17 replies to this topic

[olblue]

Hey Warliki. What is it in game development you are wanting to do? Obviously coding is completely different to asset creation or level design and so on although code is used in the level design process as well. Are there any particular games you take inspiration from and have you considered what it is that you want to focus on - for example some people specialise in the code for AIs, some focus on tool creation and so on...

A very good place to start will be with C++. Your local library will probably have something in or you can order it online, although avoid anything that says you can learn it in 7 days as generally you cant. There are several good online resources as well (google) to learn C++ and gamedev.com has a rabid core of coders that will probably be able to help (although they are a tiny bit elitist).

Good luck and if you have any questions we can answer, we will

[ReqPro]

If you have zero experience with coding whatsoever, I'd suggest starting off with a language that has a slightly more lenient learning curve, but is useful none-the-less... C# is easy to learn and its core fundamentals are exactly the same as C++...

I do have to point out, however, most serious studios still use C++ for game development, and it's by far what I'd recommend any day, but you have to crawl before you can walk, young grasshopper

And as Cris mentioned above - do not go for the whole "Teach yourself to program in C# in 7 days" - it's just not possible... One thing is knowing a programming language, another thing entirelly is knowing how to use it - that takes years of experience and trial and error.

I'm afraid I have to correct Cris a tiny bit in his reply above - code is usually not involved in level design, that part is called scripting and is an entirelly different thing (just try to tell a die-hard programmer that what he's doing is scripting - and wear a cup before you do ) A programmer can normally take up scripting with relatively little effort, it's far from always the case in reverse. Scripting is generally a scraped down, limited proprietary language that the engine can translate into real instructions.

Programming in game development scenarios is usually confined to toolset programming, AI, rendering mechanics, physics, scripting engine and the like that combined makes the whole of a game engine.

Hopefully, that cleared up a little of your questions, and I wish you good luck - please feel free to let us know if you have any other questions

[olblue]

Wrist Slapped

[eagle4]

in game development there are different areas for programmers, I'm sure there are more, but i can think of 3 key areas. Engine programmers, Gameplay programmers, and tools programmers

Engine guys are absolute maths nuts. I've worked with some who are just walking computers, they deal with all the back end stuff. if the idea of writing your own shaders, working with game rendering, optimising draw distances and occlusion then being an Engine programmer is what you should look towards

Gameplay programmers deal most with designers, their job is to make the game work, all the wacky ideas the designers have (trust me they get wacky) you need to make work, and work in a way that would be fun for the player. if that sounds like you, then go for it

Tools programmers. I love these guys. Their job is to work on the tools for artists, animators, designers and everyone else. This could involve writing tools for Maya or 3dsMax in their own scripting languages, or writing stand alone tools like world editors and things like this. as a tools programmer you'll be responsible for making the content creator's lives easier and more efficient.


If you want to start programming, I'd suggest try playing around with a simple scripting language, wrap your mind around variables, if statements, for loops, and arrays, and I reckon you'll be off to a good start to understanding what your lecturers are talking about. I had a friend who was studying programming and the teacher glossed over what a for loop was, and if his friend next to him didnt explain it to him he wouldnt have understood what they are.

[ray2204]

you could give this place a try. It takes you from "Hello World" to Potential Visibility Sets and more.
http://www.gameinstitute.com/

[olblue]

Or wait one month and sign up for Drive of course

[MaccaAko]

ray2204, on 14 February 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

you could give this place a try. It takes you from "Hello World" to Potential Visibility Sets and more.
http://www.gameinstitute.com/

Are they good? Any experience? I notice they have a deal with 99$ for all available courses and as it seems to be quite a huge amount of material it seems interesting. The beginers sessions seems to be quite textbook focused though, and the demo videos of the first c++ sessions seems quite booring, but I got some need of C++ at work and even though it is not game related it is 3d graphic related...

Could be something, but 99$ is quite much for a site you are unfamiliar with.

/Markus

[ray2204]

Hi Markus


"Are they good? Any experience?" Well, i've done a few courses with them and i'm glad i found them. I did know some programming before i started with them so i understand that some beginner C++ stuff might seem a bit dry. But i had no graphics programming experience so i stuck with them. I would gladly have paid more for their DirectX 9.0 3D courses. Their 2D\3D programming courses are in part "quite textbook focused" but they also include audio\visual lecture slides, demo programs, full working source code of the demos and full explanations of this source code in Work Books. If you ask a question in the forum you get a very quick and detailed response from the course tutor. In fact the amount of information they provide can seem overwhelming at times. It's just a question of how much do you want to and are willing to pay to learn how a bug free working optimized 3D rendering engine with dynamic and static collision detection and response works.

p.s. i have found that at parties this can be quite a conversation killer so be warned.

[ChrisPerr]

sig is spam

[Tikvar4e]

I want to ask this too. I am 23 years old, And i would like to do 3D modeling for game. Which game engine should i use unity or UDK?

[ReqPro]

3D asset creation is independent of the engine, really. Of course there are a few differences in the pipelines and demands of the asset from engine to engine - but you really shouldn't "specialize" in a single engine when doing assets.

If you end up in a studio as an asset artist, chances are you will be working with multiple engines, depending on the game type you're working on, license politics, etc.

In a perfect world, the artists are never even anywhere near the engine (sadly, that's far from always the case) but your work should be completely engine independent.

In any case, each of the engines are capable of doing what you need from them, and more, in my opinion - another big contender is CryEngine.

My advice - Make an asset, research the requirements of each engine for an asset, and then try to import your asset into each engine to give yourself some experience and practice.

[JZAcH]

Here is the thing. 1st of all you have to decide what path you wanna take.
Design or
Development.

Both has its own adventures to cross through.

If Design is the area you choose for, then you will come across modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, sculpting, rigging, animations, etc. Now each of these has their own stories to be read about, which is kind of like another adventure.
Development has all the crazy stuffs which eagle4 mentioned above.

Being a designer should not bother you about what engine you would be using, unless and untill you are a level artist or an environment artist. If you are a character artist or prop artist, the matter of an engine doesnt even come into the picture.

CryEngine's free SDK which is available for download is a total disaster and a nightmate if you wish to get some slick rigs and animation, . DON'T go for it. UDK is the best choice there, That is if you want to see the whole stuff running. . UDK is free, and you can create your own .EXE file from it.. which apparently is not available for the CryEngine 3 SDK.

I haven't really used unity, but i find a lot of series on game creation in unity than for UDK. It is up-to you which one you want, while my personal favorite is the engine which brought me the epic series, Gears Of War.

[olblue]

Theres an invite to the remaining 4 weeks of test of DRIVE@ if you would like it

[JZAcH]

\m/ \m/ DRIVE baby DRIVE \m/ \m/

[JZAcH]

He needs to learn something before he sends his CV somewhere anileudan. Join the Drive beta, everyone is assigned to level design in UDK here. Can grab yourself some very useful tips and pipeline procedures which can also count as experience in my opinion.

[Voodoo79r]

im trying to decide between the cry engine and udk, im worried that if i learn tutorials for udk and they are out of date im going to be constantly behind the fast pace....im looking more towards level design but obviously being a modeller im about the asset creation too and im mainly into the free roaming game category if i learn the udk system how much does it actually change with every new version?

[olblue]

UDK updates all the time however core skills dont change