hiii everyone.

This is my first post here. I'm a third year programming student at community college and my ultimate goal is to graduate and start working in game development. I'm doing b.tech in Computer Science and till now i have learned some programming language like C, C++ and i also have some knowledge of Computer Graphics. Friends i'm also good in mathematics.

i want to become a game programmer . so please tell me where do i start to...?? and what kinds of thing i've to learn..??

What are your thoughts on this? Also, what is your current level of experience or employment as it relates to game development, and how did you start when you were on my level...??

I'm not afraid of working hard or putting in the time, I just HATE wasting time learning the wrong thing.

Thanks all. Every bit of advice is appreciated.

yes my friend i've checked FAQ. and i did not get enough information.

can you provide me exact answer of my questions...?? please..

can you provide me exact answer of my questions...??

There are no exact answers. You haven't even told us if you want to work for yourself, or as part of a small company, or if you're looking to get a job at a large company.

The smaller the group of programmers, the more roles each will fill, so they will need in-depth knowledge of a wide areas of game programming. If you do everything yourself, you will need to know how to do everything. Conversely, at large software companies, the programmers generally stick to a single area of programming, eg. graphical effects, client-server architecture, audio programming, interface development, etc. There are many game programmers who have never written a single line of graphical code for their employers.

So as Lactose has said, there is no wrong thing to learn, as there are many different roles, and whatever you learn, it will be useful to one of them.

My advice would be to learn a little about all aspects of game programming. Enough so that you understand it and could have a discussion about it, even if you don't have a complete working knowledge of the subject. If you find one aspect that particularly appeals to you, then by all means concentrate on that. Specializing will of course limit the number of roles that you can fill, but if you find something that you particularly enjoy doing, then you have a better chance of enjoying your job, which is also always important.

can you tell me any site or reference about game programming...so that i can learn..

To answer your question I liked this article: http://lazyfoo.net/articles/article01/index.php

Moving to the "Breaking In" forum.

i want to become a game programmer . so please tell me where do i start to...?? and what kinds of thing i've to learn..??

You might want to read all of Tom Sloper's game industry FAQs, as well as the Breaking In forum FAQ (which largely references Tom's amazing collection).

As pointed out in several of those articles (I forget the numbers and don't see them immediately) there is no one thing to do that will lead you to your goal. Everybody has their own personal path.

We cannot tell you "Do these three steps and you'll be a professional game developer," because there are no steps that will always do it.

Most (but not all) go to college and get a degree, much like yours. A computer science degree teaches many necessary things and will also make surviving the HR filtering easier.

Many (but not all) build their own hobby games.

Many (but not all) participate in competitions and challenges to improve their talents.

Many (but not all) will have their own personal study into topics related to game development.

Many (but not all) will move to game development hubs to increase their chances of getting a job in the field.

Many (but not all) will attend game industry events, including local SIGDA and IGDA meetings, to gain contacts and experience.

Many (but not all) will participate in forums about game development.

Many (but not all) will apply to lots of jobs in the game industry.

Many (but not all) will find a job inside the game industry.

Unfortunately, some will appear to do everything 'right', they'll build a portfolio, they'll gain all the education and experience they can on their own, they'll move to a game development hub, they'll apply to every single game studio and continue applying, they'll network directly with the developers at several studios, they'll work their social network, they'll attend all the local game development meetings and get on the mailing lists and tell everyone they want a game development job .... and still struggle for years to break in. Those people are very rare, but they do exist.


For now you are in school. Getting your education should be your predominant concern. You can grow additional contacts within the game industry which will make it easier to get a job once your degree is complete. You can work on side projects related to games and participate in game development contests and build up a portfolio of hobby projects. When your degree is complete you can move to a city with many game development studios.

Until your degree is done, make education your primary focus. All the other things are secondary.