Interested in PC game development - advice needed

Turtles

Turtles

Turtles

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Hey, I'm still at school and interested in PC game development or something along those lines. I was wondering what could I do to get some practice or if there's anything I could do just by myself to get some experience. Work experience would obviously be a route I'll look down in the summer or after I've finished school but is there any programs / tutorials I could use to get started and into programming, etc? Sorry it's a bit vague but I don't really know what to say :p

Any help much appreciated :)
 
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Just work on your C++ and Maths skills. Do as much maths as possible..

www.gamedev.net as already mentioned. nehe.gamedev.net for a load of good gfx tutorials.
 
no offense but game development is boring unless your a code monkey. Most secondary school students imagine game development to be a very cool thing, when in actual fact its a lot of time spent in front of visual studio looking at code.

You have to be a special sort of person to be able to do that. The coders we have at work just put their headphones on and get on with it. The ones laughing and joking and being sociable are the designers. But they largely did Design Technology and Art as A level instead of Physics and Maths
 
MrLOL said:
no offense but game development is boring unless your a code monkey. Most secondary school students imagine game development to be a very cool thing, when in actual fact its a lot of time spent in front of visual studio looking at code.

You have to be a special sort of person to be able to do that. The coders we have at work just put their headphones on and get on with it. The ones laughing and joking and being sociable are the designers. But they largely did Design Technology and Art as A level instead of Physics and Maths
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And which type are you? A code monkey or fun-filled person? :)
 
Important skills:

Programming. That would be C++ and C# as the important ones, learning Java is also helpful.

Teamwork: Get in a mod team if possible. Learn to coordinate etc.

Tool: Get familiar with mod kits such as the Unreal Editor and Source Hammer. Also try and get hold of, and get to grips with, software suchs as 3D Studio Max and Maya.
 
As mentioned, get programming in C and Java, although without a structured I know I would have found it difficult. Also, check out UnrealED and blender is a good modelling package.
 
Theres a lot of different areas of game dev you can go into, eg AI, Audio, Art, Physics, Coding...

Im at hull uni, and theres a couple of game dev degrees here, and yer C++ with OpenGL/DirectX is a critical skill on the coding side of things, while C# is also good for tool coding, and may possibly have its uses with XNA as well.

To be honest it sounds like a pretty boring line of work to me (however it sounded cool when i was younger :p), unless you are really interested and know what goes on in the dev process i would reconsider. I would recommend as said doing some mod work and building up your own skillset, do well in school and do a degree, build up a portfolio and go for internships etc.
 
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You're in edinburgh and if you were thinking of taking a course, get yourself up to dundee and onto the course I'm doing. Its very highly regarded and claims to be one of the best games development courses in the country, if not the world.

http://www.abertay.ac.uk/Courses/CDetails.cfm?RID=1&CID=185&Key=003

you don't need a background in programming although it would help. You do however, need to be good at maths. its a very hard course and maths and physics would help you a huge amount!

It focuses more on the technical aspect of games creation, if thats what you're looking for. As others have said, its not as glamorous as it sounds but i enjoy it! :)
 
MrLOL said:
no offense but game development is boring unless your a code monkey. Most secondary school students imagine game development to be a very cool thing, when in actual fact its a lot of time spent in front of visual studio looking at code.
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You can be cool and love coding too! :eek: I know quite a few people like this.


Anyway on topic: Not sure how old you are, but you should start with modding. There's a lot of different types: coding, texturing, modelling, concept artist, etc. This may show you the ropes of game development.
 
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yer_averagejoe said:
You're in edinburgh and if you were thinking of taking a course, get yourself up to dundee and onto the course I'm doing. Its very highly regarded and claims to be one of the best games development courses in the country, if not the world.

http://www.abertay.ac.uk/Courses/CDetails.cfm?RID=1&CID=185&Key=003

you don't need a background in programming although it would help. You do however, need to be good at maths. its a very hard course and maths and physics would help you a huge amount!

It focuses more on the technical aspect of games creation, if thats what you're looking for. As others have said, its not as glamorous as it sounds but i enjoy it! :)
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I was going to suggest this too. I had a friend at school who went to do this degree though, and when I last spoke to him he was still in first year and was already really bored :p.
 
Inazuma said:
You can be cool and love coding too! :eek: I know quite a few people like this.
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not implying coders arent cool, just relaying that its a certain type of working environment. Nearly all the coders ive met due to the nature of their work spend their time crunching through code with their headphones on. The developers office downstairs is a very quiet place.

I wanted to get into coding, but just couldnt bare to sit there and crunch the numbers all day.

I wouldnt be a games programmer, id be a games designer. But i had no artistic or design flare so that ruled me out of that as well. One of my friends from uni is working with the company that makes Moto GP for the Xbox, and he went into game design with them. He was incredibly artisticly minded though, did Design Technology and Art at A level.
 
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It depends what you want to do, for example with Level Design getting fluent in Source, UT and several other engine Level Design programs is a must. For 3D modelling work Photoshop, 3ds Max/Blender/Maya is a must. As for the 'code money' route, C# is definetly the way to go. Look into XNA aswell, especially if you want to go into console gaming.
 
I spent 5 years game development in the C64 days and early Amiga. LOVED the industry then, but now, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

The level-design is all very well and good, but I've seen a handful of these people simply pushed into that area and then they leave after a few months because it just gets repetitive.

Personally if you're wanting to get into the PC game development side I'd develop small demos showing off what you can do. Even something as simply as a ball bouncing down a flight of stairs while 'things' move out of it's way or topple over when hit shows you can understand 3d, physics and AI, which are pretty essential in most games these days.

Learn C++, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Avoid XNA at the moment as that's XBOX specific and is no where as good as raw DirectX and C++. Nothing compares.
 
Vixen said:
I was going to suggest this too. I had a friend at school who went to do this degree though, and when I last spoke to him he was still in first year and was already really bored :p.
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The first year is really quite boring but essential if you want to progress since unlike some courses it really does build from there.

Rossmac said:
And which type are you? A code monkey or fun-filled person? :)
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Ironically outside of work I find the code monkeys to be more likely to be party animals than the hippies (computer artists to the rest of the World). From having a few mates who make games for a living it is a job like any other, it can be boring and particularly coming up to milestones you will generally be expected to work a lot of overtime (70-80 hour weeks aren't exactly uncommon and lots work more). That said if you find a good company to work for it can be a very enjoyable occupation.
 
Good start with the C++ is to download Visual C++ studio 2008 express, I got it last night and already have a few programs, obviously basic ones, written. It's free too, and seems to be good enough to work win32 style content, along with command line programs.
 
[TW]Fox;11606494 said:
Doesn't seem like a particularily sustainable long term career choice.
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it is

but only in the right places. Look at the ammount of money rockstar turn over. They have 150 employees and i honestly cant see them disappearing off the face of the earth any time soon.

Problem is, there are are so many games companies in england to go round. Its not like working in a broader developing spectrum where theres thousands of jobs to go for.

Its a niche market, and once your there, you're there. But its getting there thats the problem, not the sustainability.
 
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