advice for beginners

I want to be a Game Developer. I am alone. I am just learning in front of PC by watching tutorials and
creating my own games.
I am not in a company or professional staff. A person who wants to be professional must be in professional
staff.

I need a model person who has already accomplished what I am going to accomplish.
I need an advice which is tested method to learn Unity3d.
I need a person who can show me true steps in learning process.
I need some rules:
What things do I have to do?
What things should not I do?
I don't want to repeat mistakes made by developers who are higher than me.

 

Hi,

Here's good advice for your first game:
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/developer-advice

the main point: start with as small project as possible and finish it..

 

If you want to become a professional developer, you'll have to go to university and take the proper course.

 

It definitely wouldn't hurt to have a degree but at the same time there are quite a number of developers on these forums that started their careers without a relevant degree (if they even had one to begin with). Regardless of whether you go the route of a degree or not though you definitely need a portfolio.

 

As independent developers maybe, but if KAYUMIY wants to find a job in the industry, (s)he'll certainly need a degree in the field.

 

My earlier statement about requiring a degree is not actually restricted to indie developers. There are people on these forums, without the relevant degrees, working in the industry. We have this discussion from time to time in the General Discussion section of the forums. I'll just link one of the more recent ones.

You may want to specifically look at @zombiegorilla's post. His studio that he refers to is a division at Disney.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/do...reate-a-game-or-get-a-programming-job.383873/

What is definitely not optional though, even with a relevant degree, is that portfolio. Interviewers want to see that you're a competent developer. Being able to show and explain your part in past projects is a big way to do this.

 

A long time ago maybe, now everyone has a degree and the seperation is experience. The problem with experience being you need to get a job in the first place to gain experience.

I can't speak for the US market, a quick glance over the thread @Ryiah posted and ZG's analysis shows it seems to be going the same way as the European market. They relatively mean nothing over here, unless you go for a internship..

I was a contractor working at various places, most senior engineers had industry specific qualifications (like CCNP in the IT dept.) or lots of relative experience with new degree students being on Ops / QA / Support or helpdesk.

This has been the same for every company I've ever worked for.

 

Not everyone has a degree; I don't. You need some kind of degrees to get into the industry, even if they are not related to game making; academical studies shape your way of thinking, they teach you how to learn. Experience is a most necessary plus too.

 

Sorry, but the evidence presented by those who have actually done it without a degree makes it clear this isn't true.

 

Well how come so many people who work for EA / Dice / Epic / Disney etc. get into senior level positions without a degree? Magic?

Don't get me wrong, if you're a doctor I'd hope you've got medical qualifications..

 

Most of the jobs listed here require a master or bachelor degree of some kind: http://jobs.gamejobs.com/jobseeker/search/results/

Anyway, a degree will always be a plus.

 

Honestly I feel like that link does more to disprove your statements than it does to prove them. If we filter out the jobs that are very clearly not related to game development or are related to education (those almost always require degrees), you'll find that quite a number of those jobs, even the ones for senior positions, do not require a degree.

NVIDIA Senior Software Engineer for Gaming Core Technology (no degree)
http://jobs.gamejobs.com/jobseeker/job/27247890/Senior Software Engineer, Gaming Core Technology/NVIDIA/?vnet=0&str=1&max=25

Marvel Games Art Lead (no degree)
http://jobs.gamejobs.com/jobseeker/job/27155603/MARVEL GAMES ART LEAD/Marvel Entertainment/?vnet=0&str=1&max=25

There are some that make mention of a degree but will allow you to have equivalent experience if you don't have one.

Storm8 Director of Game Design (degree or equivalent experience)
https://www.glassdoor.com/job-listi...tm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=simplyhired-gdh-up

 

Just as an interesting side note the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest school of medicine in the US. It was founded in 1765. Yet there were settlers as far back as the early 1600s. Where did they learn medicine?

Yes, we expect a modern doctor to have good medical qualifications but at the same time when medicine was just starting to be taken seriously do you think there were degrees handed out? Or even dedicated places of learning?

Computer science is still a relatively young practice and game development is even younger. Thanks to Unity and other companies it has only become easier for anyone to become a game developer. You don't need a degree.

 

Thank you foll all that you have shared your experience with me.

 

Heh, that's one of ours, I know the game well, it's a very cool project that is ramping up, it should be a pretty big game.

 

This. Also tech changes a break neck rate. While you can learn a lot of great skills in college, your real learning starts afterward. Or if you are smart, you are leaning and building before, during and after courses. The key skill in games and tech is the ability to learn. (With or without someone teaching)

 

Your statements contradict each other. First you say:

but in later posts you seem to be saying any degree is a requirement.

I'd almost agree with the latter actually (and even then just because the field is maturing; many of the early legends in game development didn't have a higher degree) but the former (you need a degree "in the field") is obviously not true for me, since I am a professional game programmer and I studied biology, not computer science, in college. Go ahead and look around my website; I'm pretty open about my background.