Basic Knowledge ( Chapter - 1) For Beginners

One should  aware of basic things that we use in every day life so that you will be clear when implementing games/simulations/virtual walks etc... Let me tell you in the following manner.

1) How do you find a person/thing in the real world? 

a) By finding the person's/thing's current location.

2) How do you call a person/thing in the real world?

a) By the person's name/ thing's name.

3) How do you identify any thing in the real world ?

a) By common properties such as dimensions, color, smell and other properties

4) How do you find directions in the real world ?

a) By comparing our head direction with respect to sun's direction.

This above said questions look very funny but always remembering this will help you to start efficiently in gaming. In gaming all you need to know is where to create an object, how to place it(in which direction), what dimensions are to be set and what properties are to be given. This is the most common step that take places for every object that is implemented in every game.

In game development, you always need to know how to track an object, how to get its direction, scale,properties and change them on need. Most common terms used in gaming are 

• Getposition ( to find the current position of an object )
• SetPosition ( to set the position of an object )
• Getdirection ( to find the current direction of an object )
• Setdirection ( to set the direction of an object )
• GetTransform ( to find the current transform of an object )
• SetTransform ( to set the transform of an object )
• Getscale ( to find the current scale of an object )
• Setscale ( to set the scale of an object )

 Any way we will discuss in details of gaming in later sessions. But as a basic one should know the above said things as they are the key things for game development on any platform.

For queries on this topic please mail to schoolofgaming@gmail.com.

Regards,

Editor

How/where to Start in Gaming ?

One should know where to start his/her career in gaming. Some may be very creative in creating puzzles, some may be good at solving puzzles, some may be good at art and etc... Depending on his/her own area of interest one should make a clever choice in gaming in order to head up with out any break in future.

The main question is that when should one start a career in gaming? Well, this question can be answered in more detail manner.

For someone to start as an artist in gaming/animation should accomplish art related degree so that when takes up specialization he/she feels comfortable and learns faster and proper. The art related degrees are B.Tech multimedia, B.C.A(Bachelor of Creative Arts), B.F.A(Bachelor of Fine Arts), Diploma in Multimedia, Diploma in Fine Arts.

For someone to start as an programmer/technologist should accomplish science degree so that when he/she goes to game development specialization, could understand the actual underlying concepts clearly and can further learn and practice the methods of development efficiently. The science related degrees are B.Sc Computers, B.Tech/B.E Computer/IT, IIT Computer/IT, etc...

For the people who are interested in Game Testing should do diploma in testing tools so that basic knowledge in testing can be useful to start a fresh career.I also have a very good suggestion. that is you play more games and try to screw the game in all possible ways and find out the mistakes/mischievous things in game play. Also participate in gaming competitions when ever it is possible.

 Once you are out of your degree, the very first step is to find where to do specialization so that company's will take up you. Specialization is recommended as it lays a very strong base to one's success in future career.

For artist he/she should take up either one of the following as choice of specializing.

• Texturing
• Modeling
• Rigging and Animation
• Lighting and Rendering
• Concept Art ( B.F.A people will come to this category mostly, hence no specialization required)

For a programmer, their is no such sub choices in particular but needs to concentrate on all elements of gaming. Specially a programmer should have the following skills.

• Good grip on any one language
• Good debugging skills
• Fast learning skills
• Adoptable to new development environments.
• Good problem solving skills
• Command on Maths, Physics and Basic Art.

For a Game Tester, he/she is expected to be more avid towards gaming and should learn manual testing procedures as well as automated testing procedures.Specialization in testing is a good for any one before going into game testing. Similarly, their are some more fields in gaming like

• story writing, 
• Game designing, 
• Producing, 
• Marketing
• Audio making.

Most common tools/software's used by different people during game development are listed below.

For Art:

• 3DsMax, Maya, Soft-image,  Blender, Z brush, Adobe Photoshop etc....

For Programmer:

• DirectX, Opengl, ODE, Ageia Physx, Opengl, Game Engine(not compulsory). OpenAl, etc....

 For Tester:

• Test Director, Win-runner, Load Runner, Q.T.P,etc...

Their is an excellent idea for some one to start career in gaming, that is just join bachelor's course in gaming if you are a +12 passed person. For some one who completed Graduation should go for masters degree in gaming.

I hope this post has cleared most of your basic doubts. In my next post  I will give the information about colleges around the global where one can do graduation/post graduation in gaming and step into gaming industry efficiently.

Regards,

Editor :)