Something to keep in mind is that a lot of folks always seem to equate graphics as "game programming" which is a very poor comparison. A game like Doom is "mostly" a graphics engine with little gameplay but many/most non FPS games have considerably more actual game than simply graphics to them. What this generally means to most programmers is that the graphics specific positions are typically few and far between. What is most commonly meant by "C++" is understanding enough of the language and the available tools to not cause "problems" when you start working with people and being able to clean up your own messes.

Programming itself is not "that" language specific, knowing your data structures, general constructs and how to put them together are the most important bits. What the C++ bit usually suggests is really more about being able to understand what you read, how to avoid causing problems and of course debugging. Some of the silly questions you might see during an interview:

int DoSomething( std::vector< int > data )
{
  int avg = 0;
  for( std::vector< int >::iterator i = data.begin(); i!=data.end(); ++i )
  {
     avg += *i;
  }
 
  return avg / data.size();
}

There are a slew of problems with that code, naming at least 3 would be a good start, 5 would be better and of course knowing when/where exceptions to some of the things you find in the above would not matter so much.

Parsing that at a glance and just "knowing" most of the problems without really thinking about it, that's what is usually considered knowing "C++". This is just one silly example, though I've seen many variations of this sort of "function of badness" you are supposed to fix during an interview.

How did you come up with your number of things "broken" in that code? I'm just curious if my tally agrees with your tally :-)

Hehe, mostly just wrote it and figured those were good numbers given what I could see without really looking at it much.. :-)

[spoiler]

int DoSomething( std::vector< int > data )

^^ is this really an integer average?

^^ copy, ewww..

^^ non-const, can't be called by const functions, why not?
{
int avg = 0;

^^ what about overflow? if the numbers are all small, fine, what about big numbers?

for( std::vector< int >::iterator i = data.begin(); i!=data.end(); ++i )

^^ have had issues with some compilers not optimizing

the "end" call and always performing end-start per loop.

Move to an initializer.
{
avg += *i;
}

return avg / data.size();

^^ divide by zero possible.
}

[/spoiler]

The process is actually being harder than I would hope to. I'm a graduated Software Developer, but the entire course used Java to represent our studies (i.e. translating pseudo-codes from Algorithm classes to computer, to code data structures, and so forth). The down side is that, after 3 years, I was pretty good at Java only (for language experience); the up-side is that we had good teachings for the theories of programming, so it's not hard, as all of you probably know, to grasp a new language and learn it. But the sintax does change, and C/C++ is being specially complicated. Maybe (ahem...I'm pretty sure about this) it's so hard 'cuz I'm trying to learn, at once, how to: program in C++, use SFML and game programming techniques. Don't know. But today, I found myself wondering "what if I go through all this hard work and end up with nothing?".

Anyways, thanks everyone for the input, it's been invaluable for the continuation of my studies.

I'd toss out that C# can be a good language for studios. Lots of C# used for tools, build systems, etc. You may not be directly engineering the game, but while on a tools/pipeline team you can learn a lot about the studio, the code, and build familiarity/skills over time that will enable you to move into a different engineering role if you want.

I'd also mention that Unity is becoming more prevalent of an engine which uses C# for scripting (technically also UnityScript and Boo). It's obviously not taking over the AAA spectrum yet, but a decent number of companies are starting to use it and I expect that number will continue to rise.

And lastly, in my experience, the really hard core C++ needs are deep engine work. Many studios (especially as you get away from the smaller ones) have dedicated engine teams leaving many of the remaining devs to write higher level concepts. Even if you're still in C++ and not some scripting language (some studios break out Lua or another language for scripting) the requirement of knowing the nitty-gritty C++ stuff starts to loosen as you're writing more game-specific code (so you don't have to have a general solution that works for 100% of scenarios) that can start being less performance critical (such as simple UI backing logic).

Everyone starts somewhere and it usually isn't the role of most knowledgeable C++ engineer in the company. You need to learn enough C++ to be competent and show an aptitude for quickly learning new skills. That's what I'd recommend, anyway.

Hi guys.

I'd like to pose a question for people who've been around for a while. I decided to guide my studies checking hiring requirements of gaming companies. When I didn't know whether to go with C++, Java, Unity or the HTML5 Stack (HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript), I checked job offers and noticed the most promising ones were C++-related. So I'm going with C++.

The thing is: what do they mean with "C++"? Core? Is there something intrinsic to that sentence, like OpenGL, SDL, SFML (which seems to be built on top of OpenGL), ...? I'm currently studying SFML, but I have no idea if it's industry-accepted, so I just might be wasting my time. So, I ask: should I direct my studies to something specific, or all that is needed is core C++...?

Thanks everyone =]

I can tell you, as someone who has interviewed many people for junior to senior to tech director positions in game studios, the least you need for a junior position is a pretty solid knowledge of C++ and decent math and problem solving skills. You can forget Java and HTML5 and all that stuff. Unless you're applying for a position that specifically uses those, what you need is C++.

If you're aiming more for a graphics programmer position, then you need to step up your math, hardware, and graphics API knowledge. You should have really good 3D math, experience with either OpenGL or DirectX, experience with shaders would be welcome, and preferably be able to discuss previous work (formal or hobby) you've done relating to game-relevant graphics techniques. And that's just for an entry level graphics programmer position. For a senior position you should throw in at least 4 - 6 years experience and a few shipped titles, hopefully at least one a AAA game.

But, even for a non-graphics gameplay programmer position, you still need a solid grasp of C++, how the hardware works and interprets your code, and 3D math and basic algorithms and logical problem solving. Knowledge of tools such as Unity are nice because the studio might be using something similar (either 3rd party or in-house), but it's the low-level stuff that will matter most because they can teach you the tools later, but they cant teach you C++ or math.