Video Games Courses

mlbtheshow said:
Interesting and straight to the point.

One thing my nephew did say that he was told over the phone was that, there arent many places available and that he needs to be assessed to ensure that he was the right candidate for them to train.
Click to expand...

lol

and strangely enough I've got a feeling he'll pass the 'assessment' and be given an offer to pay for one of these 'limited time only' places....
 
train2Game used to be called SkillsTrain and is owned by company with notorious record among industry and internauts. They were "featured" in watchdog and also tried to sue Google for showing search results with angry reviews of their courses.
 
Last edited:
I know several in the 'industry' - most are QA Testers.

As a designer/programmer you need a track record as others have said. Go freelance, make some Games (iOS, Android etc).

It has turned into a bit of a bloated industry much like the Forensic industry - too many people play games and think 'This is THE LIFE!'. Just like others thought 'I want to be CSI:MIAMI'.

The games industry is notoriously evil - huge developers such as Relic Entertainment and Publishers like THQ get into trouble, and even go bust. You'd be best off sticking to the established firms like EA (which are in the south of the UK) and entering through IT Tech/Assistants posts and working up from within. Often you get opportunities to chat to the lead guys and could impress them enough with a game or idea to be offered a chance.

A family member disregarded advice of folks in the industry and instead finished Uni, and is developing a game whilst living off benefits. He's been doing it for nearly 2yrs now, and I think his idea is solid.
 
Last edited:
If he wants to be in the games industry, he needs to be doing something to do with game design and be INCREDIBLY passionate about it, be it coding, art, modeling etc.

Otherwise he doesn't stand a chance against the people that are.

One of the guys on my CompSci degree intends to go into gave development, he spends most of his time outside of the course designing and making android games.
 
Last edited:
RedvGreen said:
A family member disregarded advice of folks in the industry and instead finished Uni, and is developing a game whilst living off benefits. He's been doing it for nearly 2yrs now, and I think his idea is solid.
Click to expand...

I am not totally sure that is what benefits are supposed to be for!
 
Xordium said:
I am not totally sure that is what benefits are supposed to be for!
Click to expand...

If he's not applying for other work I'd agree..

If he's developing the game as a side to looking for work I'd say it's a great use of time.

I have a friend that couldn't work because of an ear infection, and rather than sitting around moping he learnt android. When his ear cleared up he stepped straight into a contract developing it.
 
orderoftheflame said:
If he's not applying for other work I'd agree..

If he's developing the game as a side to looking for work I'd say it's a great use of time.

I have a friend that couldn't work because of an ear infection, and rather than sitting around moping he learnt android. When his ear cleared up he stepped straight into a contract developing it.
Click to expand...

Frankly I don't talk to him that much at all to know anything much about him. But I don't think he has a job.
 
I know a couple of people in the industry, and the route they all took was a moderately specialised degree course (I think one was "AI and genetic algorithms" @ newport uni).

even then it was in large part good fortune; they managed to get their dissertation project released through steam
 
Last edited:
Xordium said:
I am not totally sure that is what benefits are supposed to be for!
Click to expand...

Indeed! Hahahaha.

OPs nephew would be better off just grabbing a few books or watching tutorials online etc. for the likes of UNITY, and dabble in Android development. Along the way he can pick up languages for additional scripting and whatnot as required.

No need to ***** (an over-inflated amount of) money away on shoddy 'courses' like Train2Game.
 
That's a pretty vague question, there are loads of roles, do a search for some game companies to see all the different roles, programmer, modeller, animator, IT engineer, script writer, level designer, web tech and loads more.

If on the programming side it can get very specialsed and lapses right into the heart of some Physics topics like how light interacts with surfaces.

Certainly doable but most roles in the games industry require you to work extremely hard.
 
anything I don't mind said:
may find some on pluralsight, was train signal, now renamed and they have added loads of training for design and things, even houdini training which is quite rare.

http://www.pluralsight.com/training/

edit: you actually need to go to the other partner site digital tutors, http://www.digitaltutors.com/software/

http://www.digitaltutors.com/subject/game-development-tutorials
Click to expand...

Aside from being a bit cheaper how is that any better than the company in the OP?

The advice in the thread so far seems to be - if programming do CS or CS + maths/Physics and work on projects etc.. in spare time to build a portfolio.

(presumably if design/art then a relevant background in those areas is probably useful too and again a portfolio)

I'm really not sure that paying for random online courses not run by accredited universities is going to help much at all... you might get some knowledge but then again is it all that valuable/useful and can it not be sought for free elsewhere? Presumably, given its a competitive area, people who need to be spoon fed aren't setting themselves up for a good time. If you've got a CS degree then surely cracking on with the side projects is what you need to do - if you need a noddy guide to get to the point where you can do that then you're probably not going to be a very competitive candidate.
 
Last edited:
Don't mean to hijack the thread but I have been thinking about going into games development, specifically Physics Engine programming. At the moment I am studying Physics with an Intercalated Year in Computer Science at a Russell Group, Red Brick university and I have just finished my second year (going onto the intercalated computing year in September). I plan to expand my C++ knowledge this Summer and maybe get onto learning a bit more in depth DirectX and OGL if I get the chance.

Is this a good route to go on? Of course, having Physics plus Computing knowledge and skills means that I could probably go onto to do a plethora of alternate careers if I find game programming isn't my cup of tea I imagine?

Cheers :)
 
dowie said:
Aside from being a bit cheaper how is that any better than the company in the OP?.
Click to expand...

The course in the op appears to be more theory based while the courses in the site i linked are more practical, they actually tell you how to use the software that you may end up using on the job. I am not a game dev, but from the looks of that course its more about game development methodology which could also be essential. I think though, correct me if i am wrong, that if you do get a entry level job in that sort of industry you will end up doing some basic level work to start with and wouldn't be planning a whole game or building a whole level from start to finish. if you can work the tools then half the job is done surely?
 
PhysicsMan94 said:
Don't mean to hijack the thread but I have been thinking about going into games development, specifically Physics Engine programming. At the moment I am studying Physics with an Intercalated Year in Computer Science at a Russell Group, Red Brick university and I have just finished my second year (going onto the intercalated computing year in September). I plan to expand my C++ knowledge this Summer and maybe get onto learning a bit more in depth DirectX and OGL if I get the chance.

Is this a good route to go on? Of course, having Physics plus Computing knowledge and skills means that I could probably go onto to do a plethora of alternate careers if I find game programming isn't my cup of tea I imagine?

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

Yes, this sounds like a good route. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom