Hello Zac, im 17 years old, i droped out of school. however im a huge geek. im currently developing a morpg town game. Everything i know i tought my self. i started with html, flash, &#106avascripting, css -- build websites and hosted on my own custome built servers, withthat cash i bout better servers, i then got board and whent into php/ mysql, build 5 morpg text based.... after mastering php, i decided it wasent enough,so i went into c#, xna, multi sockets, multi threads, sql 2008, i had to learn to build my own sockets streams, everything ive done was from scratch.

I guess my point is as long as you are moving up, and continue to learn, with or with out school then you cant go rong.. sure stay in school for your deplomas, in my apionon unless you wanting to work for others its a complete wast of valuable time.

Dont let others stop you from what you truly want.
it takes dedication, time, and sacrafice ... i meen that totaly.. lol


my advice to you is.. use google, right now... search diferent types of programing language, forget all that other bullony rpgmaker, vx maker crud.. there a wast of time. personaly i would go with c#, xna for its the most easest language thats true 2D or 3D object orented.

dont get me wrong, its HARD, just google the language you want to learn, find beginner tutorials.. thereevery where for everty kind of language. learn from it.. thats your start. follow my advice, and you will be way better off. ;)


Feal free to pm me for help.

Tho im new to this site, i have no idea how people resond here.. soo..
for those who might critisize me in advanced to this post...lol... dont.. its a wast of your time ;) and ill probably smerk that i was special enough that i got your attention in the first place :P

yes i spell horibley bad, but im one heck of a programer ;)

to finish this post... Zac, you dont need to worry about the direction just yet... first i would atualy learn a language... dont worry about what others tell you.. like your wasting yoru time.. just start with google. find a language you want.. and realy start to learn it.. if your dedicated enough and never give up , you will go far, and just follow your dreams ;)

[Edited by - MadApples on December 19, 2009 12:44:32 PM]

Thanks for the advice madapples, probably the most optimistic and best response I've gotten from this post

P.S: Rpg maker aint that bad, it's good for beginners and can be customised with code, but ultimately very limited.

I was always planning to get the degree, I just liked madapple's optimistic attitude about not letting people keep you down and that working hard always has rewards, and even if you are say " a dropout" through that very philosophy you can still achieve things.

Now I know you guys are just trying to help, and your info really has helped me put things into perspective more, but your messages can sometimes be a bit of a downer(although sugar coating things is worse) and madapples message was just what I needed to get me back into that "I can Achieve mindset", that I've been dropping in and out of. The only thing I can denounce from it is the thing he said about not bothering getting a degree, I mean you should at least try, and I guess him saying that kinda goes against his own philosophy of never giving up.

P.S: Can you guys please check out my post on the writing forum and please comment, I've got one helpful post, but i'd like to see what more people have to say. It's called "Modern Day Fantasy World".

Hey Zac,
I'm a 16 yo student, and I'd just like to briefly tell you my opinion.
First of all (and please don't get me wrong): Don't always listen to others. Yes, people will try to discourage you, but remember, this is NOT about them. It's about YOU, and what YOU think you can do for the gaming industry. What innovative ideas will YOU have? That's what it's about.

Following from this, is that the only obstacle standing in the way of you and your dream job, is... yeah ... YOU! What do YOU like? What's YOUR passion? If you want to become the best in your field, you'll have to LOVE what you're doing! I myself spend like 100% of my free time programming and designing applications and games. Virtually everything I know, I learned myself. It's not something I do knowingly, but this is what happens when you love something :)

So, my final advice: Find out what YOU love. Try different things, take risks. Try things you thought were too difficult, it doesn't matter. Just do something you ENJOY! You'll find that you'll automatically become better and better in the fields you love, and by the time you leave school, you'll be marketable enough to make decent money.

So, how do you start? Browse the internet, watch game dev diaries. I myself am following courses at www.gameinstitute.com. That would be an amazing start for you I think. The people over there are amazing! They would be able to provide you some guidance, but in the end it's up to you, that what's it all about.

Cheers!
Abel.

Hey!

Quote:2. Have I missed something? Has anyone here tried to discourage Zac (he who said "commercialism robs the world")? Or did Zac say someone tried to discourage him?

Haha, no, I didn't mean any people around here at gamedev.net :D you guys rock!! :P lol

I remember someone mentioning this in one of the replies, and I just wanted to say that I totally agree, and that there will be people that'll try to discourage him. I'm just making sure he won't listen to them ;)

Regards,
Abel.