I've tried Dice.com and I was wondering if anyone else knew of a good way to actually get some game testing/beta testing experience to "break in" to the game industry or if anyone knew of a website or search engine that is tailored to just that - Game Testing?
I am 22 Years old have taken AP Computer Science Courses in High School and am currently in College Majoring in Computer Science. I am familiar with C++/HTML/BASIC (Yes I do realize that HTML will not help me in any way to write games) and consider myself to be intermediate in C++ only because I know I am not a game programming god like John Carmack or of course Mike. I've read Game Coding up to half way already and plan on getting a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Computer Science in 4 years by Transfering to ITT Technical Institute of Technology.
Basically I am at a starting point in a career that I know will be difficult but well rewarding.
To fund this I plan on getting A+ and Network+ certifications to build some IT experience. I am 80% Done with Network+.
I'm aware of the growing demands and the workload involved especially to keep up with the evolution of technology. I'm ready to stay away 100 Hours in a week with coffee next to me as I logically debug and analyze code and at the same time meet a deadline. I can type 60+ Words per minute purely from the organized thoughts in my mind or from acoustic encoding (sound) with a 5% probabiliy of error in syntax.
I have the software and the hardware to practice game coding such as:
Software:
3DStudioMax
MilkShape 3D
CoolEditPro
Adobe Photoshop
Jasc Paintshop Pro
MSDN Library
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
Windows XP Pro
BlitzPlus
Blitz3D
Hardware:
1 Desktop Computer
2.0Ghz
1.0Gb DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro
Santacruz Soundcard with 5.1 Sound
1 Laptop Computer
1.5 Ghz
500 MB DDR RAM
500 Gygabyte Storage Server
(Both Computers have the same software setup)
As for Learning and Books Etc:
Various Programming Tutorial Videos
Various .pdf EBooks
Programming Video Tutorials
Mike's 800+ Page book and 20 other similar books on Game Programming and 3D Design.
Now here is what I need help with....
I am looking for some advice. Things that you can recommend I do in order to get to where I want to be. No work without experience and no experience without work. It's a funny thing though that at the age of 19 I already worked for Electronic Arts Los Angeles but it was just to help them with their move to their office in Playa Vista. After seeing how they work I studied what hardware they used and software closely so that I could also practice using similar software and hardware.
So for now I want to know if there is anything I need to use as for Software that can help me design games better.
My ultimate goal is to create a Massive Multiplayer Online game that is dynamic and fast paced and will take up at least 30% of all global market share of all MMO Games and I will.
As far as licenses go or other useful editors for picture editing or video thats what I'm looking for as for suggestions. Or maybe a better compiler other than Visual Studio (Yeah right... but who knows?).
So little time and so much knowledge to learn...
Thanks in advance,
-Miguel Chang
myspace.com/miguelchang
I am 22 Years old have taken AP Computer Science Courses in High School and am currently in College Majoring in Computer Science. I am familiar with C++/HTML/BASIC (Yes I do realize that HTML will not help me in any way to write games) and consider myself to be intermediate in C++ only because I know I am not a game programming god like John Carmack or of course Mike. I've read Game Coding up to half way already and plan on getting a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Computer Science in 4 years by Transfering to ITT Technical Institute of Technology.
Basically I am at a starting point in a career that I know will be difficult but well rewarding.
To fund this I plan on getting A+ and Network+ certifications to build some IT experience. I am 80% Done with Network+.
I'm aware of the growing demands and the workload involved especially to keep up with the evolution of technology. I'm ready to stay away 100 Hours in a week with coffee next to me as I logically debug and analyze code and at the same time meet a deadline. I can type 60+ Words per minute purely from the organized thoughts in my mind or from acoustic encoding (sound) with a 5% probabiliy of error in syntax.
I have the software and the hardware to practice game coding such as:
Software:
3DStudioMax
MilkShape 3D
CoolEditPro
Adobe Photoshop
Jasc Paintshop Pro
MSDN Library
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
Windows XP Pro
BlitzPlus
Blitz3D
Hardware:
1 Desktop Computer
2.0Ghz
1.0Gb DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro
Santacruz Soundcard with 5.1 Sound
1 Laptop Computer
1.5 Ghz
500 MB DDR RAM
500 Gygabyte Storage Server
(Both Computers have the same software setup)
As for Learning and Books Etc:
Various Programming Tutorial Videos
Various .pdf EBooks
Programming Video Tutorials
Mike's 800+ Page book and 20 other similar books on Game Programming and 3D Design.
Now here is what I need help with....
I am looking for some advice. Things that you can recommend I do in order to get to where I want to be. No work without experience and no experience without work. It's a funny thing though that at the age of 19 I already worked for Electronic Arts Los Angeles but it was just to help them with their move to their office in Playa Vista. After seeing how they work I studied what hardware they used and software closely so that I could also practice using similar software and hardware.
So for now I want to know if there is anything I need to use as for Software that can help me design games better.
My ultimate goal is to create a Massive Multiplayer Online game that is dynamic and fast paced and will take up at least 30% of all global market share of all MMO Games and I will.
As far as licenses go or other useful editors for picture editing or video thats what I'm looking for as for suggestions. Or maybe a better compiler other than Visual Studio (Yeah right... but who knows?).
So little time and so much knowledge to learn...
Thanks in advance,
-Miguel Chang
myspace.com/miguelchang
I'm all about the results...