Plan for Alan Hembra
by Alan H · 01/12/2005 (2:00 pm) · 7 comments
In the last 6 months of 2004 I have read the following books: "Indie Game Development" (twice), "Visual Basic .NET Programming for the Absolute Beginner", "Programming Role Playing Games with Direct X 2nd Edition", "Game Development Buisness and Legal Guide", "Palm OS Game Programming" (skipped around in it), "Computer Game Programming for Teens","3D Game Programming All In One 2nd Edition" (skipped around), and started "Beginning C++ Game Programming". I also attempted to read "Massively Multiplayer Game Development", which after a week of slogging through I set on the shelf as there is no way I am ready to tackle a MMO game. I also attended Microsoft Cousre 2573M: Programming Fundamentals with Microsoft Visual Basic .Net (which is a merger of the other two VB classes) for the company I am currently employed by. I've also purchased TGE SDK indie license at the beginning of December and the Brave Tree Content Bundle Pack along with the Girl Pack at the end of December and have been digging deep into them with greedy hunger.
As you can see I've skipped around and not focused as I've toyed with the idea of free lancing and returning to my roots as a programmer.
So my plan for 1Q05 (in Chronological order) is:
1. Completely re-read "Beginning C++ Game Programming" book by January 31st (already in progress).
2. Completely re-read the 3D Game Programming All in One 2nd edition book the end of February (already in progress).
3. Completely re-read "Programming Role Playing Games with Direct X 2nd Edition" by the end of March.
4. Buy various content packs and figure out how they work and merge them all in together.
5. Not rob the time for this from my family or my employer.
So right now I have no plan to make my own game but to continue learning as much as I can while having fun. I hope within the next 6 months to 1 year to have brought my skills up enough to join a game project in progress. My wife is 100% supportive of my efforts BTW. :)
So anyone have any comments or advice for an old dog trying to learn new tricks? All input is appreciated and sought after.
As you can see I've skipped around and not focused as I've toyed with the idea of free lancing and returning to my roots as a programmer.
So my plan for 1Q05 (in Chronological order) is:
1. Completely re-read "Beginning C++ Game Programming" book by January 31st (already in progress).
2. Completely re-read the 3D Game Programming All in One 2nd edition book the end of February (already in progress).
3. Completely re-read "Programming Role Playing Games with Direct X 2nd Edition" by the end of March.
4. Buy various content packs and figure out how they work and merge them all in together.
5. Not rob the time for this from my family or my employer.
So right now I have no plan to make my own game but to continue learning as much as I can while having fun. I hope within the next 6 months to 1 year to have brought my skills up enough to join a game project in progress. My wife is 100% supportive of my efforts BTW. :)
So anyone have any comments or advice for an old dog trying to learn new tricks? All input is appreciated and sought after.
About the author
#2
Don't underestimate the value of hands-on time even this early on.
Welcome to the community!
01/12/2005 (2:15 pm)
One of the most reasonable "entry" plans for a new game developer =)Don't underestimate the value of hands-on time even this early on.
Welcome to the community!
#3
"Never give up, never surrender" - Tim Allen, in one of his movies (forgot which one...it's this one about the spaceship and stuff...)
good luck!
01/12/2005 (2:15 pm)
Whenever you come into a roadbump, never say 'oh shoot, i can't go on'. There's always a solution, be it backhanded or not. Besides, even if you REAALLLLLLYY can't find a solution, go work on something else that doesn't require the thing to be implemented, or even make preps for the next step. "Never give up, never surrender" - Tim Allen, in one of his movies (forgot which one...it's this one about the spaceship and stuff...)
good luck!
#4
Two suggestions for you:
--Keep up with building up your general Torque knowledge in parallel with your game industry research. TGE is an outstanding toolset, but it's complexity and flexibility have a very long learning curve as well, and it's better to learn incrementally while you are doing your background research then expect to have "phase 2" of your plan be "get right to work with TGE on hefty designs" and find out that it will take another 6+ months to really get the TGE general knowledge you'll need. When I first got TGE myself, I read about, and heard that it would take 8+ months to a year before a general game dev would be comfortable enough to make a serious effort at producing a game, and sure enough it was almost 8 months on the nose before I could accomplish much at all. It's a good rule of thumb really, so plan for it!
--Never forget that the community is here: it may not always answer your questions immediately, or give you exactly the answer you want, but if your questions are anything like your .plan, you can be assured they will get answered if anyone knows!
Good luck, and looking foward to hearing more in the future!
01/12/2005 (2:53 pm)
One of the most promising .plans from someone new to game programming that I have ever seen. It's extremely refreshing to see someone willing to put in the legwork prior to starting a project, and I fully expect you'll go far in your goals!Two suggestions for you:
--Keep up with building up your general Torque knowledge in parallel with your game industry research. TGE is an outstanding toolset, but it's complexity and flexibility have a very long learning curve as well, and it's better to learn incrementally while you are doing your background research then expect to have "phase 2" of your plan be "get right to work with TGE on hefty designs" and find out that it will take another 6+ months to really get the TGE general knowledge you'll need. When I first got TGE myself, I read about, and heard that it would take 8+ months to a year before a general game dev would be comfortable enough to make a serious effort at producing a game, and sure enough it was almost 8 months on the nose before I could accomplish much at all. It's a good rule of thumb really, so plan for it!
--Never forget that the community is here: it may not always answer your questions immediately, or give you exactly the answer you want, but if your questions are anything like your .plan, you can be assured they will get answered if anyone knows!
Good luck, and looking foward to hearing more in the future!
#5
01/12/2005 (3:51 pm)
Nice plan, after purchasing Torque I realized that the few programming classes I had taken years ago weren't going to hack it, so I went a got a minor degree in Computer Science, and took some art classes as well. I've read some of the books you have/are reading, and admire you for developing your basic knowledge before trying to do too much with Torque. Keep at it, and good luck.
#6
Although I was proficient in a number of languages before this, I never really grasped OOP. I am a structured thinker and coder, C++ just didn't make sense. Starting small in TGE and working my way up was a great boon, and I now truly understand all those wierd concepts.
Keep at it, awesome plan to start with!
01/12/2005 (3:59 pm)
Also keep in mind that TGE is a pretty decent example to study while you are learning the language. A c++ book is great, but it will spend quite a bit of time dealing with concepts that just won't quite sink in, until you've seen the real world application, which TGE is.Although I was proficient in a number of languages before this, I never really grasped OOP. I am a structured thinker and coder, C++ just didn't make sense. Starting small in TGE and working my way up was a great boon, and I now truly understand all those wierd concepts.
Keep at it, awesome plan to start with!
#7
I feel like Rip VanWinkle waking up to a changed world.
01/13/2005 (7:10 am)
Thanks for the positive feedback. I sweated over posting it since I am new to this community. Being out of programming for so long has had me questioning my ability to relearn it. At the time I stopped object oriented programming was either brand new or not in wide use yet. It definetly was not in use in Main Frames. The last programming language I bought was C+ 1.0. I feel like Rip VanWinkle waking up to a changed world.
Torque Owner Alan H