Alright guys, high school senior here, starting to apply for

This is a copypasta isn't it.

Software developer.

>>262398170
>I've slacked off through most of my math classes because I thought I wouldn't need it because medicine (I dun' fucked up there)
>And what are easy ways to learn to program?
you appear to be lazy and not have the drive to do it. stick with medicine

Fuck the op.
I'm going to side track.
I started programming in C a week or two ago - first language and time.
What the fuck is an EOF?
Kill me.

>>262399060
i assume you mean End Of File marker. if i remember right in C, it is a value you can check to see if the end of the filed has been read to which signals the end of the text file has been reached

>>262399060
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=EOF

>>262398864
>calls me lazy
>says I should stick with medicine
>implying medicine is easy
>implying I won't need to spend many years of my life working my as off for a degree

Yeah, no. I actually like computer science, much more interesting than any anatomy or biology course I've taken. And obviously I mean the easiest way to learn it as in the least complicated way. Learning is learning, there's no shortcut to that, I just want the most efficient way to do that

>>262399414
>>262399454
Thanks anons.
>>262399454
I'm rather you not link to the cancer that is Google.
Also
Is C a good beginner language?

>>262399589
>I actually like computer science
and yet you waited until senior year to take one elective on it, and did nothing in your spare time to learn about it

just like make game

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>>262398170
>Then I decided, fuck that I want to enjoy my life.
Bad move op, being poor is suffering.

>>262399892
it is a surprising choice for a first language. it is a fine choice, but dont expect to use only C down the road. it is likely you will almost never use it, but it is still very useful to learn as a lead in to C++. i suggest learning C++ next, then java

>>262398170
Computer science = maths.
Like it or reroll.

>>262400175
killing yourself at age 25 because of overwhelmingly stressful studies in a field you absolutely despise and are only interested in because of the money is also suffering, anon

>>262400453
Suicide is not a problem, it's a solution.

>>262400436
didn't say I don't like math, I'm in calculus. I could be easily wanking my way through Statistics if I wanted to. I just said I never tried in math

>>262400453
>being pathetic enough to get overstressed from studying "medicine"

Holy shit I bet if I called you a faggot you'd get a panic attack.

faggot

>>262400309
Thanks anon. I don't even expect to use programming down the road.
I'm a biochemistry student.
I just think programming would be useful to know.

>>262399994
I had never tried it before. Computer science was foreign to me until I gave it shot recently and found I liked it. I came late to the party

>>262400859
Stahp calling me faggot, you'll trigger my anxiety. so rude

>>262400947
>I gave it shot recently and found I liked it.
>"As for coding, I can't do shit. I'm taking intro to computer science as my elective, but I've learned baby shit so far."
how can you say you liked it when you havent dont a damn thing?

>>262398170
>I've slacked off through most of my math classes
>As for coding, I can't do shit
>So now I'm aiming at video game designer

All signs that if you go through with this idea you'll end up with a shitty 40k/yr code monkey position. Fix yourself before you consider.

Just don't major in game design or any shit like that. Major studios have high turnover rate for babby programmers.

Major in CS, get a good job doing nonvidya software development, then make a game in your free time.

Also keep in mind that everyone else who wants to make video games has at least a 2 year head start on you.

I started programming when I was 8. Learn fast and catch up.

>>262401770
I want to catch up, don't know how. I can code basic Java, how do I learn more. what should I learn. what's the most effective way to learn. many questions, need answers.

>>262401770
If you don't like programming, don't do this, obviously. Focus on art instead. If you don't like art, give up on this. Idea guys are worthless and a quick look at the AGDGs in /vg/ make it pretty clear that if you have an idea, you either need to make it yourself or pay people.

So either get rich doing something you enjoy doing, or love programming and make games.

>>262402136
if you are smarter you'd ask at a place where people actually discuss programming

>>262402419
why not both?

>>262398170
You want a "real" degree..

to make video-games...

8-).

>>262398705
anything is copypasta if enough people stick their dicks in it

>>262402136
Fuck Java. Learn C#. Depending on your end goal, there are many different ways to learn.

If your goal is to VIDEO GAMES, I'd tell you to fuck off, but since I'm actually trying to be helpful, I'd say go with online tutorials and use Flash or Unity or something.

If your goal is to learn how to program, dig into as much shit as possible. Learn how computers work. Write code. Watch it break. Learn why it breaks. Fix it. Write it again in a different language. Figure out what's different and why.

