Hi Amber,

I chose to specialise specifically in the Unity3D game engine, which means I don't touch projects in other engines, but Unity has been a good choice in the growing development market.

So my personal advice is to download the free Unity game engine from http://unity3d.com, and do all the tutorials you can, and pick through the example projects, and that would give you a strong headsup in that particular piece of software. Theres a great user support forum, and answers.com site for Unity specific stuff and a realtime irc channel.

I don't know how well that would dovetail with your study though, as the languages are likely different and that can make it quite hard interpreting as you learn. Institutions need to start teaching high end Unity 3d stuff!

Enjoy your work,

AaronC

Hi Amber,

If you're studying CompSci at Auckland Uni, the ideas behind that course are meant to be language independant. So learning Unity will not confuse or hinder you in any way.

Though I'm new to Unity myself I recommend it highly, it's easy to use (once you watch a few tutorial vids) and most importantly has a helpful community for when you get stuck.

Again if you're at Auckland Uni, once the semester starts you should post on the CompSci forums. Ask if anyone wants to work on a game project with you. Doing it there is good because you can get face time between classes with others in your team at the Uni. I guarantee there will be 1st years on approximately the same level wanting to make games with you.

This didn't really give you what you were after, but I hope it helps you out.

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies, and for the advice, especially about starting to learn Unity. This seems like a good idea for me, and I will definately follow up on it.

Auckland University is likely to be where I will study so it is good to know that learning Unity will not confuse me when it comes to doing my CompSci course, and I will visit the CompSci forums once the semester starts as suggested.

Thanks again,

Amber

Sup James!

Amber, it also might be worth considering if Comp Sci is right for you. If you only want to do game development, then you may be able to learn game programming principles on your own. Computer Science will cover many areas not necessary for game development.

I also recommend Unity ;) It's great.

"Computer Science will cover many areas not necessary for game development." - Right on.

I don't recommend using Unity3d as... its an artists tool not a programmers tool. It uses c# instead of c++. It uses proceedural programming instead of oo programming concepts. It gives the illusion that game dev is easy by avoiding all lower level concepts. If you want to use an artists tool your better off with udk...

Use Esenthel, its cheaper and uses c++ instead of limited c#. Also it has less people in the forums but if you have a problem the person who created the game engine (he is really nice and professional) spends all his time on the forums so he will help you if you get stuck which is better than a community response tbh.

Remember most of the time: c# = business applications, c++ = game applications unless you want to work for yourself (employers dont like self-employed people (i can explain if you want...) so its a bad idea unless you have industry experience already) :P

Esenthel will also require you to use xcode (mac) and visual studio (win) which is valuable.

Admitiingly Esenthel does require reading the manual or you will get stuck (like most c++ game engines).

Also note that Auckland University comp sci is a java school now. (look up what is means)

I think we have a unintentional strawman here. "Game Development" is fairly broad, even "Game Programming" isn't really specific, so we might be arguing about different things.

We have made the reasonable assumption that Amber is probably interested programming because she mentioned Computer Science. But this isn't specific enough.

Plenty of large studios use third-party engines (sometimes modifiying them) and then script the game instead.

The game and the engine, while symbiotic from an engineering standpoint, are unrelated.

So scripting, like in Unity, is every bit game development/programming as low-level programming is and vice versa. Scripting definitely does not require a degree. Low-level programming doesn't either but I do agree a CS course would be a big big help in the low-level area. Writing a game doesn't require low level understanding of software/hardware or an advanced understanding of mathematics, but writing an engine usually does.

So my point is (in a broad sense, some specific situations might not apply), if you want to write your own engine, a course in CS may be benficial. If you just want to make a game, scripting in an engine like Unity or something similar is all you need.

Amber, I hope we haven't complicated the issue for you. I just wanted to point out the difference between the engine and the game before we continue.

