Uni - Second Year- Dilema....

hehe sounds like I should be an Architect from that description! I guess programming is a little boreing to me, I did enjoy the chalenge of it last year, but the thought of doing it for another 2 years does my nut in...

Basically how I felt. Happens to everyone with different things. Just don't make the mistake of forcing yourself to do it if you get no enjoyment out of it.
 
Dear all, hello!

Just hit a bit of a dilema, im starting my second year in uni, and my course so far has been a little programing, and basic computing, now its moving onto more games orientated stuff.

My course is Games Computing.

I have learnt basic Java (with lots of help from you lot, thanks!) and while a little programing was a good challenge, which I have enjoyed, it is also very very boreing!

We were told our group project for this year would be a Half Life 2 mod, but they have changed this, so that "Games Production" students have it, and our project is to "Program" a game in "C#" for either the PC or 360.

On top of this we have graphics programing, which involved learning C+.

So they expect us to learn C+ and C# in one year, and that will meen that a large chunck of my course is pure programing, while I was happy to do the graphics programing, im not sure I can stick the mind boglingness of learning 2 new languages, and having to do 2 different courseworks involving programing.

So in essence, im not sure if I should stick on my course, with it having more worth, or change to the "Games Production" course, im also not sure what problems may arrise from changing course one year into my degree? How will it effect loans etc?

Thanks for any advice... even if this is just ramble!
Jcb33!

IMO once you've learnt one language gaining another is a relatively painless process. Oh and it's C++!

C -> C++ is easy
Java -> C++ is not quite as easy

Normally I dont recommend people learn Java first, I don't particularly like it.

Not done much C# for aaaaggggeeeessss now but I don't remember it being overly difficult to get used too. Seemed more similar to Java than C in my head though!

Davem
 
Its not that im sturgling with programing so much, as it is so boreing, I sit down and just program for days, and because im a bit OCD when it comes to courework I have thousands of "How can i break this" "How can I fix that" etc etc so I just take so long I want to shoot myself...

I do not want to program as a job basicaly, I want to be more creative...

Also just checked about the loan, and as long as your not repeating anything you are ok!

If you find coding boring (esp since you think you cannot handle two piece of programming course work), then get out and do something else now while you can because in the industry it only gets more intense esp when dead lines come up etc. And if you do not enjoy what you do you will end up trying to kill your self ;)

I have found programming to be very creative esp when you need to work around problems on a tight deadline.

Learning C+ and C# in one year should be no problem at all as they are very similar. TBH you should have been doing this since year 1 esp if you are expected to write a video game from scratch (that’s just my opinion anyway)

If you do choose to change degree you should have no problems with your loan etc. Have a chat with your dept head.
 
Basically how I felt. Happens to everyone with different things. Just don't make the mistake of forcing yourself to do it if you get no enjoyment out of it.

And thats the problem, im tempted to go on, simply because the course has more worth in the long run, and I will have better skills. But if truth be told I doubt I will enjoy it, the graphics programing would be interesting, but the "Program a full game" bit... Eurgh!

Games Computing:

Year 2:

3D Moddeling
Graphics Programing
Programing Game Group Project
Games Design
Software Engineering

Year 3:

Final Year Project
Professional Practise
Frontier Technologies
Games AI And Simulation
(Option Unit)


Games Production:

Year 2:

3D Moddeling
Games Design
HL2 Mod Group Project
(Option Unit)
HCI, Computers And Society

Year 3:

Final Year Project
Professional Practise
Frontier Technologies
Content Creation And Management
(Option Unit)
 
And thats the problem, im tempted to go on, simply because the course has more worth in the long run, and I will have better skills. But if truth be told I doubt I will enjoy it, the graphics programing would be interesting, but the "Program a full game" bit... Eurgh!

Games Computing:

Year 2:

3D Moddeling
Graphics Programing
Programing Game Group Project
Games Design
Software Engineering

Year 3:

Final Year Project
Professional Practise
Frontier Technologies
Games AI And Simulation
(Option Unit)


Games Production:

Year 2:

3D Moddeling
Games Design
HL2 Mod Group Project
(Option Unit)
HCI, Computers And Society

Year 3:

Final Year Project
Professional Practise
Frontier Technologies
Content Creation And Management
(Option Unit)

Seriously mate if you cannot handle programming a full game, swap. And swap soon.
 
Well I went along the line of thinking that you've got to be interested in programming to be good at it and you've got to have the want to go and learn more about it to become good at it.

Basically I didn't have any desire to learn more about programming and improve my skills by myself so I stopped doing it. If I continued on then i'd just end up being a crap programmer who'd be stuck in a code monkey job.
 
Well I went along the line of thinking that you've got to be interested in programming to be good at it and you've got to have the want to go and learn more about it to become good at it.

Basically I didn't have any desire to learn more about programming and improve my skills by myself so I stopped doing it. If I continued on then i'd just end up being a crap programmer who'd be stuck in a code monkey job.

Well I did need a heck of a lot of help last year to get through, but when it came to my final 2 course works I actualy managed to get an award for my work, but thats simply because as I said im a bit OCD with my work, and cover everything.

I can do it, I just dont enjoy it...
 
All the C variants are so similar you can consider them as one language with a few simple extensions.
True, except that I wouldn't count C# as a C variant. It's more like MS Java. Still, it's pretty easy to go between C/C++ and Java/C#. They don't require you to think in a majorly different way (unlike functional languages such as Haskell).

So this game you have to make is a group project right? How is it decided who you work with? If possible you could team up with people who like coding stuff and you could be responsible for the art and design parts.