Start with C#, Python and possibly JavaScript for convenience's sake.

ok, OP.

understand first that you're not going to enjoy life it you don't know at the start of a month whether you'll be able to eat at least once a day for the rest of it. that's the indie dev life. the amount of fuck-you rich success stories is so, so, so, so small a percentage that you'll have to assume the BEST-CASE scenario involves you holding an at-least part time job on the side to sustain yourself while you make games. AFTER you graduate.

if you don't want that, you can get a degree in something high-demand like programming or 3d art and apply for a big developer, but don't expect any better job security. also don't expect any fun in essentially filling out orders for a game you don't fully understand and probably won't believe in, as you sit in frustration and wonder "why are they doing these horrible things" while you don't speak up because you can just as easily be replaced by another bright-eyed but more pliable fresh graduate if you do.

making games is not fun. it's work. hard fucking work. oh, yeah, for the first couple of weeks there's some good feeling as really basic things come together, but the vast vast majority of it is frustrating, soul-crushing Work, except with a lot less job security and a lot less pay than most other forms of frustrating, soul-crushing Work.

if you still think you want to do this,

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>>262401770
>Major in CS, get a good job doing nonvidya software development, then make a game in your free time.

DING DING DING THE RIGHT ANSWER

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>wanting to be a deadend video game designer instead of being a rich as fuck dentist
Please tell me this is bait
Learn programming as a hobby, not as a fucking job

>>262402802
Alright I opened up Java, but where do I stick my dick in? Fucking Java is a lot harder than I anticipated. maybe I should stick to medicine...

but seriously, checking out C# now, thanks for the adivce

>>262403101
Thanks, stranger!

It's been a good strategy for me so far. I've made all of $22 from my games so far, but thanks to my non-vidya actual job, that isn't even a problem.

BUT THIS NEXT GAME WILL BE THA BIG ONE JUST YOU WAIT.

>>262402907
>making games is not fun. it's work. hard fucking work. oh, yeah, for the first couple of weeks there's some good feeling as really basic things come together, but the vast vast majority of it is frustrating, soul-crushing Work, except with a lot less job security and a lot less pay than most other forms of frustrating, soul-crushing Work.

Holy shit, this. The only good parts about making a game are the very beginning - where you're with your bros coming up with ideas and creating the design documents - and the very end - where the game is finally done and you can show it to people and see their reactions.
Everything else is absolute torture.

>>262403384
C# and Java are very similar, in that they're both a lot like C++ made easier to use, but C# lets you dig into the more technical stuff if you need to quite easily, which I think is pretty important for someone learning to program.

>>262402613
good luck lol

>>262399892
It's not a good choice to program things in, but an extremely good choice to learn how things "actually work".

>>262402907

what this guy said: >>262402802. you are not going to be a programming expert in a semester. you'll be fucking lucky if you can write more than a glorified HELLO WORLD after a semester if you're starting from nothing, as you say you are.

if you're serious about moving into "real" programming then you can start with c#, as you'll eventually get into c++ and it'll help to work with probably currently the most learning-friendly (without being butt-obscure) c derivative.

walk into your college advisor's office and say "i want to major in computer science but i don't know shit." they'll point you to the beginner courses and you will take the beginner courses. if you can't work through the beginner courses then you're not cut out for this shit and you're better off going back to med school.

don't get me wrong, if you are cut out for it there is not a thing on the planet more rewarding. but this isn't a "WELL I THOUGHT IT'D BE FUN" kind of career path. you'll work and suffer and doubt yourself and probably make shit-all for it. if you're not comfortable with that, go back to med school.

you are also basically REQUIRED to look up and attend physical-site game jams. even if you just show up and watch, you'll learn more there than college can possibly teach you. eventually you might be able to pitch in, or you might not. either way, do it. I don't care how much of an autistic failure you are, if you don't expose yourself to some actual development your programming experience isn't going to amount to shit.

>>262403293
Dentists have crazy high suicide rates.

>>262398170
Here's what you do.

Decide if you're more interested in the design aspect, or the programming aspect. If it's the former, go to school for graphic design or 3D animation or whatever specific subset you're interested in.
If it's the latter, go into comp sci or computer engineering.
Whichever one you take, look into applying it to game stuff on your own time. It's very easy to apply general code knowledge to game development by just picking up a game dev library like Allegro or SFML.

As someone currently on his senior year of a "game programming" major, it isn't worth it.

>>262403384
Is this your very first time messing around with programming? Because if so, I'd recommend that you start with Pascal.
It's a completely useless language that you'll never use for anything actually worthwhile but it's perfect if you are a beginner. I can guarantee you'll learn the basics of programming pretty easily with that. Afterwards, move on to what that Anon told you: C#, Python and maybe JavaScript.

>>262402802
javascript is actually not bad for a beginer to write and test small snippet codes and focus on algorithms, data and structured programming, it's almost pseudo code tier, and can run on browser.

>>262404347
>As someone currently on his senior year of a "game programming" major, it isn't worth it.

Same here. I actually wanted to get in CS but couldn't make it because I'm a fucking retard and got shit grades in high school.

