my 11 year old son wants to be a pc games designer, what qualifications would he need roughly?

Answer 1

Before he embarks on game development he must have a thorough understanding of programming techniques. Start him with something easy(ish) like Visual Basic then gradually progress onto standard C, C++, Java, etc. Once he has grasped an understanding of this, maybe it is time to think about games development in something like Visual C#.

MS Visual C# Express edition has just introduced the XNA Beta Games development platform. As I said, this is in a beta format but once the primary tests are finished and the bugs are eradicated I think it will be a good platform to work from and should simplify many things (such as graphics design and interaction).

As for qualifications, get him through his GCSE's, A levels and then several years at Uni studying a subject relating to design and development of this sort. Just because the games are fun (and sometimes easy) doesn't mean that programming and development is fun or easy. It can take months of hard work just to get a product to the test stage and then re-working to eliminate faults. From now at age 11 to full qualification, you could be looking at 10+ years. Will he still be interested in this line then or would he, like all 11 year olds want to be something different come next week?

Answer 2

The games industry has many posts not to be confused. Often times people full multiple posts. All depending on the size of project and team. For instance Nintendo DS projects often have 4 programmers, while EA projects can have over a dozen.

Game Design - Creative concepts, and basic design of the game from a paper prototype to fine tweaking balance.
This is the hardest job to get. Design, creative writing, gameplay concepts, art history, a natraul knack. Expierience much better than degree for these posts.
Starting jobs for Game Desgin
Level Design - Best one to start on.
Creative Writing - Writing stories for Tabletop games good start.
Content Creator - Bigger project have people that build databases of information.

Programming - Game programming deals with a lot of design concepts and maths. The is very little low level design. Programming, Maths, Design Patterns, high Level OO practices. Degree is a almost a must.

Programming Branches
Gameplay - Highest level programmer.
Audio - Must have sound training as well. A Math heavy post.
Video - LOTS of maths, and fast moving
AI - Masters Degree advised.

Art Positions
Art portfolio is much more omportant than a degree. Art teams vary hugely in size. Next Gen projects are always needing more and more artists.

Art Branches
Concept - Fine Art, often never touches a PC
Texture / Sprite - Drawing textures, sprites. Needs to understand econmy of design. Animation.
Background - Fine Art, also does things like menus and larger stuff that doesn't involve animation.
3D Modeller - Modelling 3D objects. Efficiency is important even with modern hardware.
3D Rigger / Animator - Rigging 3D objects for animation. Then animating them.

======================================
Best place to start regardless of what path you want to pursue is things like level design, working on little projects. There is a lot of information availble on the internet. Some nice sources are listed below.

Answer 3

Let him do what he wants to. I mean, let him choose his career in which he has interest and passion. Computer Programming or PC Games Designing is a fantastic field.

Well, C, C++ and other such High Level Llanguages, as they are called, are now old fashioned. C# will be much more useful, however a basic understanding of C and C++ will help a lot in understanding the C#.

Then moving to Macromedia Flash is a good thing to do. Java is the language of the web and so it will be very useful.

As he will learn these widely-used techniques, he will be able to exlore further.

Answer 4

Game programming is very difficult. Being good at Maths is an advantage. He will need to learn how to program. I personally think he should start with Visual Basic as this will give him the fundamentals of programming in a more interesting environment.

Commercial games of course are not programmed in Visual Basic but programming concepts are ported over to other languages.

I asked a few game developers at Blizzard what the key attributes that make a good gaming developer and they told me

1) Being Intelegent
2) Being Driven
3) Being able to think Logically
4) Never afraid to learn new things.
5) Of course being an excellent coder.

I hope this helps.

Answer 5

First of all ask him if he has ever thought about how much thought and how many hours of scripting and testing goes into the games.

Im not usually one to judge but I would say at 11 he would much like the TESTING side to the games rather than the hours and hours of boring work involved.

You need to be decent at art or be able to transform other peoples creations on a computer

To start off i recommend Flash (a program by Macromedia) then probably C/C++ then java, delphi and then get harder

Even ask him to create a simple offline webpage using html and see if he finds it boring, but people do change as did i and i love it now

To see what html code looks like right click on a webpage then :

Internet Explorer : click on "view source"
Mozzila Firefox : click on "view page source"

I hope this helps

Answer 6

Both my boys (now 19 and 22) wanted to be games designers during their early- to mid-teens. We visited Nintendo in Seattle and took a tour and got lots of advice. Boys even into their late teens seem to cluster together these days and dream up new games, drawing detailed pictures of what the screens should look like, and designing complex rules that they argue about for hours on end. They don't understand the implications from a programming point of view, and maybe that's a good thing from a creative point of view!

It's important that, as ideas mature and they mature, young kids find people with different skills who can help them polish their ideas and propose them to business people in the games industry who can take them forward. Don't ever let them "give" ideas away to anybody, unless they're clear about the help they're getting in return. (Get good, written contracts with Non Disclosure Agreements.)

The advice you've received on Yahoo Answers seems good and sound from a technical perspective. (Bear in mind that a number of games are developed abroad, in, say, Japanese, which is a trend sure to continue.)

You may also consider helping your son become a games tester. That will sharpen his ideas about what's good and what's bad in a game.

Could be that, like my oldest son, all your son's creativity and technical nature will eventually turn him into a great technical person or entrepreneur in the computer industry as an adult. Like you, I took my boys' requests to learn more about the games industry very seriously and supported their learning. And like my boys, your son probably has a v interesting future ahead of him! You should be proud. Good luck.

Answer 7

I have the same issue with my boy. We checked job openings at NIntendo of America and that helped him to see the job description and education needed. Also there are some schools that teach web and game design. Just do a yahoo search. I wish him much luck in the future!!!!!!

Answer 8

He should get his basic education taken care of. Then he should focus on computer programming.

He's only 11. Just because he likes to play video games, doesn't mean he will be successful as a game designer.

Answer 9

Learning to be a grasp of pulling images is easy with the help of Realistic Pencil Portrait Mastery guide from here https://tr.im/Mn2Bx .
With Realistic Pencil Portrait Mastery guide you will got that named Training Mind Maps and each of this session comes with what are called “Process” or “Mind” maps. They're essentially outline summaries of that which was covered in each of the lessons.
With Realistic Pencil Portrait Mastery you will even get 100 Large Resolution Guide Photographs because in the event that you are going to exercise your face pulling, then you definitely will require reference pictures. That advantage contains 100 top quality dark and bright photos comprised of 70 looks and 30 skin features. Really convenient!

Answer 10

Multimedia Course!