Question:
I am wanting to become a game developer.?
anonymous
2017-03-01 04:55:54 UTC
So i m in my 3rd year of highschool and am taking computer science. So far, the only language being taught to us is Visual Basic. To become successful in uni, is having only knowledge in vb enough to start off and work towards getting a career in game developement?
Four answers:
joe
2017-03-01 18:31:15 UTC
We all have to start somewhere!
husoski
2017-03-01 09:33:04 UTC
I wouldn't recommend it, but it's not an awful choice for a "first language". The things you learn at first have very little to do with user interfaces or graphics or any of the other areas important to game coding, but they are vitally important to any kind of programming. VB is simple enough, particularly with "console" programs, not to get in the way of this learning.



What I do recommend is writing a lot more code than is assigned to you in class. Remember that classes are generally designed for the average student to pass. Game development is very competitive, and you want to be at the top of your class in coding skills, not in the middle. When you learn something in class, write code on your own using that feature or technique and get it working. Prove to yourself that it works. Try to figure out how you could use that to improve code you have previously written.



Find out where to find documentation on the programming language you're using. For modern VB.NET, the official documentation is at Microsoft's MSDN site. For "Classic VB" or VB6 (since version 6 was the last released version from MS), there is still some archived information at MSDN, but you'll probably need to do more web searching. Videos and tutorials help at first, but learning to read technical documentation is another skill that's not explicitly taught.



If you have any math anxiety, try to lose it. Game code operates in a world of coordinates and transformations to manage both the internal model ("the data") and how it's rendered on-screen. Analytic geometry and linear algebra are important. The style of vector math taught in first-year physics classes may be more helpful than that taught in a math class. Math questions, particularly vector math, will be asked on a game development job interview--even for an internship.



Also, pay attention to yourself. If you don't enjoy coding well enough to write code that isn't assigned, you may not be happy in a career that involves writing code 40+ hours per week. Do you need to be in game development in order to be happy, or would some other form of programming work? Your answers to these can change as you grow--through college and even afterwards.



If "Denise" means you are female (it probably would in Paris, Texas...but I'm not sure about Paris, France) then try to develop a thick skin. Computer science isn't as bad as it used to be, and never seemed as hostile to women as engineering or the hard sciences can be, but sexism is still a problem in some places. Gamers don't have a particularly good reputation in this regard, either.



Best of luck, and enjoy the ride!
anonymous
2017-03-01 08:35:52 UTC
if you're in high school then concentrate on math



algebra, trigonometry, calculus, discrete math, linear algebra, matrix math, vector math



these will give you an idea of why you need math and what you can do with it



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wAPgl1JVvUEb0dIygHzO4698tmcwLk9
Robert J
2017-03-01 08:31:33 UTC
It teaches you programming concepts, which is a good thing - but the language itself is little use for any serious game development.



You need to learn C / C++ or a similar cross-platform language (that can be used on any device or operating system) so whatever you write can be built for any computer or device, rather than being stuck on one OS only, that's something of a dead end.





Marmalade is one of the best cross platform development systems, but the company has just sold it and the new site is not working yet to get it...



You can look at the info for it here:

http://docs.madewithmarmalade.com/display/MD/Marmalade+CPP



And a number of tutorials here:

http://www.drmop.com/index.php/marmalade-sdk/marmalade-sdk-tutorials/





The whole package should become available again soon on this site:

https://marmalade.shop/en/


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
Loading...