Design a board game. One like Race for the Galaxy, Imperial or Caylus, for instance. Most of the effort and skill that goes into creating one of these can be readily applied back to video game design, but the development proper can be much easier (all you need is some paper, some pens, and perhaps proxies which you can get from any other game board) so you get faster results and you can playtest more.

Xa wrote:
>Do I . . . Start teaching myself c++ or 3d modeling or flash or java or what?

Sure, why not, if you want to be a game programmer. If your plan for breaking into the industry is via programming, you should have a Computer Science degree. But you say you're 23, the age at which people have usually graduated college/uni. Do you already have a degree, and if so, what subject was your major?

Xan wrote:

>I would like to eventually be a Lead game designer.

Okay, then before that you'll have to be a game designer. What's your breaking-in plan, since game designer isn't an entry level job?

>I can dream up a game, write it, know the art direction I want, ... and I am definitely a great leader. Although i am terrible with drawing on paper, i can put my imagination to work better on a computer.
>I understand how games work,

All you have to do, then, is prove those things. You can't just say it. You have to show it.

>I guess i just need to learn the code,

You "guess" you need to learn how to program? That's not a good way to plan your life. Stop guessing. If you plan to break into the game industry as a programmer, then you'll need to be a darned good one. And if you haven't learned anything about programming yet at age 23, you're unlikely to become one. If you had a passion for programming, you would have already gotten into programming on your own.

>which i will learn when i attend Digipen.
>Would it be a good idea to teach myself basic programming before i go, or work on other things in the meantime?

You have to know basic programming before jumping into the deep end, but teaching it to yourself is not what I would recommend. Take night school, learn it.

>I've made custom pen and paper RPG's when I was in junior high.

That'll look good in your portfolio.

>Which would be the best path to travel right now?

I asked you before if you'd been to college yet. Since you ignored that question, I'm assuming you haven't. You're not too old. I recommend majoring in any subject that you're passionate about, and take the classes I listed in FAQ 3 on my site. I also recommend you do the stuff outlined in FAQ 12, "Things You Can Do At Home." I recommend you think carefully about what your break-in pathway should be, based on your passions and talents. And read FAQs 7, 14, 20, 34, 44, and 69 - at least.
My FAQs are at http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html

One really important thing is that you be VERY strong in mathematics. You will need to learn vector calculus at Digipen, and you will need it a lot. Last year at Digipen just over 50% of the freshman class dropped out before the end of the fall semester, and most of them did so because they were not strong enough in mathematics. This isn't to scare you, but it is just important to know that a hell of a lot of game design is math. You don't need to already be an expert in mathematics or have taken a lot of math courses, but you need to be good at math in general.

Quote:Original post by XandX2005
I would like to eventually be a Lead game designer. I can dream up a game, write it, know the art direction I want, the mood the game will have, and I am definitely a great leader. Although i am terrible with drawing on paper, i can put my imagination to work better on a computer.

I don't intend to sound mean or anything, but this is not a job to shoot for. Everyone has ideas for games. Literally EVERYONE has a thousand great game ideas, each one with the potential to be a masterpiece. However, that is the easiest part of game development. Being a game developer is about learning a strategy for the dev cycle and being an very skilled programmer. Digipen can teach you about both of these things but you need to keep in mind that to make games you have to not only love games, but also love the technical aspects. The closest thing to the job you want is a game programmer, which is loads of fun.

Until then, it would do you some good to learn a programming language and make some simple 2D games to learn about some simple game design stuff and vectors. I highly recommend using C++, as this is the industry standard and it will be what you use most at Digipen. When starting out it is usually best to build a game that relies entirely on bit-blitting instead of any API, but that's just me.

I may be starting there next year as well, although I haven't yet decided between Digipen, Rochester Tech, and Rose-Hulman Tech.

Xa wrote:
>I understand that I am coming into the game pretty late.

No, I just said that if you're only now hitting on the idea of becoming a game programmer, and you haven't already been programming, I think you could be fooling yourself about what you ought to be going for. It's rare that a passion makes itself known to an individual out of the blue. Are you sure programming is the proper and best break-in plan for you? I recommend you take some personality/aptitude tests, find out which game job is most in line with your test results.

>As for a plan, here is what I have so far:
>Before Digipen:
>-Take classes at the Comm. College here for Math, Digital Design, intro to prog.
>-Work on building my portfolio with design concepts, art, and maybe a simple game.
>-Work with 'Hammer' and start creating maps for source games.
>At digipen:
>-Work on taking my game ideas and putting them onto paper.
>-Take any extra time to learn advanced aspects of programming and design.
>Tell me what you think Tom.

I think you won't have any extra time while you're in that school. I assume it's as tough a program as what I've heard about Full Sail. I think the first bullet under "At digipen" should be moved up to "Before Digipen."