Well, hi! I am 16 years old and I want to have a job as a gameprogrammer sometime. So I now need to know what skills it needs to become a gameprogrammer. What do I have to know/ what to I have to learn? Can anyone help me? THX skrwX

THX Gandalf!

I think learnig assembly is way too hard for me now, so I''ll go on improving my skills in VC 6.0 and DX/OPENGL!

Is it helpful to study IT at a university?

Learn math and physics. No matter where technology goes or what enviorment you are going to be using in the future, math and physics will still be used. Also, try to make yourself into a well grounded programmer. Basic computer science theories and techniques aren't likely to change within the next ten years.

Right now, C/C++ and Windows and good basics to know. On top of that, you can start learning more specific techniques and SDKs like DirectX. Just remember that DirectX isn't game programming. It's just a tool that we are using now. Try to familiarize yourself with the algorithms and the theory behind game programming. This way, when new technology comes around, you can master it quickly.

The best advice I can give you is to read. I own a small library I have built up over the years, and each book has gave me a better understanding of game programming and programming in general. It's funny. When I bought some of these books, they were completely over my head, but I tried to get through them. I learned a lot by forcing myself through them and now, many of them seem trivial.

If you can get a CS degree from a university, do so. This is a good way to learn if you are willing to really take the time to cover all the material. Also, many game companies are starting to require a CS degree for someone who doesn't have industry experience, and it appears that this is only going to continue.

Edited by - I-Shaolin on 1/31/00 11:16:41 AM

you know, i just wrote a post a week ago which would answer this question nicely. Scroll down a bit, its titled "A word to the youth..."

its long, but it touches on pretty much all aspects of beginning.

It also depends on what sort of prgramming you want to do. Some friends of mine are doing game programming in Vitual Basic, but when I did my first game in Vbasic, it didn''t have a lot of things I wanted to have in my game, so I switched to C++ and it had most of the things I was going to use in my game. So, I recamend C++ for programing, but if you want a challenge, go with Vbasic.