Is my engineering course suitable for the games industry?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone! Only found this site today, it’s been full of useful information so far, but it just leaves one question rattling around in my head.

I’ve been studying Computer and Electronic Engineering in GMIT for 3 years and I will be doing a 2 year add-on for a level 8 degree and 6 months work placement. I love the course, I’ve never had much trouble with the subjects and it seems to suit me down to the ground!

As far as a future career goes, I’ve always had an interest in the games industry, so naturally, I would love to be a part of that. But my concern is that my course doesn’t provide sufficient education for a Game Development career.

After the 2 year add-on course is finished, I should be fully educated in:
– C/C++ Programming Language (Already complete)
– Java Language (Years 4 and 5)
– Maths, calculus, Fourier series, 3D Vectors
– UI Design
– Hardware Design

That’s everything I think is relevant for a GD career. Does anyone know if this will be sufficient?

For the work placement, I am planning on getting an internship with a games company, but I wouldn’t want to walk in and be completely unfamiliar with the work…

Thanks for looking!

[Anonymous]

Hi FunkeeFresh,

The game development industry is a massive animal, and as such there are myriad choices as respects career paths. Basically, or at least in my mind, these can be broken down into three major categories: Art, Design, & Programming. These are very broad, generic categorisations. But it’s a good way of looking at it as a student.

With the training you just described, you could definitely consider a career in games programming. To that end, the fact that you’ve studied advanced mathematics is a big plus. Physics simulation is a mathematical art form, and hugely significant in modern game development. My advice to you is to do some research on OpenGL and/or DirectX. These are the major graphics languages in use today. Maybe experiment with some game engines to get a sense of the art pipelines used by today’s artists and designers; I’d recommend Unity 3D and UDK, both of which can be downloaded freely.

Hope you find that useful :)
Richard

[Aphra K]

take a look at some of the stuff on the Skillset website on careers – they are a professional body in the UK

see http://www.skillset.org/games/

and maybe think of getting involved in an Irish team for Dare to be Digital next year.. you would still qualify.

See http://daretobedigital.com/

Aphra

[Anonymous]

Excellent resources, thanks!!

Just starting using unity 3d! Really helps to show the process of environment design and changing the environment through programming. I think I’ll be wasting a few hours playing with this :P

The Dare to be Digital competition sounds excellent. I would love to take part but it crosses over with my work placement for next year, so i’ll have to look it up in 2012.

Really looking forward to developing this into a career! I’ll definitely be taking a new perspective on my course in september!

[Author]

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