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Ask HN: Any game programmers out there who learned to code after age 25?

7 points by JoeKM ↗ HN
Game programming is like voodoo to me. I get the feeling you need to have started game programming at a young age to understand and make a career out of it. That or at least go to a good college that teaches it. I can self-learn web development, but I'm not sure I could self-learn game programming.

10 comments

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michaelpinto
Don't ask for permission: Give it a try!

The worse you can do is to not try. Pick a friendly language and start with a very simple game. Then work your way up...

chipsy
The actual scope needed for a playable prototype is generally on the order of a few hundred to a few thousand lines of code, possibly less when you rely on a framework to take care of the low-level details. You do need a little bit more CS background than web programming to get far, but not a huge amount - if that's the barrier try some introductory CS courses, those were a big turning point for me.
_mpf
Most of the game programmers i know started early, and are self-learners, but it shouldn`t discourage you. You could start as a tester or level developer and slowly get better. Good luck!
jamesjguthrie
I'd recommend trying out the XNA Framework with the Xbox 360.
brwr
I don't really see why it matters. If you want to learn, stop trying to get other people to make you feel better about it. Just go do something.
epiceyebags
Depends what you mean by game programming, really. There's a lot more to learn if you mean writing a game engine from scratch compared to writing mostly gameplay logic on top of an existing engine.

Either way, you can start at any age when learning anything, especially when it's something that is primarily self-taught.

The career aspect is hard to answer. It's probably going to be harder to get an entry level job at a large publisher if you're not a fresh early 20s graduate. Then again, the industry has changed to the point where being a codemonkey at such a company isn't as coveted as it once was. It's all about small, independent companies now and you'd reasonably expect less age barriers.

Look at the engines people are using at the moment, and pick something popular. Unity is the big thing right now and definitely worth looking at from an employability standpoint going forward in the next few years as tons of small start-ups as well as established independent studios are using it. It's built on C++ and uses C#, Javascript and Boo (a Python-esque language) as scripting languages.

Also, as someone with a game development degree, my advice about going to a college is this: don't. It's a waste of time. The one exception being if you're in the US and can get in to DigiPen, as students from there seem to consistently produce interesting, high-quality stuff and do well in the industry. I have no idea if their game-centric courses are focused on programming or not though.

touristtam
As epiceyebags mentioned, Game Programming is way too wide as a 'field'. Check what makes a complex software such as a game and which part of a game you want to contribute to. Do some read up on Game Engine (both as a developer and as a library you can use). If you have any programming skills, you might want to check the code behind open-sourced Game Engines as well (such as the Quake Engine line).

From my understanding (and I could be wrong), you have roughly three (3) layers: - the Game Engine that contains such things as the Rendering engine, the Net Client, the Physics Engine and the Audio Engine; - the Game Logic where is define how the object in-game interact; - the media who are the images, the sound used in the game.

Most modders are making changes only on the Game Logic and/or the media, but find an older Game Engine open-sourced and you will find example of mods that are touching directly to the Game Engine layer.

All in all, if you are interested into getting into game development, and after you have acquired some understanding of the structure of a Game as a Software, you want to start creating your game (either a recreation or something totally new). And don't worry right now about not using something that will be relevant in a year, you need to put some experience under your belt, first and foremost.

salahxanadu
I've a few over 30 and I learn new things every year. I think it is a misnomer to think that you can only learn new things when you are young. Sure, it might be easier at a time, but I have a more broad base of knowledge and when I look upon new apis and sdks I have a better understanding right off the bat.
zenbowman
You can definitely self-learn, I started coding at age 13 though and it is definitely a different ballgame when compared to web programming.

I have a young high schooler apprenticing with me right now, and he was able to get a basic 2D game going with some help in about 6 weeks, working with me for an hour a week. So it is doable, but it helps to have someone who has walked the path before.