Right age to start game development?

I think a major factor missing is how much time you can put into it. I've been at it forever, but I seldom get the chance to stick with it for too long due to work and life getting in the way.

Also, I simply don't have the brain for it like some people do. I'm not saying that I'm particularly dumb, but when it comes to programming I think it takes me 4 times the effort as some others.

Still, It's a fun hobby.

 

Really appreciate your answer , that helps a lot Thank you!

 

Extremely useful information sir , Thanks a lot
One Question , if I learn C# to make games in Unity , will that help me to develop games in future or the C# in Unity is entirely different? Thanks!

 

I can't just quote all , but yeah , I read all of your answers and thanks a lot guys , it helped so much
You guys are awesome

 

You can start yesterday.

 

There's no "right age" for anything. (except porn).

If you like game development, go for it. Learn, try, fail, repeat.

 

I'm also 15 and I feel that by starting earlier and just jumping into programming without taking any classes is an effective way of learning because you get a deeper understanding of programming, an understanding that really makes sense to you and is inline with however you learn. In addition, I also believe that starting early gives you more time to experiment and determine what, specifically, you really like to program / are good at. Just my opinion based on my experience with programming. Sometimes you may end up wishing someone would just hold your hand and walk you through a challenge, but by overcoming that challenge yourself it's more rewarding, from both a skill development and a personal achievement perspective.

 

Soon as you're old enough to read.

Like MD said above me you're never too young if it's something you want bad enough.

 

Learn to read by programming

 

Programming is pretty much the only reason I did good in math classes.

 

You are never to young or old to start learning. Your natural talent and the time that you spend on your specialization dictate the speed of your progress. You will not be a "master" (actually called senior or lead tech/optimization/graphics... programmer depending on specialization) programmer at the age of 19 unless you are a genius. You will be what we call a "junior programmer". If you even manage to start your career as a programmer, many begin as junior QA or community employees while they further develop their skills.

Game companies aren't only made up of programmers, we also got many other professions. What is the most fun for you? Have you made sure that this is what you want to spend your nights with? Game development is demanding and you can never stop learning/developing your skills and just earn a salary... salary isn't even great unless you are a genius or established front-figure in the industry. Know average programmers that develop office applications that earn more then senior "game" programmers. Many talented people choose to leave the games industry when they want to start a family (it is a bit better in Europe then USA and Asia) because "crunch" periods and other stuff tend to strain relationships.

That is a piece of life within the AAA industry (Capcom is among them), you can also go indie if you got the skills, more creative freedom but less salary unless you find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Oh, do not forget that you need to speak fluent Japanese and adapt to their culture...

Most people I know in the industry do what they do because they are passionate about their specific area of games development Every problem that they solve, every game that they release is a child to them.

 

A good point to bring up. Spending four years learning programming only to assume you've "mastered" it and don't need to learn any further is not a good approach. Keeping up to date is par for the course with programming.

I remember, back in community college, a couple of my fellow students were attempting to pick up a new language (Java) because their old language (COBOL) had died out completely in the area. They had been jobless for at least four months because they neglected to keep themselves up to date and learn anything else.

They ended up dropping the course due to the differences between languages being simply too much for them to learn.

 

Four years of programming knowledge is barely the same as learning to float on water, it will take another ten years to swim and many more before you got all the scuba diving certificates.

The more you learn, the further you get from mastering programming. Programming isn't about writing pretty code, it is about solving problems and optimizing the overall system. People discover new possibilities within programming all the time, sure game engines evolve because hardware improve but so does also the code that interact with the hardware. What are variables, functions, arrays etc? This is the kind of thinking that you eventually have to get into and then start manipulating as a AAA games programmer. What if I store all of my bools as bits in an integer?

 

Which is why I linked the Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years article on the first page. It isn't enough to simply cram the knowledge in your head, you also have to get the experience to know how to put that knowledge to good use.

