I wanna become a game programmer. Can majoring in CS help me get in that profession?

>can majoring in CS help me get in that profession?
Yes, it will help you get a job in the field after you graduate.
>Does video game programming use specific languages?
Technically you can use any if you build your own engine. However the most popular engines use C++ and C#.
>How can I practice coding on games?
Try out a few projects in the Godot engine. GDscript if very high level and easy similar to Python. Alternatively pygame is good for learning but should never be used for a serious game.

>he wants into the gaymen industry
unless you have insane connections, you aren't going to ever go anywhere. There are 2 kinds of game developers- the majority are average programmers who just happen to know people. The small minority are legitimate masters of the craft, and have jobs in game dev because they're really fucking good at what they do. Since you're asking these questions, I assume you aren't among the latter group.

this guy is wrong
you don't need connections to be in the game industry
just dont expect a good or stable job if you're working in AAA

Videogames are for children

I've made games for about 9-10 years and honestly I'm glad I don't work in the industry, it sounds like hell and nothing you make is actually good. Almost everybody I know doing gamedev as an actual job produces mediocre games. It's one of those things that's better kept to a hobby, or at the very least just something you do on the side for extra cash (if that's your goal, but even doing indie stuff is hard as far as marketing goes). Plus there's more "no fun allowed" bullshit these days since many studios are moving to things like Unity/UE4, and some indies are doing the same (and as a result the games are usually garbo, I don't care about the 3 exceptions). For me that's really discouraging since enginedev is at least half of what makes gamedev fun for me, and good luck even mentioning you SLIGHTLY support using a custom engine because unityfags will tear you a new asshole if your preference differs from theirs.

Anyway as far as the language goes, if you're going AAA C++ is your only feasible option unless they're using Unity or something, in which case pick up C#. Just like learning an instrument you learn by doing, just be prepared for 90% of your learning experience to be spent reading things.

>I want to learn the quick way
Unity/C#, gets you to the point of just making things faster

>I want to learn the best way
Spend some time learning C++, and once you're competent write a basic engine with OpenGL or something (avoid Vulkan though, shit's way beyond the scope of what you need). If you want it to work well across OSes use something like SDL to save time with shit like getting a GL context made, but writing your own platform independence layer is a good learning experience as well. If you haven't programmed at all don't expect this to be quick, it'd be best to make some 2D games with SFML or something *after* learning the language but before doing the 3D project

>C++ is your only feasible option
This is the reason I don't want to do game dev anymore. I'll probably develop a few indie games on the side if I can learn how to do the art but I'd rather end my life then suffer a career of writing in C++.

Yeah I can't blame you, depending on the scope of the indie game though I really don't think language choice matters as much

bunch of terrible advice in that post
C++ or Unity is far from the only option, making your own engine is generally a bad idea, I wouldn't recommend "making games on the side" aswell seeing making games isn't really easy enough to do it part time
You don't even need to use C++ if you want to program it all yourself, I certainly don't

I believe that he meant it was the only option if you want a career working for big game companies. Obviously if you make an indie game you can use whatever you want.
>I wouldn't recommend "making games on the side" aswell seeing making games isn't really easy enough to do it part time
Well good luck making indie game development your full time job.

In the AAA industry, C++ is without a doubt the most widely used language. For indie stuff none of it matters.

>making your own engine is a bad idea
For somebody learning to make games, it's a great idea. If I wanted to learn to cook I wouldn't go to a restaurant and have food made for me, I'd learn to make it myself, because it'd be defeating the point otherwise.

>making games isn't really easy enough to do it part time
It entirely depends on the scope of the game. Jams like Ludum Dare prove it's entirely possible to make a decent game in just a weekend for example.

>You don't even need to use C++ if you want to program it all yourself, I certainly don't
Yeah don't get me wrong it isn't a must, but again I mentioned C++ in regards to the AAA industry.

>For somebody learning to make games, it's a great idea
Using another engine is a great idea
If you try and make your own you'll waste years doing jack shit with no tangible results
Ludum Dare games aren't good, they're prototypes

Get something that focuses on game development.

You're more likely to get hired that way, because major game studios know you'll work for peanuts in 24/7 crunch time for two years until you burn out.

