I've tried before, but I found it kind of tedious and boring. Not necessarily hard, but just generally dull. I'm more on the creative side, and I love to write - I'm using to working my fingers on the keyboard for extended periods of time; I've done some coding in HTML, C++ and GML. I very familiar with how programming works. Now, as an aspiring game designer, I've come to realize that I need a secondary skill, something concrete a team could use. More importantly, something I can use to make a career as a game designer. I was thinking of going into level design. So, is it worth it? How long does it take to learn enough coding to be able to independantly program well? The thing is, I don't think that the actual programming is dull. It's fun to set things up logically, to see the end results and to work with the code, but learning all those things... can be awfully tedious. I suppose it's like maths. Takes a good while. I'm going to research some more about what different kinds of coding you can do and stuff, but the general question would be... should I give programming a second chance? Not necessarily C++ but you know, programming. Help me out a little here ^^ Thanks!

If you find programming dull and boring, then don't do it. You will never be a "good" programmer. There are many other ways to be a valuable member without being able to code. The last thing you want on your team is a member that is not enthused about what they are doing.

theTroll

Yeah, if you find learning about programming tedious then look for something else to be your secondary skill. If you're more artistic, why not look into 3D modelling(especially if you're interested in level design), or concept art (if your pencil and paper skills are better than your computer skills), or even audio creation.

Learning programming to the point where you'll be useful to a team (as opposed to just pretending you know what you're talking about) will take years. While the above skills can also take that amount of time to learn, if you're more naturally gifted in that area it will probably expediate the learning process when you're not finding it tedious to have to learn.

You do make a point. I had expected 1-2 years as a minimum before being able to put the skills to use. The thing is, I have everything I need to start learning C++ I have the program and I have a few books about it. I am pretty sure I have an affinity for coding and maths... it sort of runs in the family.

It's a bit of a dilemma; I remember using GML to program stuff for a game I attempted but when I got stuck for 50+ hours on a simple code, and I couldn't find the correct piece of code to make it work, I sort of got put off. That's part I don't like. The part where you find yourself lacking knowledge to do simple thing.

I was going to ask about tips about how to go on about becoming a Level Designer (such as requesting any tools required), but where do I ask that?