Jedi Master
Jedi Master
So I really want to be a game designer in the near future..(One more year till i graduate high school.. hopefully BF3 ccomes out by then) and i see some programmers on here and i was wondering.. what does it take to get into the industry? Ive already taken a video game programming course(mostly darkBASIC and a little JAVA.\) and I want to know what is a good college to go to to study this. BTW I live in Miami so a college close would be best.
Is that an ancient tibetan dagger in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
Administrator
Administrator
I can give some insight (hopefully). I'll tackle it point by point.
Assuming you've done this and know what a game designer is, I'll move on...
Remember you need a lot of education but you also need to know games! Playing them is of course a fantastic way to learn about design, common problems, what's fun and what isn't, and many required concepts to understand, but sometimes it's good to go further. Read video game articles, objectify what you see, attempt to find out or estimate how someone did something, read/watch interviews, and do whatever you can to learn, learn, learn.
To further explain estimated how someone did something (as that is very ambiguous) if you remember in Battlefront 2 how Mace Windu could slam on the ground and create a burn, you could ask yourself in a general manner, how did they do that? My estimation is that they have a sprite created underneath Mace right underneath the middle of his body. I'm fairly sure that is how because if you slam on the edge of a building the burn hangs off the side. This can become a problem solving exercise because you could ask yourself how would I go about this to make sure it didn't hang off the side?
Anyway, that's some advice. I can't specify a post-secondary establishment but maybe just looking at some college/university pamphlets will help.
Okay. First off, are you sure you want to be a game designer? Not to question the career choice, but the specification of a designer. There are lots of jobs in games, some of which have similar names that can confuse people. I wish I had a link to give you but I can't seem to find much but there is info out there. Search some game development jobs to see what each job requires/involves.ctrooper wrote:So I really want to be a game designer in the near future.
Assuming you've done this and know what a game designer is, I'll move on...
Well, that depends. If you just want to jump in as a game designer, then you'll have to find development studios in your area or even start your own. Either way you'll have to do some schooling as I doubt a single development studio would take you without proper education. There are several classes/course paths that can allow you to become a game designer. There's computer engineer, computer programmer, computer science, and possibly more but those are the one's I could think up off the top. Computer science is probably the most meticulous of the three but all of them could get you a job. If you find a good University/College for CS they may even have separate branches. I know the one I am applying for (as I am planning on taking Computer Science) has a branch for video game development and simulation. These courses usually require mathematics and some schools requires other credits that have nothing to do with the course but you can't do much against it.ctrooper wrote:what does it take to get into the industry?
Remember you need a lot of education but you also need to know games! Playing them is of course a fantastic way to learn about design, common problems, what's fun and what isn't, and many required concepts to understand, but sometimes it's good to go further. Read video game articles, objectify what you see, attempt to find out or estimate how someone did something, read/watch interviews, and do whatever you can to learn, learn, learn.
To further explain estimated how someone did something (as that is very ambiguous) if you remember in Battlefront 2 how Mace Windu could slam on the ground and create a burn, you could ask yourself in a general manner, how did they do that? My estimation is that they have a sprite created underneath Mace right underneath the middle of his body. I'm fairly sure that is how because if you slam on the edge of a building the burn hangs off the side. This can become a problem solving exercise because you could ask yourself how would I go about this to make sure it didn't hang off the side?
Anyway, that's some advice. I can't specify a post-secondary establishment but maybe just looking at some college/university pamphlets will help.
Jedi Council Member
Jedi Council Member
I don't know much about breaking into the games industry but I will offer you a bit of advice that will serve not only you but anyone else that reads this. Don't be afraid to go to a university thats far away from where you live. If you find a university with a great course that you think really suits you, go for it!ctrooper wrote: BTW I live in Miami so a college close would be best.
I live in the UK and go to a university that is 200 miles away from where my parents live, I know this is tiny compared to a distance that you could be faced with North America but I was (and still am) prepared to move out of the country, to where ever I need to go to get the education/job/whatever I wanted.
So yeah, don't let anything hold you back because you only live once
