- This topic has 17 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 5 months ago by
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Firstly sorry if this is in the wrong thread.
To the point. I’m a Transisition Year student aiming for a carrer in game development. I was looking for information from those already studying a course or working in a job based on/around games development.
If anyone would be willing to give a small bit if their time, I’d appeciate it very much!
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hey zeouterlimits, welcome aboard. first thing i would do is research a little bit about game development, see what processes is actually involved in creating computer games. you will be pretty suprised at the amount of work that actually goes into making any game project.
secondly, i would search all the colleges/university’s in ireland that at the moment ofer game design courses, their entry requirments. i also did transition year about 3/4 years ago, really good year. i did my first 3rd level education course last year in the north west institute of further and higher education in derry, and then during the summer i was in a team in a competition called dare to be digital over in scotland, were you got paid to make your game concept, check it out http://www.daretobedigital.com. thats a slight bit of info, bit if you want anymore information i would be more than happy to help you out, pm or e-mail me.
richard
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Hey,
There has been many threads covering this topic on these boards, might be an idea ( if you have the time ) to try trawl through them.What would you’re ideal route into games dev be, coding, art, design, management ?
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Very sorry omen, things so crazy atm, will do that.
Coding definetly. Am hoping to work shadow at Havok in the new year for a week if they’ll have me. -
There is talk of a new Masters in Video-game programming starting in 2006 at Trinity College but thats a little far off for you. I don’t know of any Degree in computer games but its only a matter of time.
Programming seems to be where the most jobs are so it would be a good idea to get your head around c++. Also have a look at OpenGL to get an idea of how to display graphics. Get your hands on a copy of 3D studio max or Maya and learn how to make models and how to texture them. This is pretty advanced stuff so don’t get discouraged.
There is lots of help on the web, just spend a little while on google. If you are new to all this it would be best not to start trying to make a game, there is a huge amount of work involved.
If you want to get a game together as fast as possible get your hands on a copy of macromedia Flash and try to come up with something simple like pong. You will have to learn Action Script which is like Java Script but it would be a good way of getting into programming.
This isn’t a great country for video-games companies but if you are thinking about work experience try Upstart.
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Right first up, do you have any experience with coding? If not, ignore all thoughts of game coding for a while. Learn the basics. In my opinion Java is easiest to learn ( and what you need if you want to go into mobile phone games ). C++ will be what you need if you want to go with PC / console, but the jump from Java to C++ isn’t severe and being able to use several languages will help your learning over time. Sun’s website have good coding introduction using java ( java.sun.com ) and there are many other good websites and books that you can easily find, I’m pretty sure there’s a thread here somewhere with a good list of them. Try do some simple things at first, simple ideas like hangman and even non-game ideas ( the learning is more important! ). When you’re comfortable with coding, advance to the graphics, java3d for java, directx / opengl for c++ ( i’d advise directx, its what everyone uses ). Good luck and come back for more advice if you need it.
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Sorry to bump this topic, just really wanted to say thanks to every1 who replied, ye were great.
I did great in guidance and am getting the hang of java. Tis a pain but hopefully will pay off -
good going.
ive got a strange feeling that java may be used soon by tools programmers to develop their apps coz it makes sense. its good for developing good gui’s (clean and maintainable ones, unlike visual c++), nice features also for handling files etc, something which is essential for tools programming.
So maybe by the time you’ve mastered java the industry might add this to the list of things a tools programmer should know and you’ll have a leg up..
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Hey,
Keep an eye out for UCC. I know they are definitely offering a games degree or masters next year. Well that was the (insider) news last week anyway.
