- This topic has 33 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 11 months ago by
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Hey all,
Just looking for someone whos done the LUDO course the past few years.
Looking for a heads up on the stuff covered on the course, Specifically I know that theres a game development class where you use different kinds of game engines anyway. I’m just curious if anyone can tell me a bit more about it. What kind of stuff do they use, I imagined it was something like game maker and the unreal level editor or something like that.
Any help would be cool
Thanks
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I didn’t do the course, but I just wanted to say that there you can learn tonnes of stuff about UE3 and 3D Packages before you start the course. I wish I had to the time to delve fully into UE3, at the moment I’m quite busy.
I’d imagine they would use UE3 which comes with Unreal Tournament 3. There are ASE exporters for Maya and 3DSMax (I think Max is better supported)
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I’ve played around a bit with UE3 level editor, its fairly easy to get the hang of for basic things like empty rooms and the scale of things.
Started with 3D Max a few months back and slowly getting my head around that.
Really interested to see the more advanced things, but I guess you have to learn the basics before moving on :P
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With the collectors edition of UT3, there is a DVD full of video tutorials. I think they are actually now freely available somewhere on 3DBuzz.
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I didnt know of that site 3DBuzz till you said it, looks like a really helpful site
Thanks :D
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I did ludo back in the day.
You’ll cover 3ds max for 3d modeling, photoshop for asset creation, audio development, communications, games design theory among other classes. Not sure what engine they are using these days, we were using a real stinker back in the day.
If you are looking for an introuction to games design I recommend it. Hey it help me get my job!
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Not sure what engine they are using these days, we were using a real stinker back in the day.
[/quote:5374a8727f]I was talking to a guy that did it about 5-6 years ago(not sure exactly when) and he told me that they used game maker while he was there
I hope they’ve changed since lol
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I love playin ludo, me and gran used to play it all the time.
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I was talking to a guy that did it about 5-6 years ago(not sure exactly when) and he told me that they used game maker while he was there
I hope they’ve changed since lol[/quote:a6b8d8da2a]
Was talking to one of the lecturers today, back when I was there we were using the Qube engine. In fairness this was in the days when inexpensive usefriendly engines were like unicorns or honest politicians.
Using game maker or fps creator isn’t a terrible idea. Ludo is a 1 year introduction, as such it’s primarily concerned with getting students aquainted with how to get assets into a developmet environment and get something working.
For me anyway Ludo demystified the process of making a game and got me away from thinking along the lines "I want to make epic RPG games set in space with a million planets you can walk around on" and actually engaging with fundamental design rather than "just fight aliens and explore" style ideas.
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The reason why I was asking is, I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge when it comes to Game Maker, wanted to see if they had changed since the guy I was talking to did it a long time ago.
I’ll take a look at that qube engine tho, thanks
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Actually I think they stopped using Qube a year or so after I left.
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They really should be using an industry standard engine.
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Unreal at the very least
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I can only hope they use unreal. I’ve played around with it a bit and looks like it could be fun to use.
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I did it almost 3 years ago now.
It’s a pretty good introduction to all things game design.
It’s very heavy on 3Ds max too, get some great knowledge in that class.
Other classes can be very hit and miss i’m afraid. Involve very basic C programming andother classes like personal development since it’s FETAC.
We mainly used FPS creator in Sergio’s class, that was great. He also has great knowledge of the games industry so his classes are always interesting. Assuming he’s still there that is!
If you have good programming skills and a computer science course behind you, I’d recommend the CGH course too.
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Thats awesome, just checked the fpscreator site there and it looks like it could be a lot of fun.
Is the CGH course more programming orientated?
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No CGHND is a more advanced design course. You can’t really wrap your head a round games design in a 1 year introduction course, no matter how good it is. It’s just too vast.
CGHND builds on the principles of LUDO but turns them all the way up to 11. There is a programing module but don’t expect it to make you a programer, that would be a course in it’s own right. -
Anyone got a link to the course page, or the curriculum, or samples of student projects?
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No CGHND is a more advanced design course. You can’t really wrap your head a round games design in a 1 year introduction course, no matter how good it is. It’s just too vast.
CGHND builds on the principles of LUDO but turns them all the way up to 11. There is a programing module but don’t expect it to make you a programer, that would be a course in it’s own right.[/quote:799b8191c9]Ah ok cool. The CGHND is 2 years though, do they start at the same level as LUDO and then onto "11" in the second year or is it straight away from the get go?
I haven’t really decided yet what I plan to do, I’ve been teaching myself C++ for the past few weeks because I noticed that the award you get for LUDO is CITXX which has higher links into computer science (plus I want to start programming games in C++ some time by the end of the year hopefully)
I’m not really worrying about it, I still have to start and finish ludo but it’s always in the back of my head on where to go next
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You don’t need to have taken the LUDO course to take CGHND. And has been mentioned before, if you’re looking at becoming a programmer then neither course is really for you.
