Studying Games Development
As you may well be aware, I’m currently studying computer games development via a study-at-home course. The course has been the victim of a lot of vitriol and doubt from the internet at large as towards it’s authenticity but from my own experiences so far it seems quite good. The course is question is the games developer course offered by train2game in association with TIGA.
It starts off assuming no knowledge of programming whatsoever so for me the early stages are a little pointless, though in fairness they do cover some of the thought processes that you’d need to familiarise yourself with both to be a decent coder and to work on games specifically. I’ve made sure to do everything in the books so far, whether or not I think it’s useless given my existing skillset.
This course is relatively new, something I’ve been stung with before when I did my foundation degree in computer and electronics interfacing, but the course tutors and staff seem extremely responsive and ready, eager even, to give help. The forums also are home to some good community information as well as frequented by a few unaffiliated members of the games industry which provide help and advice of their own accord which is amazing of them and much appreciated.
So far, I’m pretty happy with the course and I’m currently on the early stages of the C++ parts, where you learn the language and how to use it. Going through the material, I’ve been surprised by how much C++ I’ve forgotten over the 8 or 9 years it’s been since I last used it actively. The book has been a great help, as have my tutors, in getting back up to speed.
I’ve had some minor issues with the course material, sometimes the questions in the mini-exams are vaguely worded or terminology used isn’t 100% consistent which can course some confusion but the tutors have always been on hand to answer any questions and are eager to correct any mistakes in the material, putting out errata when needed.
I’m looking forward to breaking out into more complex territory soon as I reach more advanced subjects in the course. In the mean time I’m teaching myself how to use various 3D libraries (my eyes currently set on Ogre3D) and messing around with physics engines (chipmunk for 2D stuff and possibly bullet for 3D).
At this early stage in the course I can’t really lodge any complaints as for the most part I haven’t actually learned anything particularly new to me but as soon as I hit that stage I’ll keep things updated for all of you that are concerned this course might be some kind of scam. So far though, the effort put into it and the general quality of responses from both tutors and the community makes the whole scam scenario seem extremely unlikely. As to whether or not the qualification at the end becomes recognised by the industry remains to be seen.