More than just fun and games…
With the growth of the video game industry comes an increase in the number of opportunities available for both new graduates and experienced programmers. But the industry remains highly competitive. There exists a huge pool of talent out there and game studios can afford to be selective in who they choose to bring on. If you are pursuing a programming job in gaming, whether or not you’ve given any thought to it, upgrading yourself through self-study or even taking a part-time course may be beneficial to you. There is no question that finding a job as a video game programmer is one of the most challenging positions to obtain. After all, programmers essentially implement the functionality in a video game that makes everything work. While there are specialized areas, from AI to engine programming, programmers may also be expected to be generalists depending on the size of the company. A Games programming course gives students a chance to design, develop and test a game project challenging themselves in the process with deadlines, presentations and critiques done by fellow students.
A look at: Games Programming with OpenGL
The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is one of the schools in the surrounding Vancouver area that offers a course in 3D games programming as well as a fairy new second course that covers XNA programming. Pat McGee, a Technical Engineer with Business Objects and an instructor at BCIT is the instructor of both part-time courses. He has also co-authored the Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creator’s Guide. The course has been designed to create a fun learning environment that is easy enough to provide an introduction to games programming for non-programmers. While more experienced students, those with a strong computer background, can still benefit from what is taught in both courses.
Pat, who first started off teaching at a kids camp (for teens), created the 3D Games programming course which didn’t exist among the part-time courses at BCIT. “It could be used as a start to games programming to learn the technologies used in game development and to learn the logic, routines, resources and graphics libraries.” He says. The course is about 12 weeks and by the end of it; students will have completed their own 3D game and will have also learned what resources were required in the process.
Pat’s games programming course covers C++ and libraries such as OpenGL and OpenAL. Each week student’s bring their homework to class and the class is able to see what they were working on. It can be a little unnerving, which is why Pat also gives them the option to choose not to demo their weekly assignment to the class. A group project and presentation is also required in the course, giving the students a chance to see what working on a team is like for those that are new to it. Although in any computer related program, and the workplace, working both individually and in a team is commonplace.
Of course, anyone that puts in that little extra effort is able to learn more on their own, making a course like this a good way to gauge one’s interest in games programming. As Pat points out, games programming is not for everyone. Even if you have a love for video games, you may not hold the same love for programming video games. Taking a games programming class gives the student an opportunity to see what its like before deciding whether or not to pursue that career change, or start a degree program. Getting either a diploma or a degree in a computer related program does not mean the student is limited to working in the games industry; of course, they are free to transfer their skills to programming other types of software or applications easily.
Read about the differences between a computer science degree and a game programming degree here
1 Comment
January 5, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Do u have any institute to give training for game Designing ?
If yes, let me know details of how to enroll in it.