 

The right age is NOW

 

Thank you for giving me some goosebumps ! That was heart breaking , if you meant to say that a Software Engineer earns more than a game developer , then whats the case?
As far as I've read , it takes a lot more effort to build a game than building a software , still Software Engineer wins the race?
Although , your reply was so much helpful , game development is my ambition , you guys are saying , 4 years to barely float , another 10 years to learn ? What the HECK was that?

I mean , you wanna say I'll be a game developer in some AAA company when I reach 40 years of age? or above 30?
Thats disgusting !
Although , I know it depends so much on how much you really want to do a thing ..
For example , if from the start , I set my mind that I'll learn game development in 20 years , then definitely I'll proceed with creepy speed , I would have been already discouraged !
But if I set my mind that "I'm gonna do it , yes , I'll do it , nothing is impossible , do it even if it takes your life HASEEB!!!"
then probably I'll do it a lot faster.
Seriously guys , answer a few questions of mine .

1.Is game development (programming) really a rewarding profession? If yes , how much? Like a software Engineer?

2.Do you think its impossible to get job in AAA or AA industries in your 20s?

3.Do you think even If I try so damn hard , I can't become a good programmer in 5 years? If yes , give reasons.

4.Is there any person working on this forum to discourage young people? (I hope not)

Thanks a lot!

 

If your game gets popular. Or if you get a high-paying position in a company. A stable one too.

Not at all. Many of us on the forums have done exactly that.

Programming I find is one of those things that you can get better at and not notice. You still will feel like you don't have a clue what you're doing- and that's okay, (nearly) everybody feels that way. I'd say 5 years is enough to become at least competent. Plenty of time to learn advanced techniques to employ.

If there are, they are nuts. It's younger people with the drive and the imagination. It's just older members are more realistic about the outcomes of most situations. While it is possible to get very rich off of making games, it is rarely more than just a hobby because the money isn't enough unless you get at least sort-of popular.

 

Thank you so much This was definitely the best answer I would find!
You've cleared everything with a reasonable answer, thanks again!

 

I would prefer the term "office applications" or something similar instead of "software" because games are also software... Anyways, you cannot draw a line and say that one is more complicated then the other, Angry Birds is less complicated then Microsoft Word but World of Warcraft beats them both... and it goes on like that. What we can say is that; there are more games that drive technology forward then there are office applications.

So why is it easier to get a better salary when you develop these office applications? The first is that it is easier to get a decent programmer for a game then for an office project. On the other hand, it is a lot more difficult to find a really experienced game developer then an experienced office developer... Game developers thus tend to have a lower entrance salary, years and finished AAA projects is what counts in the game industry so it is harder to bargain for a big salary raise until you have worked at least 5-10 years and finished 3 AAA projects. Games also have smaller success margins, so they do not earn money the same way... something that can change the outcome is if you work from start to end on a game that revolutionize the game industry (the first GTA, MineCraft, WoW), that is a point when you can switch company and ask for a much better salary because you are someone that other companies want. Also... contacts, contacts, contacts... lots of deals are made through friends within the games industry... even with publishers... make the right friends and you can make money materialize in the air... make them upset and the rumor will spread and no one will help you anymore.

AAA:
It is possible to get a QA or Community position... Maybe as a level designer if you show talent but forget anything higher. You need a good University degree today to progress into Art, Programming, Audio etc... It is even rare within the games industry for someone to become a game designer or creative director etc. Requirements also increase with every passing year because more talented people appear all the time. Thus, it is becomming more important to have a University degree even for the small positions.

AA:
There is almost no AA industry at the moment... most of it disappeared many years ago when big publishers began to purchase mid-sized studios (and later closed many of them). They are starting to return thanks to the indie-movement but they often employ less people because their projects got smaller scope and use more procedural content. The often recruit through contacts because it is essential for them to get really talented people.

A:
This is what I see as the good Indie developers with more then one published project... 1-7 people that collaborate really closely on projects... these companies are often fragile and prefer to purchase assets or hire someone for contract work to complete a specific task.

