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Newcomers DBPro Corner / Advice...

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eric the great
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Joined: 14th Nov 2003
Location: U.S.
Posted: 15th Nov 2003 22:19
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hello,
i am a high school student interested in the game development/art career. i was wondering if i could have some advice (from experienced game developers/artist) on what i should do to start developing games. i would like to become a game artist/developer as my future career, so any advice on what i should do (collage, practice, ect.) would be very usefull.
thank you,
eric the great

-i am great
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CattleRustler
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Location: case modding at overclock.net
Posted: 15th Nov 2003 23:45 Edited at: 15th Nov 2003 23:47
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Eric the Great,

Due to the complexity and long hours focused on each aspect of game development, you most likely will be one or the other - Game Developer or Artist, unlikely you will do both on a professional level. Not to say it is impossible as an indy game maker but on a pro level I would suggest you choose which it is you like better and go full throttle at that descipline to achieve your professional goals. These boards are filled with people who do all aspects of game making, ie music, programming, modelling, level design. etc but I think you be hard pressed to find anyone that does a combination of these things on a pro level. Not that the talent isn't there, in some cases, it's just a matter of not enough hours in the day to be all these things - my problem is I am a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. Take my advice - focus!

just MHO

-RUST-
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eric the great
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 00:00
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thanks for the advice.
-do have any suggestions for game programs?
-what would be a good skill to practice? i have heard level design is imortant for developers.

-i am great
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 01:54 Edited at: 16th Nov 2003 01:55
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Quote: "do have any suggestions for game programs?"

I am not sure what you mean. If you mean suggestions on what games to try and code for your start in dbp then i'd suggest pong or breakout for starters - they are not as easy as the look although they are quite easy compared to the other genres you can get into later like RPG's and FPS'

Quote: "what would be a good skill to practice? i have heard level design is imortant for developers"


Level design is usually achieved by using an in-house tool that a developer wrote specifically for the game being made by the rest of the team. So level design, as you ask, really is moot but that is not to say you can't focus on one of the existing tools out there like Valve Hammer Editor3.4 for Halflife-type BSP levels. That's a good endeavour. The guys who made Counterstrike just basically made a mod for Halflife, which turned out to be so good that it got picked up and published as a stand-alone game that you can buy retail! Other development is main game coding/game logic. Either you are producing a game engine which handles all the physics internals of the game, or you are coding the rest of the aspects of the game logic -- it's hard to say or suggest what you should do, it depends on what "grabs" you the most. Try making some simple games in dbp and see which aspect has the greater allure for you - that may help you decide which path to take. Remember, people are always here to help with problems, and people here "love" to critique demos of games!

hope I have helped somewhat.

-RUST-
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Obear
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 05:08
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My adive would be to decide what avenue you wish to go down first.

As stated before, programming, art, £D designe etc. All of these requier ALOT of effort and ALOT of time to perfect.

To try and be a jack of all trades would be a BAD idea.

Spend some time in each area you are interested in. try programing, and i mean try!!! In other words give it a real good bash, USe DB to see if you can grasp it, and if you can make a fairly large scale project. If you find yourself getting bogged down with the code and board with it half way though, codeing isent for you.

try learning some 2D art, get yoursefl a copy of paint shop pro or if you can afford it Photoshop. Then go to web sites like CGtalk and in there find tons of web sites full of tutorials.

Again if 2D art isnt your talent or idea of fun, then 2D art work is not for you.

Do the same with 3D, gmax is a baby version of 3Dstudio max and totaly Free, get that and try it out.

Only you can deside what you wnat to do. What you need to do is get your hands dirty in all aspecst and see which one apeals to you the most.

Understand one thing tho, no matter how much you LIKE a area of Games design, wether it be programnig or art etc. When it comes to doing it as a JOB, with hard deadlines to meet, people breathing donw your shouolder etc. It will become like any other job. Its not all fun and games.

It will become som,e hard graft labour. Its just a question of wether its a labour of love for you.
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 07:27
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Quote: "To try and be a jack of all trades would be a BAD idea"


I agree, but only in the terms of "professional".
In the terms of dbp you have to be a jack-of-all-trades, in the beginning, at least.

-RUST-
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Don Malone
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 15:18 Edited at: 16th Nov 2003 15:20
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Quote: "-what would be a good skill to practice? i have heard level design is imortant for developers."


Many people actually have gotten breaks by being good a level design. The ability to create exciting and or tense levels that build tension is a strong skill. If you find you can build stong levels build on that skill or as cattlerustler says, build on the thing you like most.

I think level building is kind of programming boiled down. You have to use logic to make the action flow the way you want, you have to have as good of graphics as possible to make you feel like you are actually there and you need to understand the engines limitations and see if there is a way to work around a limitation of the engine.

*-Edit addition-* I am going to have to pay more attention to how I express myself, I look uneducated
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eric the great
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Posted: 16th Nov 2003 19:38
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thank you all for your advice. i am still trying to decide between dev or art.

-i am great
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