On a side note, It might be worth mentioning that Square Enix have started using Unity for some projects.

http://news.google.co.nz/news/more?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=QG4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=square+enix+unity+engine&gs_upl=2001l2001l1l2258l1l1l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=814&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=de7T_IbRQ73PftM0tRoKGBBhT9fgM&ei=9HP6TrGuLueKmQWE6fi9Ag&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQqgIwAA

I second studying computer science as being valuable to game programming - Datastructures, algorithms and math should be top priorities - And I'd add computer architecture and networking to the list of topics worth studying, because well, lets face it, all that theory is good but it does need to get implemented on a machine after all!

When I was at Auckland Uni (2004-2008) It definately wasn't a Java School - I believe I used Java, Assembly, C, C#, Matlab, R, Prolog - (I believe there was also a little Ruby and PHP but I didn't take those classes.) As well as lots of math and other symbolic notations for logic, statistics, graph theory etc...

The more work I do, the more I realise that Languages don't really matter that much - They're just a vehicle for expression, Just a tool to get something done. Just use the one that fits the job and makes you not want to throw your machine across the room. (I'm not a fan of C++, Java or PHP for the record...) Better to focus on the fundementals and choose tools that work well for you.

The biggest difference I see between compsci programmers and those who are self-taught or go to trade schools is their understanding of Big Oh complexity. Of course I'm being unfair and over generalizing - It's just something that I feel is really important, but it seems to be left off the syllabus on non-compsci programs.

Anyway I've waffled on a bit. C# is awesome, it is my favoriate programming language by far. Don't get caught in the all game development is in C++ trap. (Btw you can interop between C# and C++ in fact this is how Unity works)

If you want to be a unity scripter theres no point in going to university or higher education as it's so easy an artist can do it... Which is what scripting is designed for. Square Enix will only use unity3d because of the flat fee licensing of small and quick projects, nothing amazing. 

I dunno, Game Dev is a bit of a 'Horses for Courses' type senario, what works for me might not work for you and so on. I think the best example of this I can think of is Minecraft - Java iritates me no end, but that guy is an indie god. If I told Notch he was doing it wrong I'd be kinda missing the point.

Thanks for all these replies, guys. I appreciate them. I am fairly sure I want to do the Computer Science course, to get a broader knowledge of programming, and the theory behind it. I don't nessesarily want to be a Unity Scripter, but I think Unity is worth learning while I have some spare time before University, after all I don't really have anything to lose. :)

I don't think thats completely true.. Coding is coding and like anything, if you don't know how to do it be prepared to wear a helmet for when you repeatedly hit the wall.

In my experience its possible for a artist to learn to code in the Unity environment but I'm saying that after 5 years + of helmet wearing. They say artists make lousy programmers and vice versa. Kinda true perhaps, and I make a living with a foot in both camps. Unity's great but saying "it's so easy an artist can do it..." also requires a tonne of time learning. I still cannot make a multiplayer game despite being self employed fulltime for 3 + years, and 75% of my work being coding.

/2c

AC

When I started using Unity, I took 2 weeks off work to learn how to use it. In that time I built a multiplayer block building game with chat functions, similar to minecraft in the building style, but it was third person and you could use images from the internet to customise blocks.

I didn't know how to use Unity or how to write in javascript when I started. I had a basic understanding of programming from doing first year Comp Sci.

Either I'm a genius or Unity is easy as hell. Likely to be the latter. lol

Heres a video of it: http://youtu.be/pQyf5MHiRMk

It took about another 2 weeks to evolve the project into the one I presented at the indie showcase at the meetup.

Awesome! The point of note though, in relevance to my statement is the 1 year of studying computer science prior and I would have to guess you were naturally that way inclined on the outset. That natural ability may not apply to all artists.

Well done mate! Theres work going on one of my teams coding a multiplayer shooter on iOS if you or anyone is skilled keen and available. Let me know.

AC

Thanks for PM, I cannot see how to access them here so feel free to drop a line at deepwater3d at geemail dot comm

AC