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Hey,
Keep an eye out for UCC. I know they are definitely offering a games degree or masters next year. Well that was the (insider) news last week anyway.[/quote:052f16b860]
ill believe it when i see it. that was the insider word last year when i was there but it was put off because there wasent any money and anyone internally who could teach it to the level which would be required for it not to be a cash in course to attract student (aka money).
really hope it gets going next year, but i guess we’ll have to wait and see.
definately wont be a games degree i would say will have to be a masters. otherwise the cs dept would have to run 2 cs related courses and i couldnt see that happening. would need a whole load more staff. to run a msc you probably only need 2-3 people who know about games courses and they can teach and train the rest.
Also if they do a games course i would recommend that it contains the minimum amount of java and focuses more on c and asm. coz java isnt likely to become the weapon of choice for an actual game, only tools to asset the production of one.
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Hey, I’m studying games design in Ballyfermot so feel free to pm me with any questions you have. But as for degrees I believe there’s a degree in games programming in carlow… seems like thats what you’d be aiming for.
Also waterford are adding a 3rd & 4th year games stream to their computers degree, and Trinity are indeed looking into a games masters for 2006/07
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There was a lot of hustle and bustle around the cs department. Word of a 2.5 million euro investment and 10 jobs at stake so maybe, just maybe this time it is going to go ahead.
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ve got a strange feeling that java may be used soon by tools programmers to develop their apps coz it makes sense. its good for developing good gui’s (clean and maintainable ones, unlike visual c++), nice features also for handling files etc, something which is essential for tools programming. [/quote:9022d588ce]
Nah, C# is the future for tools. Basically the same code as C++ so close to game code and with the gui creational power of java ( if not more ).
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There was a lot of hustle and bustle around the cs department. Word of a 2.5 million euro investment and 10 jobs at stake so maybe, just maybe this time it is going to go ahead.[/quote:77fcc480bc]
believe when i see it. there was suppose to be a much bigger investment a while back to build the cs dept’s new building. Didnt amount to anything last time. Hence the dog track is still a bloody marsh last time i looked when i was back for jazz weekend.As for 10 jobs at stake, sounds bollox. They’ve all got tenure so their all safe for now..
Have you ever heard of someone getting axed from a college department? Generally its hard enough to axe someone when theres just cause several stories jump to mind, which i wouldnt go into ..
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ve got a strange feeling that java may be used soon by tools programmers to develop their apps coz it makes sense. its good for developing good gui’s (clean and maintainable ones, unlike visual c++), nice features also for handling files etc, something which is essential for tools programming. [/quote:e58e62584a]
Nah, C# is the future for tools. Basically the same code as C++ so close to game code and with the gui creational power of java ( if not more ).[/quote:e58e62584a]
possibly, but if you read this months develop their talking to a dude from climax about what he wants in a programmer and he mentions java for tools.
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peter_b you must have definitely been involved with the multimedia dept. in UCC somehow. Your scepticism is top notch ( I tend to agree with it by the way.). As far as I know it was 10 new jobs. Lecturers get replcaed when they die and only then. We’ll see next year (Hopefully from Aberaty :D ).
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I did a lot of java while in uni and was looking at c# a couple of week ago. C# seemed to be more powerful.
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peter_b you must have definitely been involved with the multimedia dept. in UCC somehow. Your scepticism is top notch ( I tend to agree with it by the way.). As far as I know it was 10 new jobs. Lecturers get replcaed when they die and only then. We’ll see next year (Hopefully from Aberaty :D ).[/quote:f9f31a4bf6]
no i wasent involved with the multimedia department i was part of 4C the constraints and AI group. As for being a sceptic, im just very familar with the running of the dept. As for the 2million quid, dunno where that leaked from because ive been talking to a few in the dept today and they’d really like to see that sort of money but they havent heard anything bout it :)
As for getting abertay lecturers, i think their struggling themselves. Theres been an ad for a lecturer for abertay on gamesindustry.biz since january. not sure if its filled though, but i wouldnt be surprised if it wasent, coz the money was poor for a lecturing position.. so maybe if u.c.c offered similar salaries to the current salarys the lecturers in u.c.c are on they might get a few indeed.
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