>>262404417
Exactly. Not something to write games in (unless you're one of those HTML5 assholes), but for general purpose high-level code and whatnot it's pretty convenient.

>>262404708
>Pascal
Why. Is Pascal simple to use or something? I know next to nothing about it, but I can't see why it'd be a better starting language than the others.

>>262404198
thats brutal

>>262403935

I can't exaggerate enough about the uncertainty. about the daily "oh god this is never going to work I still have a thousand-strong to-do list and I'm going to have to dig into my rent money to buy food starting next week oh god." there is ABSOLUTELY NO guarantee you will make any significant cash of anything you do, and while the starving artist gets more of a glamorous public image than it probably deserves, you have to really fucking mean it if you actually want to be there.

basically, if your next best career option after game designer is killing yourself, then sure, go ahead. otherwise, pick the second-best option and make games in your spare time. if you're not completely willing to make your game -- not video games, but your game, the one you're making -- your literal entire life, stop now. (or, again, graduate in computer science or 3d art and land a job for a big company, and say goodbye to all your optimism about the industry.)

I've been really fucking harsh because there are too many college kids running into the discipline thinking they're going to be the next notch and fulfill all their magic dreams. it's not going to be you. it's just not. accept that.

if somehow it does work out -- and I'm not fucking kidding, it is Work, hard fucking Work, not just the making of it but everything else too; marketing it, attending conventions and game jams and etc. -- then there is not a fucking thing on the planet that can match releasing a game and watching people play it and tell you how much they love it. not one fucking thing.

but if you want to get there it means literal years of suffering. don't go for it you don't mean it.

>>262398170
For coding I recommend starting with Python. There's not to much in terms of indentations and parentheses, and it's a fairly simple structure.

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Good luck getting any exposure among other indies, unless you like sucking everyone's cock for attention on Twitter. The indie mafia doesn't just accept people pro bono.

>>262405084
>Why. Is Pascal simple to use or something? I know next to nothing about it, but I can't see why it'd be a better starting language than the others.

Pascal is basically C. The reason I recommend it is because it was how I learned the basics, and also because I know plenty of people who tried to start learning programming with C# and couldn't do it. When I told them to switch to Python and move on to C# later, they actually managed to get into it and started learning shit. But really, using C as a starting language is fine too.

STOP. You go to college to for a career and to make money. Learning programming and making video games is easy and doesn't require college or special training. Though mastery of the subject takes years and cannot be taught. It only comes through experience. Most devs make games for over a decade before they see a dime. And having a portfolio of successful games is going to be what gets you hired. Not a college degree. If you want to work at an AAA company than go to college for computer science. When you get out you'll have BA in science. You'll be a fucking scientist. Then you can get a job in a cubicle with 40 other guys who make no decisions about how the game is played. Just plug away lines of code on a multimillion dollar game for $20 an hour which will completely kill your enthusiasm in the subject.

If you really want to make games then just make them. If you think going to college for another subject will distract you from your true passion then don't. Get a minimum wage job and a cheap apartment and make games. If you think that job will get in the way of your game development then I hope your parents love you because you're about to become NEET and won't see a dime from video games for a minimum 4 years if you're just starting out. Get a twitter account and blast that shit with daily progress using #gamedev tag and build a following until people start getting excited about your work. Then greenlight it. But don't waste you money on useless worthless college courses.

>>262405427
>basically, if your next best career option after game designer is killing yourself, then sure, go ahead.

I'm going to have to back anon up on this.

If you want to enjoy life, it'll be a lot easier to get a stable job somewhere. Definitely if you've never tried making a game, or even modding a game before. You won't get to sit at home playing video games. You'll spend more time working on your game than you would working at a "normal" job, and the normal job will pay more, so you can buy more video games.

Loving video games doesn't mean you'll love making them. I grew up learning programming my whole life, since I thought I'd be a game designer, but I had to quit about halfway into the game I was making with two other people, because it just wasn't worth it. Now I have a "normal" programming job with a great salary and loads of time to play games. Be sure that being a developer is what you really want.

for the record, I'm not planning on doing my own thing and making indie games. The plan is to get a computer science degree from a legitimate college, and work for a big company. I'm most definitely not trying to become an overnight millionaire by creating some mega-hit out of my basement. I'd like to do that because fuck yeah overnight millionaire, who wouldn't want that. but obviously I'm not basing any of my future around the extremely slim-to-none chance that that'll happen

>>262399892
C is good for small and simple programs. It is also good when you need to control everything that happens in the program, so it is good for drivers and kernels too.

However, as much as /g/ autists would like you to think, it is not a good language for large game engines.
>inb4 muh idTech 3
There is a reason that engine can only do FPS, and it's not because people don't understand it.

