Quote:Original post by gsamour
First off, I agree with the previous posts... if you want to make a career out of game development, then you'll need to specialize. If you want to know a little of everything, that's okay, but in this economy, if you want a job, then you'll need to be good at one thing. That one thing can be level design, programming, art, game design, project management, etc. Do you have experience in any of those areas?

Moving on to your original question, I've purchased a couple of courses at GameInstitute. They have programming courses most of all, and a few 3DS Max courses for artists. Do you have programming experience or art experience? If you're getting started with programming and want to learn by doing game programming, I don't recommend GameInstitute (not yet anyways). If you're really interested in programming, then write some code on your own or follow free online tutorials. Next step: make a game. Start with something simple like tic tac toe if you want. Just make sure you finish what you started. Then keep going with asteroids or other games with more rules.

I can't talk about GameInstitute's 3ds max courses because I haven't taken them, but I would also suggest downloading free 3d modeling software and trying it out beforehand to see if it's something you're interested in. It's nice that you've done research, but you also need to know if you're passionate about making games. That's why I suggest trying out with free tools before spending any money on it.

Like frob said, Level Design is a difficult area to get into. GameInstitute doesn't offer level design courses AFAIK, but there are many tools to practice level design. You can try making mods for games like Unreal or Half-Life 2. You can try tools like Unity or Torque. Also, this sounds obvious, but tailor your portfolio to the company and job you want. If you want to work in 3D level design, make good 3d levels. If you want to work in 2D level design, make 2D levels.

Hope I've helped...

EDIT: my personal experience with GameInstitute was good for the most part. I think their courses are good, but you need to be ready for them. The first course I took was way over my head at the time. The next one I did better. So if you want to purchase courses, go over the table of contents for their books and other materials, and research the topics to see if you're at that level.

Thanks for the info. Your suggestions sound like a good starting point. My strengths probably lie more on the technical side then the artistic side. However, I'm williing to try just about anything, if it will help me get where I want to be. I know there are many programming tutorials out there. Do you know of some good ones to look at? Any free programs like 3DS? I have done some modding. That's how I got interested in level design. But as you mentioned, it is unlikely I would be hired for that. Learning to program could be a way in the door. I would also need to build a strong portfolio, but it is at least a starting point.