Post by The Mad Plumber on Jul 6, 2009 15:04:46 GMT -5
I must admit that I have great enthusiasms for video games and programming. So, I felt I should set up a thread for the discussion of game development and game programming. Users can discuss topics such as college courses, independent games, useful software, and their own personal ideas. Later on, I think I'm going to renew my subscription to Game Developer Magazine and I'll share my thoughts on interesting articles I come across. Plus, this board might finally get some use out of the CODE tags.
Hmm, no indents. I guess the CODE tags don't work quite as well as I hoped. Oh, well.
I wanted to open this topic up with my perception of how the video game market has become very decentralized. The ability to produce a video game, good or bad, no longer seems to be the exclusive privilege of major publishers and now almost anybody with enough money for a high-power computer and a compiler can develop games. The WiiWare section of the Wii Shop Channel and the Flash gaming site Kongregate serve as examples of this situation.
I find it somewhat ironic. Many years ago when I was working at Target, a fellow schoolmate told me he was going to take art classes so that he could do art for video games. I gave him a funny look, with a thought of, "Boy, I guess you don't want to eat anymore." And yet, I go to college to learn a practical science and get an Associates, but I can't even get a job in the profession I trained for. I wonder: had I known that the video game production would no longer be exclusive to Japan, would I have gone a different path?
That is also what is dismaying about my desire to try to get in on the ground floor of this industry. I almost seem to be fed this perception that, in order to be considered for a job in the video game industry, you need to have been a graduate at a dedicated school such as Digipen. How much time and money do these people think I have to throw away on a longshot?
Ultimately, I don't put stock into the idea that graduating from Digipen secures you a job in the video game industry, especially since my degree in accounting hasn't landed me a single job related to accounting. I believe it all boils down to experience and having a body of work to show off.
class TheMadPlumber
{
private:
char *name;
bool isEvil;
public:
TheMadPlumber() {isEvil = TRUE;}
~TheMadPlumber() {delete name;}
}
Hmm, no indents. I guess the CODE tags don't work quite as well as I hoped. Oh, well.
I wanted to open this topic up with my perception of how the video game market has become very decentralized. The ability to produce a video game, good or bad, no longer seems to be the exclusive privilege of major publishers and now almost anybody with enough money for a high-power computer and a compiler can develop games. The WiiWare section of the Wii Shop Channel and the Flash gaming site Kongregate serve as examples of this situation.
I find it somewhat ironic. Many years ago when I was working at Target, a fellow schoolmate told me he was going to take art classes so that he could do art for video games. I gave him a funny look, with a thought of, "Boy, I guess you don't want to eat anymore." And yet, I go to college to learn a practical science and get an Associates, but I can't even get a job in the profession I trained for. I wonder: had I known that the video game production would no longer be exclusive to Japan, would I have gone a different path?
That is also what is dismaying about my desire to try to get in on the ground floor of this industry. I almost seem to be fed this perception that, in order to be considered for a job in the video game industry, you need to have been a graduate at a dedicated school such as Digipen. How much time and money do these people think I have to throw away on a longshot?
Ultimately, I don't put stock into the idea that graduating from Digipen secures you a job in the video game industry, especially since my degree in accounting hasn't landed me a single job related to accounting. I believe it all boils down to experience and having a body of work to show off.