New Here
by Corey Greenhawk · in General Discussion · 04/28/2004 (3:35 pm) · 2 replies
Hi. I'm new here, I read about this site in an issue of Game Informer. I have signed up here looking for guidance. My goal is to become a Game Designer/Programmer. The only experience I have really is working with Editors for games such as Morrowind and BF: Vietnam (Morrowind moreso than BF). I am taking a special Engineering course in my High School. I'm in the 10th grade, and our class is the first to try out the new "Project Lead The Way" course at our high school. Its a lot of fun. My Guidance Counsler helps me find intresting things that might help me on my career path. One such thing being a Gaming Camp called "Camp/Game" Its in New York, at NYU, and its a mini-programming course that takes up about a month of the summer. I am very intrested in going, although I have to wait til next year to qualify. Anyhow, I was hoping maybe some of you could point me in the direction of some good beginner books or maybe even some free design tools not restricted by the game they follow. Thanks for your help!
Torque 3D Owner Jay Barnson
I was kinda dual-tracking for a while in my former life as both a game designer AND programmer. I tended towards programming because... well, mainly because there was more money in it. Designers at most studios are pretty much the bottom of the totem pole. Maybe above testers, depending on the studio / publisher.
I'm not sure about beginner books anymore. I think a new edition of "Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus" just came out, and I have been pretty impressed with the breadth of material contained in "Multiplayer Game Programming." There are a few books on the shelves with titles like "Teach Yourself Game Programming in 21 Days" and so forth. No CLUE how good they are.
The best starting point on the web for learning game development is probably www.gamedev.net. From there, you can find lots of links, articles, and forums.
For articles on game design (and lots of advanced articles on programming, art, sound, management, etc) you should take a look at www.gamasutra.com
Good luck!