HN Explorer

Ask YC : How to jump in the video games development?

1 points by VinzO ↗ HN
I am interested to learn video games development. Where would you start? I am thinking to try to do some homebrew on my Nintendo DS. I am experienced in embedded software development in C. What would you do next? Is it worth looking for a specific degree? As anyone experienced an online degree? Or is it better to invest time to learn by myself?

5 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 18.7 ms ] thread
jsmcgd
I'm no expert on this at all but basically I would answer yes to most of your questions. Start trying to teach yourself. A games related degree is valued by the community but not necessary. If you can create a few demos yourself or with some friends this can demonstrate a great deal to prospective employers. You already know one of the key technologies. Just get started and get what ever you do in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
utnick
www.gamedev.net
DarrenStuart
I second gamedev its been around for a long time and has some decent helpful people on their forums. I used to use it a lot when I used to do game dev for my own projects.

also checkout garagegames.com great community over there based around their engines which are cheap and easy to use.

As for online degrees I wouldn't bother, most game dev employers are looking for killer demos and knowledge. If you are of an age that you are about to go to college/uni then I would do a game programming related degree for sure.

You could also checkout MS's XNA platform, its in .net but easy to get up and running and also with the creators club you can get stuff running on your xbox 360 if you have one.

VinzO
I already passed the college age. I am 30 years old and I have a familly to support. So if I can avoid investing time and money for a degree, I would prefer. But if someone knows a good online degree, maybe I would consider it. I don't have a xbox 360. I have a nintendo DS and a Wii. But thanks for your informations, I will check them. What I wonder is the time to get killer demos by learning alone...
DarrenStuart
well it depends on what you are after. If you are going to be making your own games and selling them I would suggest garage games route. If you are after just being employed then its basically how quickly you pick this stuff up.

have you thought of mobile phone development or maybe the iphone/touch? There used to be a lower barrier to entry to get jobs doing these sorts of games. Also easy to learn j2me and build your own engine on it.

my only caution about the DS is effectivelly you will never be able to release a game on it but on the other side a cool tech demo on a ds would get your foot in the door with a devshop doing ds stuff.

good luck with it.