No... everything is possible if you play your cards right. Studies, talent and hard work... these will open the door for you. Social skills and experience within your area of specialization will determine if you get an interview. It will certainly help if you have made friends within the company and impressed them beforehand.

No, but there are talented hobby developers running around,several indie-developers, some AA and a few AAA developers. On the other hand, there are often noobs that start a thread with "I don't know how to program" and continues with "I want to make this 4ws0m3 RPG-MMO that will leave WoW in the dirt"

People that got experience know that games aren't always that easy to make... even harder to make a good game and to make it successful Sure, many of us can make a bejeweld clone within hours but a Call of Duty... urgh... and a AAA-MMO *insert a dead smiley on the way to heaven*

Some people react because they are tired of noobs, others attempt to get them down from the clouds... you will understand why I say that it will take years to even become an average artist or programmer once you have learned the basics but it gets easier if you prepare yourself for a long journey

That is the attitude that you need. Line up beginner tutorials, start from the ground up with C# programming for Unity beginners, follow the projects, try to replicate them in your own project and if programming is your main interest... repeat the basics until you dream nothing else but C# code. Your first goal is to nail the basics of the language, once you have reached that point, research what happens inside the computer when you declare a variable, what are they made out of and so on... Solid basics will make life easier in the future when you progress to advanced programming. Oh, and study math... lots of it...

 

Great help and answers sir , I'm glad to see people like you !
If that is the case then I guess I'm on the right track , I just downloaded a book "Learning C# by developing games in Unity" , I've read 4 chapters in a day ! This book is really amazing , the basics are explained very well

I'm in the first year of college , in University , I plan to do BSCS/BCS .
So , almost 6 years of more struggle . I guess further specializing will take years but now I'm determined.
What I believe is , man can do anything if he tries to do so (and if its in his fate) , if you truly try hard with heart , I believe even if you want to get job in AAAAAAAAAA industry . There's nothing stopping you
Thanks again!

 

There's no limit to how much you can learn. But if you choose to learn more, make sure you are applying it so that knowledge becomes concrete, and practical. If you're going the university route, try to steer clear of Games Design courses- CS courses will give you a much better set of skills for actually making games than a GD one will.

Well if you were without heart, you'd probably dead.

 

Hahhahaha lol thanks for information bro xD
Appreciated!

 

I got into programming and Unity about 2 years ago, but I wish I started when we first got a computer in the house. I think I was around 7 years old. I already knew english at that point (learned through Cartoon Network, while it was still good lol), so I could have if I wanted, but I was too young to decide. I did use Game Maker and UDK on and off over the years prior to Unity, when I was around your age or a bit younger, but it didn't involve any programming. I only just really got started around 2 years ago, so that's where I mark my starting point.

Btw I like your positive attitude.

 

I like the way with the old computers if you wanted to make something you'd have to program it. When I was young everything directed to RPG maker pretty much... can't really tell if it's a good thing or not as if I had to program I might of just quit but if I didn't quit it would have been much more helpful.

 

Thanks bro
I also got my first PC in 2003 , it was Pentium 4 , 1.7ghz Single core , but at that time , it was like the best PC in the universe for me lol
Some guys say "You should have started programming when you were 8 or 9 years old"
Lmao! I couldn't even install a game when I was 8 or 9 years old
There's noway I would learn PROGRAMMING on my ancient computer at that age. LOL!
I'm happy whenever I started learning programming , it is good for me
If I had started at a point when I had absolutely no interest in it , I would have left it a long ago like little kids who start learning maths at 3 years of age and still know nothing when they are in high school.
So , it all depends on "When and how you develop interest" in something..
I believe if you started 2 years ago , it was the best time for you. No regrets..

 

If only my computer was that powerful when I started. I had the fortune, or misfortune depending on how you look at it, to learn in an era when you either optimized or threw out a good portion of your gameplay mechanics.

I learned on a wonderful ZEOS 386 running at 16MHz with 4MB in individually inserted chips, a Diamond Speedstar graphics card that could just barely achieve 640 by 480, and a 120MB drive which was quite likely slower than a ZIP-250.

