h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is nearly 19! When did that happen??

Anyhoo, on Monday he's starting his A level equivalency years at College, doing a two year Level 3 Diploma in Games Development. On interrogation about what he wants to do in two years time he's dropped the idea of Uni, but doesn't know what he wants to do as apparently Games Development is very broad and covers 'everything'. I am hoping he'll decide which 'bit' he likes and get him into more education, but he'll be nearly 21 by then.

At some point he's got to go out to work.

I liked the tutor we met this week, he commented that his course attracts a lot of social recluses. What a polite way to phrase it.

A year from now you'll have to find a new soubriquet for him because he won't be a teenacher any more

What's Games Development?

I'll get my thinking cap on!

I've no idea what it consists of, but he can go on to most programming jobs from this from what I understand. It's part of 'Media', and is quite broad.

He hasn't shown me anything he built, but last year he did a 2D game as his project in 'games maker'.

'Games Development' is one of those catch-all phrases which encompasses a lot of different professions...

You've got:

modellers: making the 3D models themselves (the puppets)
riggers: attaching the 'strings' to the puppets
animators: pulling the strings
texture artists: making the grey, 3D models look like the real thing
background modellers: putting together the scenery
Background textures: painting the backdrops
Then you've got the script writers, audio recording specialists, sound effects, visual effects...

Basically - think of every one you see in the end titles of a Shrek movie and add a few more professions and you get 'Games Developers'

The modellers, riggers and animators need decent experience with 3D modelling software before most studios will even look at offering them a contract...

In addition, it's one of those professions where experience counts a great deal, alternatively getting a diploma from the right school (which are generally _very_ expensive) might get your foot in the door somewhere.

A lot of these guys are actually freelance and get hired by the games companies on a project-basis, there are very few 'staff' games developers.

There is one way in I've seen work though - get a decent working knowledge of the type of software used to write 'facebook' type games, write a couple of your own facebook games or smartphone apps and if you're lucky and get yourself noticed you might get taken up by one of the big houses.

Do you know, despite the fact that I love playing them and have done since I saw my first Space Invaders machine in a pub, the idea that it might be video games never crossed my mind. I was thinking about PE

Showing my age, I think

In that case, you need to pronounce it like Hank Hill... "vidya games".



I think most teenagers that say they want to be a game developer are thinking of that rarest of jobs, games tester. They envision being payed to play Call of Grand Theft Halo IV all day long.

Oh Hank

I like him because he stands up for what's right and for common sense and almost always comes out on top for sticking to his guns when he knows an injustice has been done, but sometimes he makes me squirm with the degree of his embarrassment. Last night I watched the episode where everyone thinks he rents porn vidyas (did you see what I did there? ) and he has to get his credit straightened out. That one typifies both those sides of his character.

Thanks Whisky! I would like Teenacher to go to uni, by the sounds of it he needs to specialise. I used to know a bloke who wanted to design the characters in video games, so I knew it wasn't one person who did it all, but didn't realise quite how broad it was!

Not sure if they get onto 3D modelling in this course. https://www.southessex.ac.uk/course/creative-media-production-games-development-level-3-diploma

Gosho, sorry, we're so immersed in games and computery stuff (although I have abdicated much of that stuff to Teenacher now) that I forgot there was another use of the word.

That's okay Mina

Now, where's my Zimmer frame? Did you pesky kids take it? And get off my lawn!!!