>>262404347
>As someone currently on his senior year of a "game programming" major, it isn't worth it.

Out of curiosity, what kind of things do you learn in Game Programming?

>>262404198
Please go into greater detail. I cannot fathom how dentistry is stressful enough to make dentists commit suicide.

you should decide if you want to be a designer, programmer, or whatever field, your initial post is slightly vague. None of the disciplines are mutually exclusive,and it's good to know multiple fields of course, but for an in to the industry just choose one and do it very well - this is what shines most on applications.

That is the number one bit of advice I can give you, find the part of game development you enjoy and are best at, and stick with that and really hone it.

You'll start off low on the chain and feel like your skills arent being best used, but it's an in. And if you choose the field you enjoy you will be more likely to stick with it.

btw games development in big houses can get stressful. First few years is fine, but as you start to grow yourself you realise you have no input and are literally making other peoples ideas. Not a bad thing all over, but worth remembering.

>>262402802
>Recommending JavaScript over Java
Fuck you. Sincerely, fuck you.

Ignore it OP, using C# instead of Java is the equivalent of using DirectX instead of OpenGL: you will never port it outside of Windows. Not even Android.

>>262398170
There was just a thread about this.

Don't go into a decidated video game design major. That will just teach you how to exploit trends and make the next hip iPhone game.

No, get a firm base in programming through Computer Science. Then you can work on video games as a hobby, and if that doesn't pan out, you'll still make tons of money in an ever-expanding field through your programming job

>>262399892
It's a harder start than Python or such, but I think it's better educationally. It forces you to learn the basics, and things later languages automate for you.

The bog standard is C++ or Java, though. But C is important because you can't truly appreciate objects until you've had to malloc() things forever

>>262400309
>>262403879
>>262408369

This. Use C to learn. Then use C++/Java/C# to actually do.

>>262407848
Thanks to Mono, C# can be ported to other platforms now just fine.

Agreed about JavaScript though. Fuck that.

>>262408774
Mono isn't good enough for production, I think.

http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/survival-shooter

this is a pretty cool tutorial. you won't understand shit if you can't do basic programing but bookmark it for later or get a taste now.

how long to fluency in C++?

i have no experience whatsoever

my motivating factor will be the burning desire to escape biological sciences

>>262409008
Oh right, it was MonoGame specifically

Though that isn't right for just general programming, I think

Still, Mono is feature complete up to C# 5.0, with 6.0 almost done

>>262409356
>how long to fluency in C++?

Years. You'll learn the basics in weeks, probably, but if you want to be good enough to get hired it'll take years of practice.

>>262409356
Start with C. That will probably take 6 months tops from a cold "durr what is a variable" start. C++ will be a couple more, since it is new functionality added atop C

Get Ritchie's C book and Starsrup's C++ book, they're the guys who actually wrote the languages so they're the best source. Look up other computer science textbooks too to learn to apply them

>>262409356
Introduction to C is taught in 2 semesters at my Uni, so a couple of weeks tops.

Getting good at it? Years.

5 decides my major. I seriously don't know what to do and wanted to major in vidya game design but after seeing the arguments here I'm second guessing. I like art/drawing and animation though. Ideas?

>>262409356
Syntax-wise or library-wise? Syntax-wise a week programming every day at most, library-wise... probably never, the standard library is fucking huge and you will probably not use half of it.

>>262409736
dick sucking

>>262409672
C++ isn't that bad as a start point with the right tutorial. In fact, since it is more abstracted and flexible than C, it might be a better starting point.

>>262408774
>>262407848
C# is multiplatform, sorry. So is Haskell, that doesn't mean you should fucking use it over a better language for the job, and C# is better for nearly any job that Java can handle, and for the few that it can't, Java is still worse than Scala or any of the other languages that run on the JVM.

Find me a language that is closer to psuedocode than JavaScript that isn't shit and I'll gladly recommend it over JS. Until then, JS is great for learning the basics of programming and pretty much any high level concepts (so no memory management, obviously) with the possible exception of some OO stuff like multiple inheritance. When I'm not at home and want to test an algorithm I just thought up, I can just fire up a browser and hit F12 and I'm ready to write. Oh, and it's multiplatform, too, since apparently you care about more than whether or not a language is actually good.

>>262409736
Fuck I didn't mean to make a get thread. Wanted serious answers

Hi OP...

You really should go take pre-requisite programs and classes at your local community college. They often have a lot of lower-level math and programming courses that will come at 1/5th the cost of a 4 year course. After you get an AS or am ready to transfer, you'll find your first year at a 4 year extremely easy. You'll also have saved a shit ton of money and gotten a lot of valuable experience.

It is not fun to show up to a 4 year school as a freshmen with a full course load. 12 credits (usually 4 courses) a semester at your local community college will be a great foundation.