Have you looked at studying for a degree in compsi or comp apps?
What stage are you at in your education? Leaving cert? post-secondary?
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Yeah I’ve looked at doing computer science alright.
I have an overall interest in the design aspects of making games, I’m learning C++ more so as a hobby more than anything else really.
Once finishing LUDO I’ll either end up applying for computer science in DIT or the games developement degree in dundalk.
Nothings written in stone yet so a lot could change in a year.
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personally, id scrap the LUDO idea IF you plan on doing a games course/computer science course afterwards…i didnt do the LUDO course but it is really too short…
do a degree if you want to give yourself the best chance of employment afterwards…
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I didn’t do so well on the leaving cert so I’m using LUDO as an access course because of its CITXX fetac award. Plus it will get me back into education, I’ve been out of school for 5 years so I need to get my head in the game again.
I’ll definitely be moving on to a degree course once this is finished.
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If you’re 5 years out of school I’m guessing you are between 21 and 23 years of age. In which case you qulaify as a mature student and may be able to start a degree without the need for the FETAC award.
Contact universities that you are interested in and talk to them about mature student applications.
I didn’t return to education properly until I was 24 and I found that I was always anxious to get back to my life.
Doing LUDo and the a degree is a long time to take out of your adult life. Its worth looking at all your options. And do it as soon as possible becuase universities will have application deadlines coming up soon.
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Yeah I’m 23, I don’t qualify as a mature student until next year though unfortunately which is why I’m doing LUDO first.
It will be good to get myself back into a learning mind and also it won’t hurt for when I apply next year as a mature student to a degree course, it shows interest.
It is a long time though you’re right but it has to be done lol
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If you definitely want to go to a degree after LUDO get on the phone to the universities and see if the mature application can be pushed through.
When it comes to mature students many of the rules can be bent.
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hey iv got only about a week left in the LUDO course. the course as a whole is a good starting point for covering the basics. the engine they so is FPS creator which i am sorry to say is very very annoying to use plus it limits you to only be able to make FPS games which i didnt like at all. for the end of year project most of us took it upon ourselves and started using the UNITY program and found it to be very intuitive and really pretty decent. after the teachers noticed the work we were chucking out of unity in a pretty short time they are now going to try and make this the main program for next year..fingers crossed. as for course content you’ll cover basic modeling techniques using 3ds max 2008 (they might upgrade), you’ll use photoshop…..6 :( to make textures , materials and things like dvd covers which is part of the "design" module. a program called reaper for audio. and then you’ll do a module called communications which is more aimed towards letter writing and structured reports which many people dislike but i actually enjoyed it as it gave me a good basis for creating nice design docs and such. Like i said it is a very basic course and in terms of getting a job off the back of LUDO….well that aint gona happen unless your very special. I purchased the cg academy dvds and honestly in a few hours of working with the dvd i had covered pretty much everything i learned this year in ludo in relation to modeling. Programing was for me the most intensive part, it was fun but still it required some work. Its a great course to get your bearings i guess, looking back from the start of the year its very clear to look at people in my class and see how they’ve settled into their own area of interest. some guys are great at coding, others using photoshop and some at max. heres a link to a scene i had to make for the 3d class, it might give you an idea of the stuff you’ll be doing. its not great but hey its my first year :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZx7yznfZk&feature=channel_page
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Who are the lecturers on Ludo these days Steve?
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emmet kilbride does 3d, noel moore does web and programming, sergio does games design and theory, ferga does communications, john hartnett does computer architecture and 2d work and for audio im not sure as i was exempt from it as i had does something similar already.
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emmet kilbride does 3d, noel moore does web and programming, sergio does games design and theory, ferga does communications, john hartnett does computer architecture and 2d work and for audio im not sure as i was exempt from it as i had does something similar already.[/quote:2a88a1d9ee]
Is there a link to their qualifications\experience, I’d like to know a bit about their background.
Thanks!
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i cant seem to find much related to the teachers, honestly it was a bit or a deterrent for me not being able to see the quality of the teachers work. Noel however i felt was the best teacher in the year and had his area of expertise very much up to scratch. like i said with 3d our teacher was good at helping us get our head around the basics of max, but a few hours of self study would pretty much bring you up to speed in terms of what he was teaching us. cant really speak for the other teachers though, they were good i guess except for photoshop, it was just like ok heres the program…..go make stuff. and the teacher would only help us if we ran into problems. we were handed a piece of paper with some shortcuts on it and that was basically our guide……not very good to be honest. one thing i guess that was a kind of benefit to me was the lack of teaching in some areas. It made me take things into my own hands and do my own study and research but i cant say im exactly happy that it had to go to get to that stage.
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Thanks Steve, its a bit disappointing that we cannot see the teachers’ background.
hohum.
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tell me about it, awh well tomorrow is the last day for me so i shall bid them farewell. Roll on huddersfield :)
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