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I was chatting with a college student who I've known for quite some time, and he wanted to apply to our company. He's of the first batch of students on a course specific to videogame development, and he's at the point where he's working on his thesis so I surmised he's got like, one schoolyear left.
So I asked if he had projects to show, and he did show a couple of games he contributed work on. Much of the programming for them, he said, he was responsible for, so I'll take his word on that.
The games themselves actually show potential. By the way, these are short games reminiscent of, say, mobile games or browser games, to give you an idea.
There are some flaws on the design, mainly in one game, the play experience was most of the time, frustrating. But he's the programmer so I should be judging his coding skills, not the design.
So, without seeing the source code, the best I could do at that point was speculate how good his coding skills are, based on the games I saw. Or I could simply test him.
So to start, I made an extremely simple test.
"By the way, do you know what 'design patterns' are?", I asked.
"No, sir."
"Hmmm, ok, how about 'unit testing'?"
"Oh, again, no, sir."
At that point I didn't bother asking further. At that point I was thinking, "What the hell are schools teaching students these days?"
Then the discussion went on about how disappointed he was in his school, and how I was in a similar situation back then.
Well, good then, I thought. The first step to improvement is to know in the first place that you are lacking.
In the end, the most useful advice I could give him at that point is recommendations on what books to read.
To start off, I mentioned the ever useful Code Complete, and then a bunch of other books useful for game programmers.
Ultimately, I'm not trying to paint a bad picture of the education system right now. I know videogame development is still gaining momentum here in the Philippines.
I just wanted to share my encounter with this student, and how often we have to take matters into our own hands if we want something done.
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"What are the most important aspects of the job to focus on to become (programmer, artist, designer, etc.) in the game industry?"
While learning a basket of programs is important, finding more focus on what each persons time and money should be focused on is important as well, in my opinion. To try and make the steps to that goal less vague.
From a students perspective, the game industry is like a jigsaw puzzle. We are merely trying to fit together the pieces, as to how everything works and functions in a cohesive system. We are looking for experts/mentors to donate a better understanding of the way, while not demanding something be given to the unworthy.
>job to focus on to become (programmer,
>artist, designer, etc.) in the game industry?"
The truth is, all are equally important.
Sometimes you can shortcut a few things, like not bother much with the design aspects, but that leaves you with an inferior product.
My question is, which do you prefer to be? Programmer, artist, designer? Maybe you want to specialize further in one of them, or maybe you want to be a jack-of-all-trades to some extent? Both are valid options. Both generalist and specialists are valued by companies, but ultimately, it depends on where you apply. Most start-ups will value generalists more as that is cost-effective for them.
If the student is confused as to which role he wants, I believe the school needs to give eye-opener activities, then let the student decide for himself after that.
After you decide, you have a goal now that you can work on, perhaps with the help of the school (and they should since you paid them).
Right now in my country though, its programmers that are in short supply. The art industry is already established. As for designers, when we make games for clients, they are the designers pretty much.
Head First Design Patterns: for an introduction on design patterns. I am on the opinion that right after a beginner learns object-oriented programming, they should read this book, and learn more about design patterns afterwards
Agile Game Development With Scrum: about good workflow and team coordination practices
Game Developer's Market Guide: an eye opener to the industry at large. some contents probably outdated but many tips and explanations still stand relevant
Some of the heavier texts:
Code Complete
The Pragmatic Programmer
Some links:
http://programming-motherfucker.com/
http://heartvine.tumblr.com/post/17243872646/indie-game-dev-faq
http://sites.google.com/site/vidyadevresources
http://pixelprospector.com/indie-resources
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html
http://content.gpwiki.org/index.php
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=4.0