirant, I suggest taking a look at all that's been achieved before, search on the web for game programming kits and choose one that suits you. There are different levels of programming in 3d. Some of the high-level 3d engines allow you to concentrate on logic and forget about the low-level 3d commands and these would be particularly useful for beginners.

Again, for design, don't aspire too high. You don't need to be the best graphical designer to learn how to use 3d modelling software, but you need a bit of practice to master some of the basics. Start small and build from there. That will also avoid frustration. For a start, designing a spinning cube application would be a good idea and will also allow you to learn some basics in 3d.
 

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