Life, Programming, and a Movie

LeafMeAlone

United States301 Posts

July 04 2012 08:10 GMT

Life and Programming

Like a lot of teenage boys I want to be a game developer/designer/etc. when I grow up. Bla bla bla it's a hard field to get into yeah I know but I don't see myself doing anything else. I don't care if it's working with the server side or making the game itself, as long as I can say that I make games for a living.

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For me it would be awesome for my kids to say, "My dad makes Starcraft!" at bring your dad to school day or whatever happens in schools now. Starcraft is an example of course even though LotV won't be out for a couple of years.

I've been teaching myself Python 3 and related technologies with some free online things and paid-for books. AP Comp Sci isn't offered at my school which is too bad, but on the bright side it's more rewarding learning a language by myself without being in a class where 20 other students are learning the exact same content. Most AP Comp Sci classes nowadays teach Java anyway, so I'd rather learn a language that I actually want to study ^^. And plus I could start learning earlier than during the school year since I got interested in programming before any AP Comp Sci class would be offered.

But I'm digressing too much

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Back on topic: You know how I said I wanted to be a game dev/etc. when I grow up? * Dora the Explorer blank stare * ... Yes is the correct answer, yay! Well anyway, the even bigger question is what kind of game developer? Indie or mainstream (Blizzard, Valve, etc.). They both have their pros and cons from what I looked up on the interwebz but that's not for now. Though if I make indie games, I'll probably pick up another job related to computers also. The blog is supposed to be about a movie I found on Indie developers.

Indie Game: The Movie

http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/

From IMDb:

A documentary that follows the journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.

Trailer:
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It costs $9.99 dollars but it was a good buy imo. Finally used some money I got from Starcraft tournaments haha.

Overall I liked the movie, the music was decent and there were some emotional parts. Kinda wished there was more on the actual coding/development though. From what I can remember, a lot of the movie was about emotion-related subjects which appeals to a wider audience I guess. I've played around one indie game in my life so far, but after watching the movie I'll definitely buy more when I get the chance. I'm sure this isn't true in all cases, but in the movie the developers were very all-in on their projects (Fez/Super meat Boy). The amount of dedication and resources they put into the games is like a 6 pool rush with drones.

My favorite part was when the Super Meat Boy guy (I'm bad at names and don't want to take a second to look it up) talked about how his game(s) can influence kids into thinking that they can make games too since two guys made Super Meat Boy by themselves. My paraphrasing is less than a fraction of how emotional it was shot in the movie.

For Fez I'm not sure why the guy made changes the night before the PAX, makes no sense but maybe that's what happens when you make an entire game by yourself for a chunk of your life.

Braid kinda dissipated towards the end of the movie but the character in the suit was cool lol.

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I plan to buy these games eventually. Remind me if I forget.

I bought the documentary so I could get a glimpse of the life of a game programmer or more specifically, an indie game programmer/developer to help me paint a picture of what I can do with my life. A positive of being an indie that I could see from the movie was the amount of money they got since their games were successful. Two people splitting the massive amount of sales is a lot (repeat: alot) of money! And it was all for an idea that they created themselves and had total control over. Like a baby, at first it's not fun and tiring but when it finally gets sent off it becomes worth it. But if it fails, you have a lot of wasted time and money, although if it's what you like to do and also have a side job for money then I think it's time well spent.

I could keep writing but then this might go on forever, and plus I think I've said everything that I wanted to say.

Random Youtube vid I found just now:
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If you want to tell me if any of my views are skewed/wrong or your view on the movie then go right ahead ^^.

Random()

Kyrgyz Republic1462 Posts

July 04 2012 10:48 GMT

Just to be clear where I am coming from: I have always sort of had the same dream of making games, and I have a very strong Comp Sci background: a masters degree, a PhD, years of programming experience, etc., however I have come to realise that formal education means very little if you want to make games.

It is very unlikely that you will be pushing the limits in computing science, like writing the next uber pathfinding or amazing lighting algorithm or AI. For most of the tricky things that you could possibly require for your game there are already efficient (and free!) solutions out there, just look at the Unity engine, for instance.

I also strongly believe that practical programming is better learned on your own. Not in the sense that you have to lock yourself up in the basement with a pile of books and never see the light of day, but in the sense that you have to just start doing something and then seek answers to your questions as they arise. Learning programming is a very exploratory activity, and if someone were to guide you that would be like someone guiding you through a city you do not know, following just the path that they like, but what you really want is to be able to explore everything on your own, peek into the scary nooks, randomly try all those weird crooked paths and stumble upon dead ends, and only then you will feel that you know that city and that you can easily navigate it. And if you are stuck, you can always look at the map or ask someone. Sorry if that makes no sense :-)

So if you want to learn programming with game design in mind, just grab a language that you like, find an introductory tutorial or a book (fortunately, all those resources are so easily accessible these days) to get you started, but when you are done with the basics just start doing something. Try to implement Pong, and then move on to Tetris or Alien Invaders. Then get a somewhat more complex open source game and try to dissect and understand its code, try to change some random things here and there and see how that changes the game (just don't try understanding Quake 3 engine right from the start :-) ). If that does not work out for you, chances are that attending programming classes won't help you all that much either, because all that they usually teach you can read in a book, but you can never "read" experience.

Have an open mind and never be dismissive towards technologies (like you say "they only teach Java...", well, Minecraft is written in Java and that is a prime example of a successful indie game).

But the thing that you need to realise before everything else is that in order to be a game designer you have to design games, and you have to design games that are fun to play. How many games have you actually designed? My guess is zero :-) You need to get rid of the pink glasses (imagining heaps of money from indie games etc.) and get ready to work your ass off, and start working right now. You don't need to be a programmer to design games. Start with a board game, or a card game. Try to design a modification of Tetris that would make it more fun, on paper. In other words, start with very simple things and see if you can make them fun.

If that seems boring to you, then you need to think again if "game designer" is what you want to be. The most important thing that you need to have as a designer is passion to make things that are fun for other people. It is easy to say "yeah, of course I've got that!" but when you actually try to do that, and you fail and fail and fail and you realise that your games suck (which they will :-) ), it is very hard to keep that passion and keep trying. Pretty much like pro-gaming: Starcraft is fun to play, but will it still be fun when you practice it 8 hours a day and still get owned over and over?

I guess my bottom line is: start working right now. Start designing games. Work on that every day and see how long you are going to last. Then you will know if that is truly what you want to be doing.

surfinbird1

Germany999 Posts

July 04 2012 18:30 GMT

I bought Indie Game the Movie as well and didn't really like it. I can't put my finger on what I didn't like, though. The movie had everything I could ever want about a movie: likeable characters, decent soundtrack, indie games and yet I didn't enjoy it that much. But yeah, buy those games. They are fucking amazing. I loved Super Meat Boy and Braid. Haven't played Fez yet, but from what I have seen, I'm quite excited for it.

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