They're less likely to hire CS people because they tend to tell people to fuck off when you abuse them due to the solid job prospects

A major in CS will help, if you focus on the right things. Take as much C/C++ as you can and get damn good at linear algebra. If you can hack it in linear algebra and actually apply it you will have no problem getting in the door. Tools programming is a really good way to start.

>years
Pajeeeeet. Nobody ever said anything about making something on the scale of UE4 or Unity, I only ever mentioned making a *basic* engine. Like say a little FPS engine with Doom-styled level geometry (no stacked sectors limits you to 2D physics which already gets some of the complicated stuff out of the way). You could accomplish that in a couple months with a bit of OpenGL knowledge, it's not that difficult.

>Ludum Dare games aren't good
I never said they were good, I said they were decent

Anyway, using another engine will teach you nothing. It'll get you quick results, but it won't teach you what's actually going on. I wouldn't call myself a mechanic if the only thing I could do was drive a car and not actually work on one. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying using other engines is bad, but my rationale here is that it's something you should work for once you know what's actually going on. Like look at the amount of people driving on the road today who have no clue how a car works even on the most basic fundamental level. This is why the used car market is fuckin garbage, nobody knows how to maintain them because they don't understand the consequences of things like not changing your oil for instance. Or in the case of gamedev, look at somebody like Yanderedev who's a textbook definition unityfag that doesn't know what he's doing at all, but got quick (albeit terrible) results because he learned how to use the easiest tool out there. Obviously most people would prefer somebody like John Carmack, who knows what he's doing, to somebody like Yanderedev, who doesn't even know how switch statements work.

Using another engine is the fast-track to learning how to make games. You'll learn things twice as fast as you would trying to do it yourself from scratch with no frame of reference. If you enjoy doing it from scratch go ahead, but as general advice on becoming a game developer it's a stupid idea

But user I never said doing it the DIY way was the quickest option, in fact I even suggested using Unity earlier in my post as a "I want to do it quickly" method. I brought up the DIY approach as an additional option for those who *do* prefer doing things that way, and also because I believe it results in better developers, who can move on to Unity/UE4/etc. once they're more experienced. I say this because after going through more extensive training they'll have a comprehensive understanding of how engines like Unity/UE4 work under the hood, at least to an extent. I think we're actually on the same page to some degree

Yeah but you won't have a clue how a real-world complex piece of software works just from taking Intro to Programming, if anything it's the other way around, learn the software first then learn how it works under the hood, that's what I did, nobody who I know who started at the low level ever worked their way up to making a real game, usually they just got jobs as programmers

I mean how you learn to program to begin with is kinda irrelevant imo, as long as it's a language with at least some use in gamedev. If anything I feel like programming is a prerequisite skill regardless of what engine you're using, custom or not. I'll agree that people who take the lowest level approach don't get as far on average, but assuming you have good motivation and self awareness throughout your learning experience I don't think the order you choose matters. The sentiment of my post is mainly that people getting into gamedev should know how an engine works, not necessarily that you *have* to learn such things before using an existing one. It's just that it makes the most sense to me to start from the bottom and work your way up, but that's prob because I started ages ago before things like unity were the norm

Video game programmers are digital artists with programming skills, not programmers with artistic skills. So you should study a digital arts major and take programming courses at the same time.
In the past it was otherwise because of the very primitive hardware and software of the consoles, that required a lot of ingenuity for new algorithms and tricks to be created. Nowadays consoles have plenty of resources and you'll use a game engine for everything.

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i wanna lick that boy's game engine

Her name is Seola and she's a girl.

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sure

>He wants to get a CS Degree to be a game developer and is asking what do

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Majoring in CS will help you make better engines, but not better games perse.

>studios are moving to things like Unity/UE4
you have your observation backwards.
The studios were never capable of ever using anything other than Unity/UE4.

>you understand how computers work in general
l m a o

Don't get into game design unless you want to work for 16 hour days and build shit software with hacks on top of hacks.

oh yeah you're right it isn't like they didn't always exist or anything looooool it isn't like people made games for decades without them or anything. low quality b8

>and build shit software with hacks on top of hacks
that's just software dev in general user, god i WISH there was an exception to this