>>262409919
Both are fine, really. I'm just leaning more towards C because it is stricter and because of >>262408369's reasons. C++ is better for actually using, though, for sure, but I think C forces you to learn basic concepts better

how high level is algorithimic programming?

>starting to apply for college
First mistake.

>>262410257
Algorithms don't have much to do with how high or low-level programming languages are. High/low level refers to how much control you have personally over memory management vs how automated it is.

>>262409736
Pretty sure you can major in arts/animation and then apply that knowledge to make a video game if you so desire.

>>262410009
>C# is multiplatform, sorry.
Well, if crashing all over the place is multiplatform then I can also run an x86 program in an ARM platform. It will not run for long, but hey, it can attempt to "run".

Also, while Scala is better, Java does its job for game development just fine. It isn't that bad, it just lacks a few features that make development more comfortable, but that's it.

Also, any language is more pseudocode than JavaScript. It is a clusterfuck of half-assed ideas, inheritance is "supported" but it isn't even implemented, for example. Python is much better at pseudocode than JavaScript, and while I have only touched Ruby for a while, I would say it easily better.

>>262410443
This. Unless you need shit done extremely fast high/low level doesn't really matter if you have plenty of RAM and CPU time to spare. Low-level just means you're closer to working with the actual hardware.

Did you mean "functional programming" perhaps? Because that's a whole other ballgame

>>262403427

I BETTER SEE YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS NIGGA
STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM KOTAKU THO

>>262410782
I think Java is bad for games generally because of how slow it is, due to needing to run through its own VM. If it's 3D you should probably use a different language. Minecraft has no right to be as slow as it is, but it's all because it's on Java.

>>262410223
Actually, chances are you will learn things "wrong" if you choose C as your first language. C is very specific, no mainstream language other than C++ will make you put up with the bullshit parts of C, and even then C++ has stuff aimed to make it easier. C belongs to a dying paradigm, I would say it is better to learn a modern language from the start.

>>262411218
Do you have any examples of that being the case? Other than needing to forget all about malloc() and shit?

>>262410782
There are plenty of Mono programs and games that work fine on OS X and Gahnoo/Linux. If Java is so great for games, why is Minecraft the only Java game currently relevant? Why isn't the Steam store full of Java games instead of C# games?

And I don't think you know what psuedocode means if you think C++ is more psuedocode than JS.

I agree with Python, which is why I also suggested that. I would recommend JS alongside it because you don't need to spend much time "learning" it if you already know a procedural or OO language. It's just a good helper, much like how you wouldn't write a game in fucking bash scripts.

>Ruby

I'll just ignore that part.

>>262398170
I'm going to go ahead and help you out here.

For starters, if you happen to dislike math, you won't find your career in Video Games fun, especially if you are going to be programming them.

Programming for video games takes alot of math, you have to render all sides, figure out how to make algorithms which light things correctly, these are just two things out of about a thousand things you need to do, and you need math to do this. Expect very very complicated math for them.

And not only that, but getting a degree in Computer Science also deals with alot of math. It differs from college to college, but at most, you will take about 3 math classes.

Now, onto programming itself and learning programming.

You stated in your post you wanted to learn programming 'easily'. There is no easy way to program.

You learn program much like how you learn a regular language: Learn by practicing.

I could give you a book about programming, and I could have you read all these different books, but you will never truly learn anything until you actually sit down and begin programming and practicing and applying the knowledge you got from those books and tutorials.

You will never fully learn how to program. You will always be learning when programming, so I hope you like learning :D

Now, here's what I would recommend a beginner like you would do.

>1: Learn a beginner language.
For this, I'd suggest you learn the language called 'Python.' Python is a high level language and very easy to learn, and it will have you productive in a matter of weeks. I recommend learning it off of the site 'Codeacademy.com'.

>2: Learn C++
C++ is the most commonly employed language in game design/programming. C++ is employed more than other programming languages due to it's portability, and it's speed. Not only is it useful in games, but it is useful outside of that as well. Infact, there is a 99% chance that the browser you're using was written in C++.

>>262410998
OH YOU WILL. TOO BAD YOU WON'T KNOW IT BECAUSE MY NAME ISN'T ACTUALLY "ANONYMOUS" AND LIKE FUCK I'M POSTING MY NAME ON /v/ (even though I've posted my old games here in the past and they linked to my homepage and nothing bad ever came from it).

And I will avoid kotaku like the plague. I'd only talk with game journalism sites, not clickbait shit.

>>262411908
(cont)
In my opinion though, I think C# is steadily becoming more used than C++. I really like C#. Infact, C# is being used in games as well using the Unity engine. Games made in C# are things like Terraria(even though it's code is shit in every way), Rust, and a shit ton of other games.

