Alright, consider these questions coming from a confused high school senior who plans on getting into the gaming industry after college. With that out of the way, let me give a brief intro to myself. I''m a senior in high school (as mentioned), plan on attending the University of Washington, and want to get into the industry... But, doing what? I love writing and drawing, both I''m equally good at, but at the same time, I want to program. On the EA Games site, they want their game programmers to have the computer science degree with a "strong math background." The thing is, I''m not the greatest at math, and if a Computer Science degree requires ultra-advanced math-wiz knowledge, then I''m screwed. The first question is, how much of a strong math background is required to program? Next- knowing I''m strong in art and writing, but weak in math (though I still want to program), what would be the best certification classes to take- Game Programming or Game Animation- or both? Would taking Game Programming/Computer Science classes with a weak math background be a waste of time or an incredible struggle? It''s easy to say I want to make games, but, corporately, there''s no way one person could make the game themself, and I know each person has a specific role. At the moment, I''m confused as to what I want that role to be. You guys may get posts like this all the time, I don''t know, since I''m new here, but, ANY advice/help/etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Have you considered level design and scripting? That sounds like a good mix of your talents.

I guess it depends on how much code-work you want to do compared to how much artwork and writing you want to do.


Also, for your math question:

In my college experience at OIT majoring in Software Engineering (our version of Computer Science geared for software-more-than-hardware people), we had to take four levels of Calculus... But I''ve never had to apply any of the harder parts of calculus to a single program in my life (I''m one year post-graduation and have been coding since 386''s).

I think the reason they want "strong math background" is that the thought process for solving a math problem is very similar to the way that you solve programming problems -- via Procedure (coming up with the necessary steps to produce the correct results)


The best way (in my opinion) to determine what you would be in the game programming industry is to ask yourself "If I started working on a game, what part of it would I work on first?" -- Depending on your answer, you will probably be best at that part of games.

If you say "I would draw some ship designs for a space game" -- you may be best as an artist.

If you say "I would write all of the code to handle flying a spaceship around and shooting at enemies" -- you may be best as the physics engine designer.

If you say "I would figure out all of the things I need to have to complete the project" -- you may be best at project management.

- etc.