[gameprogrammer] Re: Games Universities......

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [gameprogrammer] Re: Games Universities......
From: Bob Pendleton <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, June 22, 2009 11:43 am
To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 5:06 AM, Himangshu
Saikia<arctic.quasar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am quite new to this community and I do follow most of your posts. I
> seriously want to pursue a career in computer graphics/game development and
> I need some advice regarding how to go for it.
>
> I hold a bachelor of technology in computer science degree from one of
> India's premier engineering institutes (IIT Guwahati) and am currently
> working as a Java/Plsql developer in Oracle India Development Center at
> Bangalore for almost a year now. I got recruited by Oracle from campus and
> the job is great (considering pay) but nothing like what I wanted to do. I
> thought of going for a masters in the same discipline this year, and I
> applied to two universities in Europe (in the hope of obtaining a
> scholarship in the time of recession, and also choosing a specialization in
> CG) I got through both, viz. TU Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Linkoping
> University in Sweden. But unfortunately I didn't land up any scholarship.
> I'm still at crossroads now. I still think going for a masters is the best
> choice that I have. And I will be in a better position to finance my studies
> next year. What I'm worried about is what I'm going to do this year..
>
> Does any of you know of any good university which might serve my purpose? As
> in a great CG course? Do you think I should stick to my job now, (since a
> two year stint in a company like Oracle is considered valuable for applying
> to a masters course) or try to shift to a job more to my liking? Since I
> have near zero experience in game development, I think it'll be more than a
> little difficult to get a job in this field. I have good experience with C++
> though not much with OpenGl. I'm also good in Algorithms, Geometry and
> Physics and had also represented my institute in the ACM ICPC regionals
> once.
>
> Please let me know of what you think I should do, any little suggestion will
> be of great help!

Now what you need to do is write a game. Pick something like Tetris or
Asteroids, something simple. I suggest working on a PC with C/C++
since you already know it. You don't need a CG course, at most you
need a good book on CG. If you want to learn OpenGL get the "OpenGL
Programming Guide" and work your way through the demo programs, try
getting the to run using libSDL. In 6 months you will know OpenGL as
well or better than most. I'm also a big fan of "Computer Graphics:
Principles and Practice" by Foley, Van Dam, et al.

When reading and working through books like those I find it works best
to just read them cover to cover making absolutely no effort to
understand the material. Then, a month or so later, or even a year
later, go back and work through them to learn the material. I got the
trick from my father who was a college professor who learned it from
one of his professors when he was an undergrad. It is a great way to
learn quickly because it exposes you to introductory and advanced
material on a subject pretty much at the same time.

Bob Pendleton

>
> Thanks in advance.
> Regards
>



--
+-----------------------------------------------------------
+ Bob Pendleton: writer and programmer
+ email: Bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
+ web: www.TheGrumpyProgrammer.com

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