>3: Practice practice practice!
Like I said above, you can't just read books to learn programming. You must practice. What I personally have been doing is contributing to Github, answering things on StackOverFlow, and finding ways to overcome annoying problems in my daily computing.

For instance, I got sick and tired of downloading each pornographic image individually off tabs into my porn drive, so I made a script which does it automatically.

It should be noted that I only started programming a few months ago, and already I can do things in C# and Python. Also, my knowledge on things are kind of limited, but I believe I'm correct.

One more thing I didn't touch on, you may ask
>"Why learn Python first?"
Python will just give you a general feel as to how programming languages work, and for the most part, it's syntax is similar to other programming languages as well. Infact, alot of the times, after learning one language, it's not too hard to pick up another.

>>262411908
Right off the bat I'm seeing shit I typed wrong or said wrong.

I was wrong about there is no way to learn programming easily. Honestly, it differs from person to person here. Some may pick it up easier than others, others may take a while.

Programming is not just learning a new language, it's an entire new way of thinking. Programmers approach problems like "How can I break this down?" and then proceed to break problems down into a series of steps which are fed to a computer. There are programs which are made up of small machine-like programs which then interact with each other, I think it's called Object Oriented Programming. As I said I only started a few months ago.

So some already think like a programmer, and those will find it easy to learn. Others may take time.

>>262401770
Keep in mind if you major in CS and NOT get a job in game design, you'll have much better hours and pay, giving you way more freedom in making your games.

I'm a vet not CS major, any tips for me if I want to be an amateur game developer. I'd always see it as a hobby mind you, not an as a future career.

>>262412103
>>262411908
This guy is basically spot on. I used to hate Unity and bash it for not being "real programming" but then I remembered several good programming rules:
- do the simplest thing that could possibly work
- don't reinvent the wheel
- "not invented here" syndrome is cancerous
- if it ain't broke don't fix it

Sure, if I wrote an engine from scratch it'd be better than anything unity could churn out, but I want to make games, not engines. Nor do I want to write graphic and sound libraries.

>>262412832
A lot of Unity IS actually programming though. The problem is just that like Game Maker, 95% of people who use it don't use the actual programmy bits so the game ends up being a bit shit

But yeah, though. Making your own 3D engine sucks, and you'll pretty much never catch up to shit like UE4 so why bother?

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>>262398170

As a word of advice to you and any other high school kids lurking here who want to do computer science in college, start learning that shit right now. Google how to get started with coding or pick up some beginner book and start practicing today.

Really push yourself into learning it because if you can't stand studying it on your own free time right now, YOU WILL WASH OUT IN COLLEGE.

You won't believe how many idiots go for some type of STEM degree because they want to get into vidya or heard about "Dat 80k starting on graduation!" shit they read all over the internet. Guess what? None of that will matter if you pussy on your second year.

>mfw watching those scrubs dropping like flies left and right because they spent all their time shitposting here instead of getting their acts together.

>>262413197
Exactly. I make no claims about Unity being good. Good enough, however, it definitely is for the majority of indie devs and/or first games.

>>262407467
>There is a reason that engine can only do FPS, and it's not because people don't understand it.
Is it because it's so complex and specialized that restructuring it for another type of game would be ridiculously time-consuming/expensive and is therefore not worth the trouble?

Quick question, if i make a game in unity for pc, can i easily port it later to wii u when i obtain the dev kit?

>>262411032
Actually, that's not true at all. Java might not be the fastest language but it isn't slow, and for most games it will be alright. You will not code a GTA V on it, but you get the idea.

I think most of the "JVM is slow" belief spawns from Minecraft and shitty UIs. It isn't that slow, it's just that Minecraft is coded like absolute shit.

1.8 version comes with performance improvements. They have changed their culling algorithm for a more effective one, and that's the only think it took to make it run at above 100 FPS on most computers. They didn't even take the effort to improve one of their main bottlenecks, one of the most vital parts of a good engine. It is THAT bad.

Anyway, Minecraft uses OpenGL. OpenGL libraries aren't written in Java, they are usually written in C because that way it is faster and easier to communicate to the GPU. That's it, graphics are handled by the GPU, not the CPU, so Java actually handles very little of the rendering process. What's worse, low FPS usually spawn from badly optimized shaders which are C programs run entirely by the GPU, the rest shouldn't usually affect performance very much. If Minecraft performs like shit, it is because they are doing it wrong.

If Java was really Minecraft's problem it would stutter every once in a while instead of running like shit all the time. Java usually handles the logic of the game, and that isn't very taxing for most games unless you intend on running thousands of enemies with different AI in your screen.

Also, if they fucking made an octree-based map system it would have run much better, but they had to use fucking grids.

>>262413714
It's not that it's complex, it's rather quite simple, in the sense that it does exactly what it needs to do and no more. It's pretty shitty disingenuous it's a bad engine just because of that.

