Game Designer...What to do

[Mathematix]

Originally Posted by UKDarkstar

The Wiltshire Branch of the BCS had a presentation on the games industry a while back which also gave some info about getting into it.

Details are here and you can download a pdf of the presentation.

That was two years ago!

I remember hearing about that. The BCS and the games industry had minor issues sometime back because of our lack of representation within the BCS even though we are one of the foremost industries for the advancement of computer technology.

The BCS still won't pay any attention.

[UKDarkstar]

Originally Posted by Mathematix

That was two years ago!

I remember hearing about that. The BCS and the games industry had minor issues sometime back because of our lack of representation within the BCS even though we are one of the foremost industries for the advancement of computer technology.

The BCS still won't pay any attention.

May still be some helpful stuff in there tho'

As to the rest, I think we've had this debate before so not much point going off-topic again to what the original OP asked

[Mathematix]

Originally Posted by UKDarkstar

May still be some helpful stuff in there tho'

Actually, there was nothing in there that would be helpful. The BCS know little to nothing about the games industry because it doesn't take an interest.

[Slimepuppy]

Originally Posted by kalisclark

Hi all, I am new to the forums and I just wanted some advice.

I would like to be a game designer but I am unsure of which path to take. it's not like the other stuff where you can just go and sit the A+ exam I am thinking of going to uni but im 27 and it would take 4 years, has anyone got any advice?

Many thanks

Kal

Games are a lot of work, unless you have some really simple and addictive idea like Tetris. One idea is to get some of the old games and rework it, I dug out an old BBC Micro - some of the games were totally rubbish I'll not mention them. Still there are some old 1980's games that are hard to beat for addictiveness and the 30's something will enjoy them. Still if you want to try programming OpenGL & DirectX would be the best to learn for graphics.

[dazza786]

Originally Posted by m3lt

I suppose I am not the only one who at one point played WoW for a very long time.

That didn't originate from wow :/

[m3lt]

Originally Posted by dazza786

That didn't originate from wow :/

You are right actually, it originated from a South Park episode, "Underpants Gnomes".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park)



But I had fun seeing this all over WoW forums.

[LordMoolyBap]

If you want to try it out why not have a play with something like one of the following:

http://darkbasicpro.thegamecreators.com/ Dark Basic Professional is basically just BASIC scripting on top of a 3d engine. You can use their models or create your own 3ds ones if you like / can. I played around for this for a good while and got some good results from it a few years back. I'm not saying that will get you into the industry as Im a business programmer so have never tried to get into that side of tings. But it is a good start to learn.

They also do an add in to .NET and you can download visual C++ Express and the dark basic add in from here
Visual C++ Express
dark GDK

Another thing you could do (which I haven't done yet but keep saying I will look at it) is look at Microsofts XNA game creator. You can write Windows games and if you pay to join the creators club can write games for the Xbox as well. You can read more and download from here there is some great talent on here!

For the designing side you might want to look at something like 3ds Max / Maya or something? You can probably get trail versions of them inside teach yourself books from amazon although I don't know much about it.

In the case of XNA and dark basic there are millions of tutorials out there on the web. Its just about really selling your soul to learning and practicing.

A couple of my friends are games programmers and they say they both love it and absoloutely hate it. Not sure what sort of advice that is though!

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by m3lt

I suppose I am not the only one who at one point played WoW for a very long time.

Nope... never played WoW. That meme been going around Anandtech for forever-ever.

[Mathematix]

Originally Posted by LordMoolyBap

A couple of my friends are games programmers and they say they both love it and absoloutely hate it. Not sure what sort of advice that is though!

They most likely love it when everything works and the game goes gold, but hate crunch.

[mallet]

Originally Posted by LordMoolyBap

Another thing you could do (which I haven't done yet but keep saying I will look at it) is look at Microsofts XNA game creator. You can write Windows games and if you pay to join the creators club can write games for the Xbox as well. You can read more and download from here there is some great talent on here!

In the case of XNA and dark basic there are millions of tutorials out there on the web. Its just about really selling your soul to learning and practicing.

ah, I am in the process looking to start with XNA. But just trying to build up on my C# for now. Theres a page I am looking at just to start myself on the game programming side of things:
http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story...a-10-steps-diy

hope that helps and best of luck anyone programming.


-Mallet

[dmarsh]

Originally Posted by wagnerk

I don't know if this will be of use to you, but a mate of mine wants to also be a games developer/designer (can't remember which) and after some research found Train2Game. They offer the Tiga Games Design & Games Development Diplomas, TIGA is the national trade association that represents game developers in the UK and in Europe.

Since this is, in essence, 3rd party reseach I can't agree or disagree with it (I haven't looked into it with much detail), but it may be something you want to check out?.

-Ken

This essentially looks like a TP, they use the same salespeople and format as skillstrain, which is worrying.

The course does look good, and there is some helpful links and answers to what does a designer do etc on their forums.

However the cost is £5k, they send a salesperson to your house and make you sign a credit agreement.

I think a Computer Science Foundation Degree sounds like a safer bet for people interested in the developer track.

[dmarsh]

This has a lot of more worrying info too :-

http://forums.digitaltrends.com/showthread.php?t=16731