It was a fun time for me, but in retrospect it sucked so bad. QuickBASIC was one of the better languages because the competition, in the form of Borland, failed to produce a decent compiler that followed any standards.

Now is one of the best times to get started because most compilers at least pretend they follow standards and finding assistance with your programs is as easy as opening a browser and hitting up your favorite development forum.

 

Wow I have no idea what any of those words mean. lol
My first computer was Pentium 1 I think, and something dad called "not even pentium".

I wish I knew what I wanna do in life a bit sooner, but it took school, highschool (auto-electric), and signing up to college I have no idea or desire to go to (manufacturing machinery and computer technologies, except it had none of the computer part) just so I buy more time before I have to get a job I'll be stuck at forever. Then after a year I switched majors to something better (Engineering Management), and had sort of useful classes like Marketing and Entrepreneurship, and just then after a couple years it hit me that I wanna make games. Even tho I've had countless attempts on and off over the years, it just hit me then... Had a facepalm that echoed the great empty halls of my "college", went on to research how, what, with what, how, and got to Unity, found Unity Cookie too, got into programming, after 6 months finished and released my first game on Desura, which failed because I overpriced it so the initial buyers wave was rejected, and moved on with next projects. Its now 1.99$ from 12.99$ but the initial wave is gone. xD

PS: Your first game is almost always gonna be utter failure. And that's fine.

 

Found a picture of what it essentially looked like. Only I had a better monitor.

 

Monty Python time... "House?! You were lucky to live in a house!" Started out on an Amstrad CPC464 (4 Mhz, 64KB RAM with cassette tape storage). Although that's not where I really learned. Amiga 500 was where I started out learning (7.09 Mhz, 512KB RAM, 1.44 inch floppy drive) - and learned most of what I still know It did have that magical chip set which at the time both made it vastly graphically superior to PC and much more fun to program and hack than most stuff before or since. Amiga Basic first, AMOS Basic followed, eventually moved almost exclusively to assembly, which is when I felt I was actually doing interesting stuff.

In response to the OP, started on Amiga assembly at age 13. Did some slightly notable stuff at 15-16. But then, in spite of it being quite a bit harder to learn back then, it was easier to make an impression and do something relatively new, since the programming field was far from as crowded as it is today.

As for PC, started out with Turbo Pascal - also learned x86 assembly, but didn't use it as much on the PC as I did on Amiga - although the knowledge gained still sometimes comes in handy to this day.

 

I started programming on a TRS-80. It was a fun platform in its day. Eventually, I got a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 3, and that was even more fun. I had extra RAM soldered into my last CoCo3 and had the CPU overclocked to 2MHz.

 

While I learned on a ZEOS 386 running QuickBASIC it wasn't my first computer. It was my third computer.

My first computer was a Commodore 64 (1MHz, 64KB RAM, 5.25-inch floppy drive). I still have the majority of the components I had back when I got them over twenty years ago. They don't simply run well, they run like they were brand new. Original packaging is dry rotting apart, but the disks have held up really well.

Games load remarkably fast when you've got the faster 1571 drive and an EPYX FastLoad cartridge.

My second computer was an IBM PC XT (4.77MHz, 640KB RAM, dual 5.25-inch drives, 20MB HDD). Unlike the C64 though, this one is long gone. Hard drive was one of those behemoth 5.25-inch jobs and it was loud. Made some of the weirdest operational noises though. Not clicking, but something akin to a beep.

Compared to those, the ZEOS 386 had pretty decent performance.

 

So @Haseeb_BSAA you should be 21 years old now! What are you doing, this was so old!

 

As soon as possible!

This was my bed-time reading when I was 14, so I could learn all the keywords to code my first game.

It was a horse racing game. The game loop was pretty good for the day. You'd start with some cash and you bet on the result of a 2D side scrolling race. Then you'd count your winnings (or losses) and another race would start.

I even made a box for the floppy disk and did the box art!

I don't have any images of the game itself, which is a real shame, although I do have a printout of the BASIC code somewhere though.