If it wasn't in C, it wouldn't be as specialized and therefore much slower, and likely without any extra functionality to make up for it since id doesn't make games that aren't FPSes. That extra work would just have been wasted.

>>262411431
Classes and exceptions should be enough to prefer C++'s paradigm in most situations.

>>262414140
Whoops, meant to say it's pretty disingenuous to say it's a bad engine just because of that*

>>262414126
>and shitty UIs
Oh dear lord Swing
Never again

So I always lurk these threads for advice, but I just have to ask, why do you guys shit on Java so much? I'm studying Software Engineering in hopes to get the basics for programming (as well as other stuff to get a job and support myself while I gamedev) and we're starting with Java this semester. I'm just curious as to why it's deemed as a generally bad language compared to others when used for games.
Also, would I be fine if I tried to learn C# first and then C++? I already had a brief course through C the last 3 months and I think I'm somewhat decent at it.

>>262414074
I have this exact question.

Obviously input code may change and support for the gamepad would need to be accounted for, but can Unity games on WiiU handle local and/or online multiplayer?

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>Don't know what I want to do as a career
>Don't want to go into vidya because that's stupid and I don't want to spend years of my life killing any interest for one of the few things I still like
>Not smart enough for any worthwhile fields and have no passion

>>262414126
Actually Java doesn't use OpenGL libraries directly either, it needs yet another third party API/library (JOGL or LWJGL) to make use of it. It's multiple levels of abstraction away from the hardware and GPU in particular compared to most other languages.

>>262414394
It's not bad, it's just kinda slow. How much that matters depends on the game you're making.

The draw for Java is that any Java code will run exactly the same on any platform Java can run on. Otherwise you'll need a library like SDL in C to handle that instead. They have their own benefits and disadvantages.

>>262411684
Last time I checked, a regular C# Hello World couldn't be compiled by Mono without some modifications. I'm not sure how much it has improved, but it didn't leave a good impression on me.

Also, the fact that Terraria is written in C# but hasn't yet been ported to Linux probably means it isn't that easy to port.

I will agree C# looks and plays much nicer than Java, but I prefer to be sure it is going to run without much modification in other OSes.

On top of that, Microsoft killed XNA, the best C# game library out there. In a few years it will not be able to keep up and will probably die, unless MonoGame manages to advance an awful lot.

>>262415029
Unity is multiplatform and uses C#.

>>262412103
>For instance, I got sick and tired of downloading each pornographic image individually off tabs into my porn drive, so I made a script which does it automatically.
Was this a greasemonkey script? One of the biggest problems I have doing this kind of crap is figuring out how to interface with the programs I already use.

>>262414394
>would I be fine if I tried to learn C# first and then C++?
You might find C++ a little retarded after C#, but it'll be fine - just like learning any other two languages.

>>262407536
Every tooth you remove has a soul and will haunt your dreams.

>>262409736
2d film director that works for Disney.

>>262398170
>blogging
>Unity
>>>/g/
Piss off

>>262409736
Computer Graphics Design

>>262414679
Well, C++ and other languages also require libraries to run OpenGL. However, as I said, that isn't the problem at all. Minecraft could run at 300 FPS in every computer if Mojang tried, but it needs a heavy redesign.

Not only that, Minecraft also uses an extremely outdated OpenGL version, of course it is going to run like shit. If I recall correctly, it didn't even use some basic optimizations libraries like libGDX already includes by default (protip: they benchmarked libGDX against SFML, a C++ library, before they had similar optimizations and libGDX won by far).

>>262415190
C# has a custom compiler/virtual machine/runtime so they pretty much use only the language's syntax.

>>262409736
pure mathematics

good luck we need more people in this field

>>262415931
>Unity
>apparently not video games related

>Asking about how to get into making vidya
>apparently not video games related

You're the one who needs to bugger off

>>262416097
All I know is for all the console ports Minecraft was remade in C++ and is a hell of a lot smoother

>>262416424
>t-tertiary blogshit is fine!
Piss off

PharmD student here. Half my schooldays are 9 hours of class and I have no free time whatsoever.
You're a fag for giving up on med school OP. You'll regret it when you end up programming and realize that your job is the most tedious shit known to man and you get paid about as much as a shitty government accountant for it.
Seriously, when even a pharmfag calls your job tedious shit, you know you dun gooft.

>>262415305
I had it written in Greasemonkey, but Firefox decided that every single page with a Flash element was a nigger and Firefox the KKK, so it crashed my browser.

I now use Chrome, and I haven't found a way to make a program/script which does the same for Chrome. :/

>>262416097
This

Also, Notch has gone on record saying that he only used Java because he was inexperienced and didn't really know C++ very well, not that he felt it was better. He didn't think it would become as big as it did.