If you aren't trying to get a job as a games programmer (which I assume you're not) then it's not all that important which degree course you do. For the art and design positions it's mostly about your portfolio of work, so really you should choose which course to do based on which will give you more opportunies to produce some good examples of your abilities. It's quite possible that a HL2 mod would facilitate that better.

Oh and also I'll point out that HL2 mods are actually written in C++ (usually, I think it may be possible to use other languages these days).
 
True, except that I wouldn't count C# as a C variant. It's more like MS Java. Still, it's pretty easy to go between C/C++ and Java/C#. They don't require you to think in a majorly different way (unlike functional languages such as Haskell).

So this game you have to make is a group project right? How is it decided who you work with? If possible you could team up with people who like coding stuff and you could be responsible for the art and design parts.

If you aren't trying to get a job as a games programmer (which I assume you're not) then it's not all that important which degree course you do. For the art and design positions it's mostly about your portfolio of work, so really you should choose which course to do based on which will give you more opportunies to produce some good examples of your abilities. It's quite possible that a HL2 mod would facilitate that better.

Oh and also I'll point out that HL2 mods are actually written in C++ (usually, I think it may be possible to use other languages these days).

Sadly our groups are decided for us, no picking involved! I want to be more an asset creation person, Models, maps etc, but im not sure how this will work without programing skills.
 
If i remember correctly, parts of bf2 are written in Python. I could be wrong though.

Probably true. Usually game engines (graphics, physics, sound, other low-level stuff) are written in C++, but quite often the gameplay is written in something a bit higher level and easier to use, such as python.
 
Sadly our groups are decided for us, no picking involved! I want to be more an asset creation person, Models, maps etc, but im not sure how this will work without programing skills.


You can do this with out programming quite easily, just crack open max studio and start modeling then find someone in your team to pop it into the game.

As Psyk design and art is more about your portifolo work. You do not even need to get what you have created into a game, make a decent website which shows of your best work. Thats how some of the art guys here got there job (well and good interview techniques ;) )

If you want to actully script levels, then some coding does help so doing a HL2 mod would be a good idea. But it should'nt be anything like as complex of coding up something from scratch.
 
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Update: Finaly got to see someone about this problem and they basicaly said:

Its a bit late to change now (Did not say we cant) programing will be usefull for you when you go and get a job, and you have more options than on the other course.

You will get programing eventualy, its not easy.

You can work as an assets person on the group project rather than programing.

He also suggested changing one of our option units to remove some programing.

Finaly he said the only real programing you have to do is on Graphics Programing, which involves learning C, C++, C# and OpenGL as well as working with DirectX and Advance Math....

I realy dunno what to do now, what he says makes sense, but I suck at math, and all those programing languages.... EEEEEW!
 
Damn.. one day i may actually meet you in RL in the work environment.. thats a scary thought.. Human Computer Interaction for the win though.. but i just draw pretty graphics..

It'd be a pleasure matey. We could bust out some moves!

I realy dunno what to do now, what he says makes sense, but I suck at math, and all those programing languages.... EEEEEW!

Multiple languages is a non-issue. If you suck at math, logic or problem solving then advanced programming really isn't for you!
 
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Update: Finaly got to see someone about this problem and they basicaly said:

Its a bit late to change now (Did not say we cant) programing will be usefull for you when you go and get a job, and you have more options than on the other course.

You will get programing eventualy, its not easy.

You can work as an assets person on the group project rather than programing.

He also suggested changing one of our option units to remove some programing.

Finaly he said the only real programing you have to do is on Graphics Programing, which involves learning C, C++, C# and OpenGL as well as working with DirectX and Advance Math....

I realy dunno what to do now, what he says makes sense, but I suck at math, and all those programing languages.... EEEEEW!

Don't worry about the maths mate, if i could handle it any one can. Trust me ;)
 
Programming's not a natural ability, it's learnt. I reckon I could teach anyone to program, unless they had learning disabilities. It's just a state of mind, but far too many people just can't be bothered to learn or understand and their eyes glaze over when people start explaining things to them.

[a comment whilst proof reading; the following bit sounds more harsh than I meant it to sound, sorry!!]

No offence but, to me, it seems like you're approaching this with the completely wrong attitude. The whole "Eww" and "But I suck at math" etc... I wouldn't want to employ someone who's ever had an attitude to learning like that. Frankly I get the feeling you just can't be bothered to learn them and you're using being bad at maths as an excuse... programming isn't so much about being good at maths - you write the programs to do the maths for you - but it's more about being able to think logically. It does involve understands maths, though.

If I were in your position I would be ecstatic - I'd love to have the opportunity to be properly taught C and its variants. But unfortunately I won't be going into uni due to the way things have panned out for me. As a matter of fact, I'm jealous that you have the opportunity to be taught how to program a game in C using OpenGL - I wouldn't pass that up for anything.

You need to have a good attitude about it. You should want to learn, but I think you are just trying to take the easy option rather than actually put some effort in. If you are honestly not interested in programming, then change course, but don't just opt for one option because it's easier or you can't be bothered to do more work.

I feel like you like the idea of game programming, but don't want to do it the hard way - you'd rather do the easy route of getting into game programming.

The fact I love to program properly (proper programming is much more fun that all this php/web stuff I do at the moment) probably gives me a pretty biased point of view.
 
Algorithms are a big part of games programming as it's a dynamic environment.

Absolutely they are.

But what I am saying is if I can handle the maths at msc level computer science (and I am **** at math) I am farily sure he can :P.
 
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