| mrstickball said: I would suggest making a decision on what kind of game maker you want to be. Do you want to be an artist? programmer? level editor? writer? Decide what you want to do when it comes to making video games, and start ASAP. If you want to be an artist, start getting good at various disciplines that transfer to video games. See if you can snag a copy of any Autodesk product. Maybe your school has a license for them. Programmer? Start learning to compile code ASAP. 14 is a great time to start in on learning code. Level editor? Start modding current games to add to a portfolio. Some people get hired by being good modders. So on and so forth. Don't start when your in college, start now, and by the time you need college, you may be a few steps closer to an industry job. You do not *need* college to become a video game developer. College essentially certifies you as having the core skills, but the core skills don't have to come by way of college....It just provides a focus for your skills. If you really want to get good, snag a copy of the Unreal Development Kit, Torque Gaming Engine, or Unity. Learning to use any of those 3 engines would be a HUGE plus. Heck, by the time your 18, you may know enough about Unreal or an engine to get hired off the bat. |
While I agree with you here, I wouldn't get his hopes up.
You can start learning any of those engines now and be more proficient than other people, but you have to have something to make yourself stand out.
The only way you're going to do that without any college experience of any kind is to make something absolutely amazing that gets noticed in whatever major community you're a part of. I know everyone thinks they have the next awesome idea, but you probably don't. If that were the case, there would be so many awesome indie games floating about the Xbox arcade and so many incredible mods everyone has heard of for Unreal. No offense to the OP, just the chances of you being the one with the breakout hit is slim (though of course you should try).
Even if you go to a normal college, you still have to get noticed. I only recomend a gaming degree after college because they at least give you the connections you need because if you just show up at GDC after graduating a traditional college, you aren't likely to get noticed.
For things like art and programming, it's not so hard to see how good someone is or isn't, for design it's *much* harder and there's *a lot* of competition. You have to do everything within your power to show yourself off the best and get the most connections because there are a crapload of people in the same exact position as you who think they're just as awesome.
Going the conservative route I woudl say without a doubt start now dabbling in whatever editor you choose (assuming you want to do design) and just make stuff for the next four years. If you make something awesome, great, otherwise, this is great time to just practice and learn. When you decide to take whatever you want in college, start making your portfolio. By the time you graduate you've been working on your portfolio another four years and it will rock.
During that time and after graduating it definately can't hurt looking for a job, but if you don't find one, then think about attending one of the game schools (and a good one, not Devry or any school you see a commercial for). That school should hone your skills and get you connections so that by the time you graduate, you should be able to find a job.
People getting promoted from QA, having a friend, and being plucked from the modding community use to be the ways to break in but as more and more experienced people are trying to break in those methods are becoming harder and harder.
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