Any Advice?

[Dittybop]

Hey programmers I was wandering what videogame programmers need to know. I just started college at ITT Technical Institute and I am majoring in Videgame Design and Multimedia! Just wandering what math or algorithms we need to know? I am extremely nervous!

[Loof]

Does "Videogame Design and Multimedia" have anything to do with programming or is it a design (with posibly a bit of scripting thrown in).

 

If its mainly design I don't think maths and algorithsm will be much of a focus at all.

For programming it depends alot on what kind, but some basic algebra and calcalus, plus linear algebra (and possibly some statistics, but thats mainly of theoretical use). For algorithms it's even hardet to say as there aren't as many easy to use classifications to fling about ;-)

Edited July 4, 2006 by Loof

[Dittybop]

Does "Videogame Design and Multimedia" have anything to do with programming or is it a design (with posibly a bit of scripting thrown in).

 

If its mainly design I don't think maths and algorithsm will be much of a focus at all.

For programming it depends alot on what kind, but some basic algebra and calcalus, plus linear algebra (and possibly some statistics, but thats mainly of theoretical use). For algorithms it's even hardet to say as there aren't as many easy to use classifications to fling about ;-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes It Covers Some Programming too I Just want to know what is necessary design/program a game?

[Rhombus]

Programming wise?.. .NET C++ is probably the major language, but what you want to do is learn how to program, not necessarily a language, those are easy enough if you just have the books around and know "programming"...

 

And as said.. Linear Algebra (or what you call it in english, vectors, planes, and projections and stuff) I hear is used for 3D stuff..

 

Graphics design, GUI design.. Human Computer Interaction.. some AI... 3D modeling...

 

 

Anyways, it all depends on what part of the process you want to be part of. I mean, if you're not going to make the game yourself...

 

 

Still, if working at a game company is anything like working for other companies where you program design stuff.. What is necessary is a degree in something computer related. Then get a job. Then you learn what you need to know and how to do the stuff you're suppose to do there...

[Diamond]

.NET C++ is probably the major language

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just a nitpick, .NET C++ (or Managed C++) isn't the major language. Standard (native) C++ is. Other than that you are right, learning math (linear algebra, discrete math) and general programming principles helps.

 

I'd also add that practice is necessary in any field.

[Rhombus]

Just with all the need for .NET framework and stuff that's been coming recently I figured that was the case.. and it's the C++ variant that's been used where ever I've come in contact with C++ except at UNI, where we were cursed with Emacs...

 

And with Vista and Micro$ofts general principle, it will probably become more dominant no?

[Darkkender]

Just with all the need for .NET framework and stuff that's been coming recently I figured that was the case.. and it's the C++ variant that's been used where ever I've come in contact with C++ except at UNI, where we were cursed with Emacs... 

 

And with Vista and Micro$ofts general principle, it will probably become more dominant no?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The problem with .NET programming is that if you are focusing on how to learn how to program .NET alot of the fundamentals get passed over for new nifty features. When you teach programming from the core native C++ perspective you are teaching the person everything and not the new and cool features.

 

Anybody learning to program and getting out into the real world with programming skills needs to learn the core fundamentals. These include low level programming languages and there techniques. Languages such as Assembler still have some use in the market however by and far if you learn any language top priority should be the King language of C and it's extension language C++. These are actually 2 different languages and should be noted as such. The biggest problem in the industry is that people pursue programming degrees and are learning only high level languages and methods for obscuring away low level programming techniques. What this does is produces people that frequently have to spend alot of time getting up to speed with low level programming and are less effective in the job market when going from one company to the next.

 

I myself have many petpeeves about Java having become the primary language that colleges are teaching and less of the fundamentals like C++. C#, Managed C++, Java, PHP, and many other languages are crosses between the low level languages and high level languages. With Managed C++ you take a high level language approach on a low level interface. Meanwhile the other's with maybe the exception of Java are high level languages. Java is an interesting character it is a low level language for Unix/Linux based systems meanwhile on a Windows environment it is a high level language. Anytime you make use of a programming language that uses a Virtual Machine you expose your program to the flaws of higher memory requirements and poor memory management.

