I started playing on computers when I was about 6 or 7. I took apart my first PC when I was about 10 or 11, of course I had to have my dad put it back together. I completely built my first computer on my own when I was about 14, read through an entire book on PC and Upgrade Maintenance that summer. I was heavily into the hardware aspect at that point, though I loved PC games and still do. Got into the BIOS and messed around, which was when I jumped into the software aspect. Took some programming classes in high school that ended up being a joke and decided to learn on my own.

I started with basic and quickly moved to Visual Basic when I was 15. Went from there and decided to jump to C at 16, which was a dramatic change and one I probably wasn't ready for at the time. At 17, I lost track of programming. It wasn't until I was about 19 or so until I got back into programming again. Took a year and a half worth of Visual Basic (5.0 at the time) in college, made many useful applications but quickly outgrew it, too many restrictions with using VB in my opinion. Went from there to C++ and Assembly. Took those classes till about 22. At 25 now and I have a job in the networking field, do mostly hardware stuff and haven't had too much time with programming. Though I do tons and tons of scripting with Neverwinter Nights (an online game) which is a C++ based scripting engine (without classes) and has gotten me back into coding big time, probably more into it now than ever. I have been rereading some of my old books and got some new ones recently and I must say that I concur with everyone here when they say the older you get the more structure you understand.

I think one of the main advantages I had starting computers early was I was getting into PCs before they were really mainstream and PCs in the household weren't as common back in 85, and I was able to see all the changes that occurred in the industry. I learned the hardware early and built up so I had a good foundation and understanding of how the computer worked.

At any rate, all this rambling and reminiscing was just basically to point out it's never too late to start and I would say that 18 is probably the best age to start.


"Appeasement only makes the aggressor more aggressive."

[edited by - Erazmus on January 19, 2004 1:20:40 PM]

quote:Original post by O_O123
Yes I know another age topic O_O sorry

I''m 18 and just wondering if 18 is too old to be starting game development. I know some guys 13-15 talking about things I don''t even have a clue O_O And making awesome games and stuff.

Anyway I''m in my first year of college taking up computer programming. I''m learning VB6 and Java at school and probably deal with that C++ thing whenever I''m ready O_O.



[edited by - O_O123 on January 17, 2004 2:34:48 PM]

I sure hope it''s not, ''cause i am going on my 29 years of age and just starting to learn how to make videogames.(I have been a business software programmer for 3 years now)

Be glad to be only 18, as i''m glad to be only 28

The true Don juan is the one that seduce the same woman night after night.

O_O123-

No it isn''t too late! You can start programming games at whatever age you like, I had a guy at my old job who was 62 years old and borrowed all my MCP books to learn how to program VB.

Don''t be discouraged by people younger than you who seem to be so much further ahead than you are. There are a lot of people who started learning to program games older than you and have been very successful.

I was in the same situation as you are a couple of years ago. At 18 I could code dodgy programs in VB but didn''t know anything about game programming. I started to learn how to program games at 20, I''m now 21 and have a job in the games industry. As long as you are willing to put in the time and effort you are at the perfect age to start!

Good Luck

Doolwind

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Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.
Matthew 6:27