• Question: i want to be like a computer gaming person. how do i do this?

    Asked by anon-190403 to yoyehudi, Ry, Reka, Nikolai, Martha, Freya on 21 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Ry Cutter

      Ry Cutter answered on 20 Nov 2018:


      The gaming industry is huge now! Unlike the early days where you needed to be pretty versatile skill-set (i.e. having: story boarding, graphics design, programming, networking skills) you now have to have all of these but, be a specialist in the particular area.
      Depending on where you’re at skill wise will also direct your next move.

      I’d suggest start learning basic code (python, Java, or c++ are good starting points).
      Look for tutorials online: https://www.pythonforbeginners.com/code-snippets-source-code/game-hangman

      Secondly, you’ll need to learn graphic design.
      For 2D stuff I’d recommend Gravit Designer : https://designer.io/ or inkscape: https://inkscape.org/
      For 3D I use Blender: https://www.blender.org/
      Remember, these skills take a long time to master. You need to patient with yourself and keep working at it.

      You should also read around the history of gaming and game design:
      Some good books:
      – The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design
      – The Art of Game Design
      – Console Wars
      – Game Over, Press Start to Continue: How Nintendo Conquered the World

      Finally, you’ll eventually get to a point where you can start developing some low level indie games. You’ll want to use a blog or some social platform to document your progress at this point. This way you can have something to refer to when selling yourself to potential employers.

      Universities are starting to do degrees directed at gaming as well. So it’s always worth aiming to try for a degree in that area. It’s becoming more common for universities to offer an industry year which is hyper beneficial for people looking to get in the industry.

      The job you want is competitive so you’ll have to be able to show case your skills and show you can work hard!

      Good Question!

      Ryan

    • Photo: Reka Nagy

      Reka Nagy answered on 20 Nov 2018:


      Depends on what you mean by ‘computer gaming person’!

      Do you want to be a computer game developer? If yes, this can be broken down into two different categories:

      – Game design (coming up with the idea behind the game, the plot, the environment, the atmosphere, the general aspects of it). Anyone with sufficient creativity can do this, but degrees in multimedia, design, creative writing can all help.

      – Game programming (putting the design into practice -for example, translating the initial concept art of the game designers into moving 3d models inside the game; or making the game run on different systems such as PCs or different consoles, or mobiles). Having a degree in computer programming, computer engineering, software development, computer animation or computer graphics will greatly help here.

      If you are instead thinking of becoming a ‘youtuber’ or ‘twitch streamer’, well, that doesn’t technically require any specific degrees – anyone can do it. However, do bear in mind that many, many people stream their games but only a tiny fraction of these people actually become successful – and it takes a lot of time, effort and a good amount of sheer luck to get there. At that point, as well, most well-known youtubers have entire production teams behind them, who take care of many of the ‘behind the scenes’ work – one person could simply not be able to do all that work by themselves!
      Here, too, you would need a good amount of creativity (to keep your audience entertained), and a fair amount of video editing skills can also come in handy!

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