[Diamond]

Java is an interesting character it is a low level language for Unix/Linux based systems meanwhile on a Windows environment it is a high level language.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am not sure what you are getting at here. How's Java a low-level language? The language is exactly the same on both platforms.

[alanschu]

It better be!

 

Man, I need to double check for bugs now! :D

[Darkkender]

Java is an interesting character it is a low level language for Unix/Linux based systems meanwhile on a Windows environment it is a high level language.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am not sure what you are getting at here. How's Java a low-level language? The language is exactly the same on both platforms.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Java was developed directly to fill the Role of C/C++ for Sun microsystems servers with the Sun OS which was a UNIX base. On a UNIX/Linux platform Java interacts directly with the PC as a Low-level programming language like Assembly. This means it works almost directly at assembly level. Java was ported to windows because it took off as a easy to use programming language for web development and server side interaction. However in order for them to move Java to the Windows environment they had to create a VM in order to mimic the system calls used by UNIX when working on windows. By creating a VM and running your programs on that you are no longer running at Assembly level you are running above the machine and your virtual machine is actually interacting with the Assembly Machine code level. Because of this You are not running a Low Level language on Windows. It's rather complex and I'm sure a couple of my buddies at Sun Microsystems that I ride the bus with can give a much better explanation than the one I gave above.

[alanschu]

If that's the case, then why did I need to d/l the JRE to get source files to run at work, which uses Linux?

 

I could maybe see if you had commented on running it on a Solaris machine or something....but Linux?

 

If it was just Linux, then it certainly is not running at that low level of a language, and certainly not comparable to assembly, given that different processor architectures will have different assembly languages.

 

Otherwise, I'd have problems running code compiled on the Sun SPARC versus the x86 AMD machine.

Edited August 2, 2006 by alanschu

[Diamond]

On a UNIX/Linux platform Java interacts directly with the PC as a Low-level programming language like Assembly.  This means it works almost directly at assembly level.  Java was ported to windows because it took off as a easy to use programming language for web development and server side interaction.  However in order for them to move Java to the Windows environment they had to create a VM in order to mimic the system calls used by UNIX when working on windows.  By creating a VM and running your programs on that you are no longer running at Assembly level you are running above the machine and your virtual machine is actually interacting with the Assembly Machine code level.  Because of this You are not running a Low Level language on Windows.  It's rather complex and I'm sure a couple of my buddies at Sun Microsystems that I ride the bus with can give a much better explanation than the one I gave above.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What? Java bytecode runs on a virtual machine under all operating systems! Java was never meant to be compiled natively (JIT doesn't count), it was designed to be platform independent from the start.

[Darkkender]

If that's the case, then why did I need to d/l the JRE to get source files to run at work, which uses Linux?

 

I could maybe see if you had commented on running it on a Solaris machine or something....but Linux?

 

If it was just Linux, then it certainly is not running at that low level of a language, and certainly not comparable to assembly, given that different processor architectures will have different assembly languages.

 

Otherwise, I'd have problems running code compiled on the Sun SPARC versus the x86 AMD machine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I apologize I was confusing my OS and lumping them all into the same boat there. I forget that Linux has evolved away from what the UNIX based systems were some 15 years ago at times and I treat them the same.

 

However your JRE does interact differently on a Windows platform than it does on a Linux platform. One of the biggest flaws with Java under Windows is that it is as big a memory hog as windows itself is. However the way that a Linux/UNIX platform are setup they are designed from kernel up to rely much more heavily on a script based interaction with the OS. What this means is yes you do have a VM sitting there with Linux however Unlike Windows it is not competing with the OS for system resources. Of course these are many of the advantages of a UNIX based OS is that your OS is not in charge 100% of the time of system resources. There are alot of massive improvements that have come along with windows since Win95 however with those improvements has come much greater usage and demand of system resources meanwhile Linux has improved along the same lines if not more so and has maintained a demand on sytem resources that has hardly grown since the time of it's launch back in the early 90's. I can even remeber getting ahold of some of those early copies when they came out when I was in college as well as getting Windows Chicago(Became Win95) & Daytona(Became WinNT) betas.

