Hello!

I'm a Game Development Student and I need some guidance in terms of Games Programming. I've been learning how to write code in an array of different languages since a young age - I'm currently 17 - and I've always wanted to write videogames, like many of the other users on this forum.

However, I'm starting to worry a lot in terms of becoming a programmer. I honestly don't think I am intelligent enough or possess the knowledge to break into the industry. I'm somewhat comfortable in C++ and understand the language, however have never written anything practical using it. I'm not amazing at Maths either (I got a C in my GCSE, not sure what the US equivalent is) although it does interest me.

I also have moderate experience with C# and XNA, although in industry I don't see that being applicable. I guess the whole point of this question would be, what should I have a strong understanding of in terms of languages and mathematics alongside API's (OpenGL or DirectX?) in order to land a junior position at a company as Gameplay Programmer.

I'm sorry if this is a confusing post, I couldn't word correctly to be honest. And I understand that it may be broad question, but any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,

- Will

There's a forum dedicated to these sorts of questions that I'm sure a mod will move this to soon enough. You'll get plenty of opinions there.

It really depends on what you want to work on. I'm going to assume you're interested in working on PC or console games for mid-size to large studios. On that, here are my thoughts:

1. Know C++. You don't need to be a template metaprogramming guru or anything, but C++ is the lingua franca of the game development world in a lot of ways, especially outside of mobile-land. As a gameplay programmer, you may or may not write a great deal of C++ (it really depends on the studio), but at the very least you'll probably be interfacing with it a lot and you'll want to know how to read it.

2. Learn a scripting language. Most gameplay programmers spend at least some of there time in some high-level language domain, some spend all of their time in it.

3. Know your data structures. If I asked you why you'd want to use open addressing with a hash table, you ought to at least try to be able to give an answer. This is mostly interview material, but it's interview material for good reason. Know how to write a binary tree, a linked list, and the usual stuff.

When I started out a couple years ago, these were the sorts of things I was expected to be able to do (these were engine-related jobs, but people often use the same test for all programmers) before landing an interview:

Parse arbitrary (but simple) arithmetic expressions.

Write a Vector (List in C#)-like container that operates entirely in a pre-allocated buffer.

Wrte a color-space conversion function with SIMD instructions.

Some of them cared about performance, and some didn't. You'll typically get a pre-interview offline test (with stuff like the above), followed by a phone interview, followed by an onsite, followed by an offer. Expect 90% of your applications not to get past the resume. That's just par for the course, and it's probably slightly worse without a degree.