A Serious Question
Disman
Kentucky Join Date: 2003-04-05 Member: 15227Members
Kentucky Join Date: 2003-04-05 Member: 15227Members
<div class="IPBDescription">For you college guys and gals....(NS)</div>
With the course of mass moding on several different games and platforms, it looks like it is/will become and profitable industry. Being in a college of business I was just wondering a few things from you players who understand the internal coding and mapping protions of the game better than I so here goes:
1. What major would you recommend for someone who was interested in joining a mod team or perhaps one day even designing their own modification for an existing game? There are so many majors out there dealing with programming - mapping - graphical engineering I was wondering your opinions as to which is better?
2. If you are a part of the dev team or currently enrolled in school what major are you doing?
3. Do you have any points for me as to where to start? Should I just do the research on my own and learn programming and mapping on the side instead of majoring in it? Does it matter?
4. Do mod teams really care if you majored/minored in a computer course or are they fine with you learning on your own?
(Note: I'm more of a techno person rather than a software junkie but I'm really wanting to learn my way around that area of computers.)
I really hope this topic is not out of place, if it is just delete it. Just wanting some opinions of people who are actually into all this. Thanks for any and all responses.
With the course of mass moding on several different games and platforms, it looks like it is/will become and profitable industry. Being in a college of business I was just wondering a few things from you players who understand the internal coding and mapping protions of the game better than I so here goes:
1. What major would you recommend for someone who was interested in joining a mod team or perhaps one day even designing their own modification for an existing game? There are so many majors out there dealing with programming - mapping - graphical engineering I was wondering your opinions as to which is better?
2. If you are a part of the dev team or currently enrolled in school what major are you doing?
3. Do you have any points for me as to where to start? Should I just do the research on my own and learn programming and mapping on the side instead of majoring in it? Does it matter?
4. Do mod teams really care if you majored/minored in a computer course or are they fine with you learning on your own?
(Note: I'm more of a techno person rather than a software junkie but I'm really wanting to learn my way around that area of computers.)
I really hope this topic is not out of place, if it is just delete it. Just wanting some opinions of people who are actually into all this. Thanks for any and all responses.
Comments
It depends what you want to do in mod work. The head of Nightwatch (<a href='http://www.hl-nightwatch.net' target='_blank'>plug</a>), KungFuSquirrel, is an English major who has learned mapping on the side (Eclipse and Veil are his, if you didn't know). I would say his English skills have been instrumental in allowing him to lay out articulate the plot of NW as it's developed.
I, on the other hand, majored in Molecular Bio, and am currently on the NW team as an artist. Again, art is a side interest for me, though I did take several classes in school (drawing and painting). I got into modeling on my own.
Basically, develop skills that will be helpful to you in the context of what you want to do. To lead a mod, you'll need strong organizational and people skills, and the ability to distribute responsibility. Mappers, modelers, texture artists, coders - each has its own skillset.
You don't have to major in anything, but you *do* need to devote time to it. If you can do that in classes, great. If not, get yourself a copy of whatever program you need, pick up a few how-to books, and jump in. (:
<!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif'><!--endemo--> <~~ me one day
A) The ability to get the things done that you say you'll do.. on time.
B) The ability to do things that are practical and that the team needs.
C) The ability to get along with the team, take direction, and understand that sometimes thing don't go your way. (Unless you're the team lead, of course)
D) A reasonable amount of skill at what you're doing.
And to be honest, I would expect those are in descending order of priority. I don't think how you got your skills is really relevant to a team that isn't paying in the first place.
After all, even if you're an MIT graduate and have god's own hand when it comes to modeling, if you spend three weeks making the perfect "Hello Kitty" backpack instead of the new female trooper model they need, you're not much use to the team.
On the other hand, if you're only a mediocre coder, but when they ask you to do something you get it done a day or two sooner than they need it and even though it's bloated it's bug-free, you're a fairly valuable member. They can farm out some of the side-work coding to you, leaving them time to optimize things where it really makes a difference.
Hmm... That mod sounds familiar... <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm one of the mappers and texture artists. Despite these being supposedly 'arty' things, I did a straight physics degree at university, and I'm currently employed as a freelance web application designer and programmer. Yes, it's a slightly strange combination. And no, I don't intend looking for work in the games industry.
Something a lot of people seem to forget is that one of the most important things about modding games is <b>having fun</b>. It's not supposed to be some deadly-serious pursuit where the sole objective is being picked up by some lacklustre games developer to work on Barbie's Fashion Adventure 7. It's meant to be <b>enjoyable</b>. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Yes, you'll probably pick up some really useful skills along the way, and perhaps refine your skills so much that a high-end developer wants you on board to work on something genuinely worthwhile (Ken Banks being a great example of this, the jammy git) - but even if you don't, it can still be brilliant fun.
Few people are going to have the chance to work on building the genre-defining games of the future. But thanks to modding, you can use those games as a foundation for your own ideas, however surreal or unsellable they might be. Download Hammer, read some tutorials, mangle together some new textures in the Gimp - learn as you go along, and have fun doing so. It's what it's all about.
I want to be a computer programmer, but my weak point is math. I just don't care for it, but I have to do good this term. Man, I suck at math....Math 10.....i'm not so much of a ****, but just lazy and none caring for that subject. =\
i'm not even graduated from college, but i'm majoring in American Sign Language.... something that doesn't even deal with computers on a daily basis...
most of the guys on mod teams are doing them ad side-projects, or things learned "on the side", with few exceptions *cough* flayra *cough* not alot of the mod creators/team members have real life indistry jobs.
i'm learning to model, UVmap, Animate and create model textures, on the side... but i guess i have more than two sides, which is keeping my progress slow...
i'm also learning to code, program (websites), animate (flash...), and do hardware modifications to my current configuration... i mean, lots of stuff, so little time...
my best advice is, learn something, learn to do it well, and then move onto the next thing in the production line of a mod...
That's probably the most basic concept, and the one most-forgotten. Everything you do will contribute at least in a small way to everything else you do.
There's the obvious response of a CompSci major being the likely candidate for a coder, an Art/Internet Design major for texturing... but dear god, do NOT get anyone related to an architecture major to be a primary mapper. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Find what you enjoy, and do it. If you feel the need, pick up a basic skillset in the other fields... hell, that's a good idea anyway, so you can understand what the other team members are going through.
Personally, I started out as CompSci, finished all the classes the local college had to offer, and progressed into art, and now 3D Anima with Maya 5. Once HL2 does come out, I'm going to be taking a long, hard look at the SDK.. see if I might not be able to work something up.
-CyborgGuineapig 0.02$