 

But as I also mentioned in my previous post I'm probably not the best to describe the differences of how Java works on the Windows vs UNIX-based systems. I do have a couple friends that I ride the bus daily with that work at Sun and could go into much greater detail as well as much more technical and long winded explanations.

 

Note to all budding programmers that are interested in Game Development. If you ever sell out and become Corp. programmers for Major companies like Sun, Intel, AMD, or "Squishy"Soft(Microsoft) don't let them brainwash you into not being able to speak plain Geek. I swear that Geek speak has evolved much like English has. You have Corp. Geek, Average Geek, Noob Geek, Gutter Geek, Gamer Geek, & a few other dialects much like East Coast Bostoner or Deep Southerner. If you speak Average Geek you can hold your own with nearly any Geek Speak however if you speak Gamer Geek you'll only understand 1/2 of what somebody speaking Corp. Geek is saying and that's on a goodday. I speak Pidgin Gamer & Average Geek with a smattering of Corp. here and there and even I only understand about 2/3 of what my buds at Sun are saying.

[alanschu]

Point your friends to this message board.

[Fenghuang]

Note to all budding programmers that are interested in Game Development.  If you ever sell out and become Corp. programmers for Major companies like Sun, Intel, AMD, or "Squishy"Soft(Microsoft) don't let them brainwash you into not being able to speak plain Geek.  I swear that Geek speak has evolved much like English has.  You have Corp. Geek, Average Geek, Noob Geek, Gutter Geek, Gamer Geek, & a few other dialects much like East Coast Bostoner or Deep Southerner.  If you speak Average Geek you can hold your own with nearly any Geek Speak however if you speak Gamer Geek you'll only understand 1/2 of what somebody speaking Corp. Geek is saying and that's on a goodday.  I speak Pidgin Gamer & Average Geek with a smattering of Corp. here and there and even I only understand about 2/3 of what my buds at Sun are saying.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Eh, I don't really care much about the rest of his post but WTF does he mean by this?

[alanschu]

I have no idea.

[Fenghuang]

Yeah I kinda figured he was just talkin' out his arse since it made no sense at all.

[jaguars4ever]

Obviously you two fail to appreciate the subtle nuances of the Corporate Geek dialect. "

[Nartwak]

As far as I can tell it's about how each subgroup has it's own nomenclature and jargon. Something like how different regions will use the terms soda, or cola, or pop, or coke, or even fizzies in reference to carbonated beverages; or how some fields of work might have their own terminology (forceps, ampoule, scalpel, etc). Furthermore he postulates that there is a parent geek jargon which branches into specific subjargons as defined by familiary and occupation; and that capacity with the parent jargon is more beneficial in regards to inter-branch communications than knowing any one branch.

 

I don't know that there actual different 'geek lingos' though.

[Krookie]

Hey programmers I was wandering what videogame programmers need to know.  I just started college at ITT Technical Institute and I am majoring in Videgame Design and Multimedia!  Just wandering what math or algorithms we need to know?  I am extremely nervous!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think ITT Tech is by me, where are you from?

[alanschu]

You know what, he may benefit merely by asking his college, rather than us.

 

Anything you need to know, they should teach you.

[metadigital]

... Or at least provide the syllabus for you to research on your own ...

[jaguars4ever]

...Or at least provide a college bookstore where syllabi are available for purchase...

[alanschu]

I'd be pissed if I had to pay for a syllabus!

[jaguars4ever]

Yes, but they give you the money by putting you to work in the aforementioned bookstore. See, privatization of education is a wonderful thing.