Video games are very popular with teenagers and young people as well. Many people are so engrossed and fascinated by the gaming world that they want to learn how to program games on their own. The advantage is of course that the hobby of programming can turn into a lucrative career. If your game becomes famous, you can become a millionaire. In case you too have developed this passion for games to the point of wanting to devote yourself to programming, here are some instructions on how to create a video game. If you are honest and diligent, you can certainly learn to code. You have to have faith in yourself.
Steps
Step 1. Get informed
Talk to your colleagues, superiors, visit universities, read online and print magazines on video game programming, such as Gamasutra or Gameslice, to get an idea of the industry. Also, find out what kind of training and what skills are needed to become an expert in the field.
Step 2. Evaluate your skills
Video games are now a constantly expanding sector, comparable to that of film productions: in both cases, different types of professionals are needed to create a perfect product. Video game production includes level designers to make them more fun, programmers to write source and script codes, 3D modelers to bring characters to life, and artists to design box sets and advertising material. You need to know what it does for you and attend the courses that best suit the career you want to pursue accordingly.
Step 3. Attend the desired training course
If you're serious about learning how to make video games, from pre-production to actual production, invest in a course that offers hands-on lessons. Nowadays, you can take online courses at schools such as UAT Online Game Degree and DeVry University.
Step 4. Familiarize yourself with commercially available graphics engines
Commercially available graphics engines, such as Crysis, Radiant, and Unreal, are sometimes sold with games. They allow you to create characters, levels and maps. You can follow the tutorials or online guides to learn how to work with these graphics engines.
Step 5. Learn to code
This is essential if you are serious about pursuing a career as a programmer. To learn the intricacies of video game programming it is mandatory to know the most popular programming language, C ++. If you are a beginner, take courses in DarkBasic, a recommended language for newbies. You can also consider taking Microsoft Visual Basic courses to learn programming in a Windows environment.
Step 6. Improve your improvisation and problem solving skills
Video game programming requires a lot of patience and perseverance. You will find yourself faced with many problems; you have to cultivate the right attitude to solve these problems in a calm and composed way.
Step 7. Practice as much as possible
You can't learn how to program games in an instant. You have to do a lot of practice to get into the coder mindset. Start with the basic games and then improve yourself as you go. Help yourself by reading books and watching online tutorials to develop your skills and achieve some programming mastery.
Step 8. Learn to code during the summer
During the summer, with the closure of the schools, you will have a lot of free time at your disposal. Look for a programming course to follow and get a lot of practice.
Advice
- Do a thorough research on the subject.
- Learn the basics of programming.
- Never hesitate to ask professionals for help.
- Spend time reading up-to-date programming books, if they aren't, make sure the book is about the code or scripting you want to learn.
- Be patient and persistent.
- Try playing the game you created.
Warnings
- You must be sure that this is the path you want to take. Ask yourself if you want to do it or not.
- Concentrate.
- Don't worry, learn slowly.
- Being a game programmer is actually about coding and making things work for the design team, rather than seeing the game being forged on the screen. In other words, you don't exactly "play" the games. Teamwork is required by various professionals who, together, create the video game. So if you don't feel like sitting on the computer for hours and hours every day, with lines of code to create and fix (debug) for most of your career, then choose another path.
