What are my options with game dev?
Author
Hi there, GD community!
I just got my BS in Physics. The usual road for me would be to get into grad school, wich I'm fine with it, but, before I dive into that, I want to get some insights from the Games people!
Straight to the point, I want to ask you people what alternatives, possible paths, I have with game development carrers. A little background of myself: I'm a Physics graduate, self taught CG artist and composer, amateur programmer and, of course, games are my not-so-secret passion! I play, study and analyze them.
BTW, if anyone's curious, I have a online portfolio of my CG works at http://diegofloor.com/ (I've used it to do some freelancer work)
Do you want to do programming or art?
I'll assume art based on your portfolio page...
If you want a job in the industry, start interviewing
Author
Hi, thanks for the comment!
What I want to do is not the big question, but "what CAN I do"? ;)
What I want to do is not the big question, but "what CAN I do"? ;)
Well, you can do whatever you want ;)
First figure out what you *want* to do, so you don't get stuck doing something you don't have great passion for
Then you can worry about what you need to do to get there
You can do what you're good at. Game development respects talent more than nearly anything else. Decide what you're best at and take that route.
With a physics degree you might look into becoming a physics programmer for games.
unfortunately though, physics in games is quite a bit different than physics in the real world.
Games use aproximations and sometimes things that are just flat out wrong, but they "look" ok so they are used instead of a more costly calculation to get it to work the right way.
unfortunately though, physics in games is quite a bit different than physics in the real world.
Games use aproximations and sometimes things that are just flat out wrong, but they "look" ok so they are used instead of a more costly calculation to get it to work the right way.
Quote:Original post by DiegoFloor
What I want to do is not the big question, but "what CAN I do"? ;)
WRONG!!
What you WANT to do is the bigger part of the equation -- what you CAN do, while also a significant part of the equation, is something WE cannot know.
Rather than forego any thinking on your part and just relying on strangers to tell you how to guide your life, you should read about the different jobs in the game industry, and search your innermost soul.
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson7.htm
http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/career_paths.htm
To repeat:
1. Read.
2. Search soul.
Author
"you should read about the different jobs in the game industry"
That is exactly why I'm here! Sorry, I should have been more clear.
I know that what I want to do is the important thing.. but I'm not here to ask people that, I'm here to ask people what kinds of opportunities there are for people with my background.
Thank you for the links, I'm sure I'll find what I want there :)
That is exactly why I'm here! Sorry, I should have been more clear.
I know that what I want to do is the important thing.. but I'm not here to ask people that, I'm here to ask people what kinds of opportunities there are for people with my background.
Thank you for the links, I'm sure I'll find what I want there :)
You don't really have a background tbh. It's good that you got some useful education, but in the game industry surprisingly little of what you learned will be directly useful on the production line. Sure the general headstart is useful, but everyone's expected to have that - it's not something you're bringing to the table.
You should be able to get an entry level programming position just on the basis of finishing a course featuring math or general CS, but you must understand that you'll be writing tools and making the coffees until your supervisors think you can stand on your own two feet. How long that takes of course is down to you.
The key thing here being that any more advanced studies won't make much real difference in games programming, so if you want to break in, start now.
The other option to at least get in off the bottom rung salary is to stay on at college a bit longer, do the minimum coursework to get a passing grade and spend all the rest of your time knocking a seriously kick-ass little game project.
You should be able to get an entry level programming position just on the basis of finishing a course featuring math or general CS, but you must understand that you'll be writing tools and making the coffees until your supervisors think you can stand on your own two feet. How long that takes of course is down to you.
The key thing here being that any more advanced studies won't make much real difference in games programming, so if you want to break in, start now.
The other option to at least get in off the bottom rung salary is to stay on at college a bit longer, do the minimum coursework to get a passing grade and spend all the rest of your time knocking a seriously kick-ass little game project.
>> unfortunately though, physics in games is quite a bit different than physics in the real world.
Absolutely. Game physics needs someone who just eats math and can visualise complex problems, but the actual equations etc. needed are before degree level. It's the pure math side that's more relevant.
For example, knowing hookes law puts you 30 seconds ahead of me who'd need to look it up. The important bit is, could you write a stable mass-spring simulation or not?
Absolutely. Game physics needs someone who just eats math and can visualise complex problems, but the actual equations etc. needed are before degree level. It's the pure math side that's more relevant.
For example, knowing hookes law puts you 30 seconds ahead of me who'd need to look it up. The important bit is, could you write a stable mass-spring simulation or not?
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