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Very interested

Started by Silo1337 Nov 12, 2009 at 1:05 PM 10 replies 6.1k views

Original Post

Nov 12, 2009 at 1:05 PM

Hello all, ever since I was eight years old I wanted to make games. I always thought about what music I'd use, what different weapons you could use, etc. I've always loved to play games, there's nothing better than relaxing with a good game. When I turned 13, I started to "hack" games for the PSP. I learned a lot about the MIPS assembly language and really enjoyed being able to alter the game in ways I wanted. While I was doing that, I started programming for the PC in Visual Basic, doing some small projects here and there. I was always told this was a bad language, teaching horrible programming techniques and the like. So, I moved on to C++ and learned a lot of the basics very quickly. I wanted to move away from console programs and I've started working with GUI programs. I've created several different programs that have a GUI, nothing too fancy as I'm still learning. I'm now 17 and looking into college for next year. I figured I'd take my love for games and programming and combine them. My question is, I went to the game store the other day to buy a new XBOX and was talking to one of the employees. Apparently, a friend of hers had started game development and went to Japan to be an apprentice. He would test games for quirks and learn about development while getting paid, now he's back and about to go to a college here in Austin, TX. When he gets his degree, he's likely to have a job in Japan developing games. I have ALWAYS wanted to travel the world and thought this would be excellent! I would get to travel to one of the countries they offered (Australia, Japan and a few others) while learning about game development. Then I would be able to snag a job in one of these countries working in GAME DEVELOPMENT, how great! I left my number to have the guy call me but he has yet to do so. I've turned to google to look for anything on the subject but can't find a thing. Does anyone know of any program like this or a college that offers something similar?

zer0wolf

Nov 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM

I have never head of anything even remotely like that. Working as a game tester in Japan does not make it "likely" he'll have a job in Japan developing games.

Getting a well rounded education, developing a strong portfolio, and networking makes it "likely" you'll get a job, but not necessarily in a foreign country. There are issues with work visas, proving you're an industry expert, all sorts of other legal loopholes.

Silo1337

Nov 12, 2009 at 1:32 PM

Well that's a bummer, I don't see why she'd have any reason to lie to me, but then again who knows. It's been two or three days with no call and nothing is coming up on google, so maybe it was.

zer0wolf

Nov 12, 2009 at 1:34 PM

I doubt it was an intentional lie. She was just a tad misinformed [wink]

Tom Sloper

Nov 12, 2009 at 1:49 PM

I don't think you've been lied to. I think you just don't have much information.
Read these:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson5.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson48.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson27.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson25.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson34.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson7.htm

landagen

Nov 12, 2009 at 1:54 PM

I agree, this claim does not sound correct for several reasons:

1. Being legal to work in other countries is not a simple process. In America, you have to be sponsored by a company. That means big bucks for the company.

2. Getting a game tester job is hard enough to get in America as a citizen. I doubt it would be different over there.

3. The company itself has really no incentive to bring people from other countries to teach them game development when they have a large resource of people there themselves. If this was sponsored by some kind of university over here, then what she said could be much more likely.

ShaunPeoples

Nov 12, 2009 at 2:09 PM

A more likely route to executing your goal:

1.) Get educated (teach yourself, go to school, something)
2.) Build a portfolio
3.) Apply to, and gain employment with a company that has studios in multiple countries and operates with the concept of project missions.

You'll find that there's a lot less hoops to jump through if the company is simply moving you around within their pool of studios.

Silo1337

Nov 13, 2009 at 10:43 AM

Thank you very much for the replies, everyone. She wasn't very good at explaining I guess. My goal is to make it as a game programmer, not to work in a foreign country, so I guess I'll stick to that for now. I won't be going to college for another year or so anyway, I just wanted to know if someone had heard of this so they could give me an idea as to which way I should be going. I do want to travel to foreign countries and considering my hobby outside of programming is learning foreign languages, I guess that makes sense :P. However, I'm NOT counting my chickens before they hatch, if I have the chance to go, I'll go, if not, there must be a reason I won't be on the plane.

To better my chances, when I go to college I hope to get the best possible grades and build an awesome portfolio. I'm just hoping the chance comes my way one day.

Tom Sloper

Nov 13, 2009 at 12:30 PM

Quote:
Original post by Silo1337
I just wanted to know if someone had heard of this so they could give me an idea as to which way I should be going.

Did you follow my links and read those articles yet?

lmelior

Nov 13, 2009 at 2:02 PM

At my university, we had an international co-op program and a couple of my classmates went to work internships in Japan for 6 months just before our final year. Several others went to Germany. As far as I know, everybody in my class who applied for the international co-op got to go where they wanted. A friend of mine in Mechanical Engineering worked a normal co-op at a nearby Toyota plant, and after graduation they flew him and his wife to Japan to work for 18 months. I don't know if any CS students went to Japan though, as I didn't know too many.

So, you might want to look at the internship programs of the colleges you are looking to attend. They don't necessarily work for everybody everywhere, but where I went our co-op program coordinators put a huge amount of effort into trying to get everybody jobs, including resume critique and videotaped mock interviews in addition to communicating with companies everywhere, sending out feelers, etc. Just my opinion.

stupid_programmer

Nov 13, 2009 at 7:32 PM

University I graduated from has a sister campus in Japan. I believe its possible to get federal financial aide to pay for tution at the Japanese school though the student has to come up with the money to actually get there.

I would tend to believe he was over there on some kind of co-op program and got a testing job while he was at school. Companies aren't going to spend thousands of dollars to fly a person in for what is basically a $15/hour job. Too many local people to do the job.

Silo1337

Nov 14, 2009 at 12:59 PM

I've been through the links you've given me, Tom, and they're very helpful. I think Imelior has nailed it on the head, I think this woman was confused and was talking about an internship rather than "apprenticeship."

The links Mr. Sloper has provided me have been most helpful and cleared up a lot of my questions. I used to think I would need to be able to draw in order to nail a job as a programmer, etc. I am currently looking into my available options as far as college, not entirely too sure where I want to go just yet. I'm not the average teenager who thinks that game development would be an easy job. I am very serious about this, it's always been my dream. I am trying to find an affordable school I can go to, whether in my state (TX) or somewhere else. I am willing to travel to any state to get my education.

I've tried google to find some schools, but I'm not sure what the best route for me to take is as far as what school I should attend. Not to mention I keep finding articles saying that game development isn't easy, which I know. I'll be receiving my GED next month and will be prepping for college at that time. Does anyone have any suggestions on a school? As I said, I don't mind the location.

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