About a week ago I became really ambitious and decided I wanted to chase after my childhood dream of creating video games. Like all of you here, I felt like this was fate that I end up at this point. See, I'm a telecommunications major who is starting to have doubts about the direction my career is going. I'm approaching this as my last shot at doing something I REALLY want to do. Within the last week I have assembled a team of six people to start some sort of project. The project will be small and will hopefully give us some amount of experience. Everyone is from a different background, so we are a very diverse group. Thus far I've been deemed project manager, thats right the guy who is suppose to organize everything and make sure things don't fall apart. So whats the problem? I want to become a well-rounded worker who knows how to do a little of everything regarding this project. However, I have no programming experience what so ever. It also hurts that I have an extremely hard time taking ideas and putting them on paper (I can't draw). It sucks having a lot of ambition and desire but no skills. Over the last few days I have done a lot of research over various topics. Unfortunately, it seems all I have done is flood my mind with concepts and ideas that are beyond my knowledge at this point (I'm finding out real fast that I don't know s***). You know, trying to walking before I can crawl. I've donwloaded and installed/unistalled countless amounts of software that I probably don't need. I was just wondering if anyone here as gone through this. I'm really starting to get fustrated with this entire situation. Also any advice is welcome

I downloaded a few C++ compilers (Microsoft Visual C++ 2003) and I've been toying with the Crystal Space 3D engine. I've also been toying with Darkbasic.

As you can see, walking before I can crawl.

I agree with Oberon_Command, it sounds like it would probably be a good idea for you to learn at least the basics of programming, using a language such as Python. This will not only give you a better idea of what the programmers on your team need to do, but it'll also make you better able to communicate with them, as you should learn a lot of the terms involved in the process.

While being able to draw can be very helpful to let you get ideas across, it certainly isn't neccesary; as already mentioned, you can just as easily describe what you want in detail using words, and let the artists work from there.


You probably aren't actually ready to lead a team until you actually take the time to learn a bit more and get comfortable with that knowledge. Good luck with it. [smile]

Quote:Original post by Kazgoroth
You probably aren't actually ready to lead a team until you actually take the time to learn a bit more and get comfortable with that knowledge. Good luck with it. [smile]

This is the exact reason I've gone into panic mode over the last few days.

Finish your degree. [or continue with your career; your post wasn't so clear in what your status was]

Despite all appearances to the contrary, there's plenty of time to change your mind. And there's plenty of free time to persue game development as a satisfying hobby. Then if you find you're actually exceptional at the hobbyist gamedev, you can make the jump with far better knowledge about where you'll land. The stability of a more traditional career and/or degree only makes it easier to persue your dreams.

Supposing that there are some programmers on the team, then it shouldnt be too difficult. You tell them what they should do, they will tell you if its possible, eventually a compromise will be reached.

You tell the artists what art you want them to create, they will tell you if its possible, eventually a compromise will be reached.

Ensure there is periodic converstation between the two groups (programmers/artists), that things are going on schedule. If you are falling behind, then you might want to scale back the project, cut away things that were considered optional.