What does it actually take to become a gaming developer, and is it as difficult as some people make it sound? I really want to get jobs where I'm making shit like pic related. Specifically, what languages and skills would I need to be really good with? I've seen that math is extremely important, but what specifically should I master? Pic related
What does it actually take to become a gaming developer, and is it as difficult as some people make it sound...
Luke Baker
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Jacob Price
I don't want to burst your bubble but creating games is not playing them and requires hard work.
Robert Anderson
Okay? Your post makes no sense. Where do I give off the impression it's like playing them or that it's not hard work?
Cooper Carter
Depends on what you really want to do, if you want to become a one-man gamedev studio, then you probably need to know C++ or C#, and have experience in opengl. Besides that networking, multi-threading and knowing data structures like quadtrees will be useful as well.
OOP is commonly used in games (coz it's useful, despite what the rest of Jow Forums will tell you).
Connor Davis
>warning non-expert opinion
Use some meme language like C# and have a good idea/plan. If you're in it for the money, then making it for Windows is smarts.
Oliver White
If you have to ask you aren't cut out for it. But I'd recommend learning C and getting your feet under you when it comes to programming. You got to make programs before you make games, it's just a fact of life. Copy + pasting a C guide someone else posted here
>Intro
- K&R as everybody starts with this.
- A current operating system kernel style guide, to show you what declarations today should look like: man.openbsd.org
- CS:APP as a second intro, learning bits/binary/floating point/compilers/assembly level pointers ect ect.
abebooks.com
>Intermediate
- The Book 'Hackers Delight 2' to continue with CS:APP bitshifting tricks
- This guide: matt.sh
- Critique of said guide: news.ycombinator.com
- This book to learn algorithm design in C: algorist.com
>Competent
- This book, whatever latest edition: cert.org
- Finally the Art of Software Security Assessment where you go back over every program you've ever written with both the CERT guide and this book in order to audit your old programs for vulnerabilities.
Posts like this help too, from people in the industry who have exp pushing out 'secure' C programs: news.ycombinator.com
You can do this in about a year doing it everyday for say, 2 hours. I did.
After that you'll probably know what you want to do and are able to pursue it. Good luck.
Wyatt Long
Also, since you specifically asked about math. Yes math is important, especially linear algebra, but I guess you can learn things as you need them in this context. Also mind that designing your own engine that is not shit is not an easy job, but I guess it depends on how complex the engine is to be.
Parker Miller
>pick up a good language to develop games
>create a nostalgia soaked jrpg reminiscent of mother
>make it so that it is appealable to reddit and tumblr kids
>release it on steam
>pay maybe a thousand dollars in ads
>becomes a millionaire overnight and a senior game developer in the industry
it is really that simple.
Jason Richardson
No I'm definitely not trying to single handedly make games, the amount of time and dedication seems too daunting to do that. What I meant is mainly how to break into this industry, and what knowledge and skills I'd need to do it.
Money does play a factor, but the work seems like it's interesting. Besides I'd like to have the satisfaction of knowing I helped build a highly successful game.
Does it need to be C or will any OOP language do? Not that I'm against learning C but it feels too limited job wise. I'd like to be able to branch out if I'm not cut out for gaming or don't want to do it anymore.
Eli Foster
>C is too limited job wise
Do you want a job or do you want to learn how to program? If you want a job learn Java or C#.
Learning C will give you good foundation on which to building with other languages.
Nathaniel Martin
The reason I ask is because I already am learning c++ and know a fair amount, but I'm still on the fundamental level. So I'm wondering if what those books go over in C apply carries over to other languages(topic wise of course not literally)
Lincoln Morris
What's more important in gaming, physics or math?
Levi Wilson
you could make a game with 0 physics whatsoever
Matthew White
Just read up on game theory.
Samuel Garcia
Continue learning C++.
The fact that you made this thread probably means you're not going to get very far though. That's just how these things turn out.
Camden Fisher
Learn elementary physics and honed your problem solving skill.
While mainly you will write game code, you'll need come up with robust solution on how to implement it.
If you want to develop your games quickly, learn any major game engine available out there, it doesn't matter what programming language it use as long as you could make use of it and do the job done.
Alternatively if you have a very specific requirement for your games, you have options to extend the game engine features (some game engine give access to lower level API so you could implement your specific requirement on top of it) or ditching the game engine entirely and implement your own from scratch (you need software engineering knowledge and manpower to do this).
Joseph James
Why do you say that?
John Carter
>Where do I give off the impression it's like playing them or that it's not hard work?
>and is it as difficult as some people make it sound?
Sebastian Jenkins
>Why continue learning C++?
Because you're far more likely to use C++ over C.
>Why am I not going to get very far?
Because you're using feedback from a Japanese media-centric website to break into the game programmer job environment.
Joseph Phillips
Don't try to be a game dev. Go to uni and become a programmer first, then when you realize risking your life on a pipe dream is a stupid idea, go and program java for faceless multinational companies.
Henry Smith
Just do it. Make a game, right now. Start programming. Make it from scratch, use an engine, whatever you have to do.
I made my first game with XNA. My second in C++/DirectX. Another in Unity 3D. It took a few tries but my latest game is actually making money.
It's a lot of work and definitely NOT the path of least resistance, but it's rewarding.
Brayden Lewis
Don't listen to any of these cucked failures. C can fuck right off, complete waste of time, useful for proging embedded. Otherwise, just learn c++. It's what all real games are made with, and a good chunk of all real software.