Games Design Courses – Are they worth it?

Disclaimer: Everything here is of my own opinion and do not necessarily represent any other party’s views.

Note: When I refer to game developers, this means I am referring to everyone involved in the development of the game such as programmers, artists, producers, designers, etc.

There has been increasingly more enquires about becoming a games developer in forums related to games careers such as the ones on IGDA and GameCareerGuide. As much as I am happy that more and more people are interested in entering the games industry, the majority of these are asking on how they become a games designer and which games design course should they choose because they naturally see it as the best way to get into the industry. After all, if you want to be a plumber, you do a plumbing course. So if you want to be games designer, you do a games design course, right?

If only it was that simple.

I made this!

Finally, I actually get to say this after waiting for it to be publicly announced: Here is a video on Harry Potter – The Half Blood Prince Potions game which I was primary working on during development of the game, enjoy!

New article added – How to be a Games Tester

Read it here. Comments and feedback welcome.

Quick fire update

Finally got the keys to the house mentioned earlier (took long enough) and it is a little smaller then I last remembered but I finally have my own place . I haven’t yet settled in due to a complete lack of furniture which is next on my agenda list. Later in the year, I am planning to put some effort and money towards fixing up the place.

Work is going pretty well despite all the doom and gloom with recent layoffs and studio closures. Currently working on frontend for a handheld platform which is a change of pace for me.

Still eagerly waiting for the Open Pandora and now a Streetfighter IV Fightstick which I can’t seem to preorder .

Not much beyond this I guess. Oh, I do have a personal project in the works but not yet ready to be mentioned yet.

Review of my Portfolio

A few weeks ago, Lee Winder asked if he could use my site for review in his current series The Elusive Demo Portfolio to which I agreeed to and here is the result. Happy reading!

I also got hold of a copy of C++ for Game Programmers Second Edition after reading the First Edition and wanting my own personal reference. The first edition was an excellent read and covers a lot of areas not found in standard C++ books. I am hoping the Second Edition adds to this.