>>262406184
This guy gets it

>>262416424
>All I know is for all the console ports Minecraft was remade in C++ and is a hell of a lot smoother
Minecraft Pocket Edition is still Java and is a lot smoother than Minecraft on a powerful PC. I think it's mainly about it being remade than the choice of language.

Also, are you sure the Xbox Minecraft wasn't done in C#? I remember hearing something like that.

>>262417130
Nope, it's C++

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-minecraft-xbox-360-edition

I have no clue what kind of libraries there are for Xbox 360 development though

>>262414126
You're probably right, I think I'm just biased because it seems like every Java game I've played have been buggy, unoptimized, crash-happy, RAM-hogging pieces of shit

I guess that's because Java tends to attract inexperienced people either than Java being worse

>>262417441
Xbox uses DirectX, I am sure. They are probably provided by Microsoft to developers exclusively.

PS3 uses a custom version of OpenGL, I think, but I am not sure.

>>262417705
>I guess that's because Java tends to attract inexperienced people either than Java being worse
Mostly this. Notch himself said he wasn't a good coder, and /g/entoomen laugh at his spaghetti streams.

He doesn't even know Eclipse has a built-in refactor function.

>>262398170
I'm in my first year, been programming since I was 8. I hope you fail, you think you'll just enjoy it, but it is hard work.

>>262409736
anthropology

>>262416651
>Flash element was a nigger and Firefox the KKK
The way that I read that is, "Flash elements staged mass protests and turned public sentiment against Firefox," which is actually an accurate representation of why I switched to Chrome (fucking youtube would crash it).

But Chrome does seem to be annoyingly difficult to actually plugin scripts with.

>>262409736
liberal arts

>>262409736
Women's Studies

>>262409736
literature

>>262409736
Digital Media

>>262409736
theology

>>262409736
Psychology

>>262409736
culinary arts

>>262409736
Computer Graphics Design

>>262409736
Biblical Studies

>>262409736
Feminisim

>>262409736
Child and Family Studies

>>262409736
Cake tasting

>>262409736
Law

Enjoy your 50 years of captivity.

>>262409736
special effects makeup

>>262409736
Meme designer

>>262409736
Sky-diving instructor

>>262409736
Pre-med

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>>262409736
Icelandic butter taster

>>262409736
Archeology

>>262409736
Ayy lmao-er :^)

>>262409736
Textile Management

>>262398170
DUDE LISTEN THE FUCK UP

DENTISTRY IS ONE OF THE ONLY THINGS THAT'LL TAKE A WHILE TO AUTOMATE

DENTISTS ARE SET FOR LIFE RIGHT NOW

DON'T BECOME A FUCKING GAME DESIGNER, IT'LL MAKE YOU POOR AND MISERABLE

>>262409736
Nuclear Engineering

>>262409736
Theology

>>262409736
Write sanic fanfiction

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>>262422345

Aw fuck

>>262422345
GOTTA GO FAST

>>262422345
AHAHAHAHAHAHA

>>262409736
Do it anyway and use your knowledge to make what you want. Good luck, I believe in you.

>>262422345
WINRAR!

>>262404198
My dentist got shot.

>>262409736
Women studies.

>>262422345
AWWW YSS

>>262422345
Oh fug

>>262407536

I'd imagine the idea of seeing multiple children cry everyday because of the actions you do could probably weigh on someones soul.

But also, does anyone actually like dentists? They do a job no one wants done on them, and they seem like boring people and you have to go to like 10 years of medical school just to do it.

OP, look at this (It's from my school)
http://cs.sfsu.edu/undergrad/under-rec-sequence.html
It has all things you should have mathwise.

>>262398170
go to a school with a good comp sci program and also a game design program. enroll in comp sci, hang out with the game design kids in your spare time because they've got labs full of video games. problem solved.

>>262400868
bioinformatics is good money actually

>>262405427
>if somehow it does work out -- and I'm not fucking kidding, it is Work, hard fucking Work, not just the making of it but everything else too; marketing it, attending conventions and game jams and etc. -- then there is not a fucking thing on the planet that can match releasing a game and watching people play it and tell you how much they love it. not one fucking thing.

thank you anon. you have inspired me.
i will fight through these flames to reach this point. i am not op, but instead a person who can be best described as a blank slate. that feeling sounds too good to let die.

>>262422808
I'll add that teeth/gums almost never get healthier. They just slowly degrade over the course of your lifetime and all you can do is mitigate the effects of whatever lifestyle you live. Unless they're performing oral surgery, dentists don't really heal anything. That's why they're always on your ass about prevention like flossing and brushing.

Then again, your mouth is basically the most important part of your body besides your brain and hands and possibly legs. It must be satisfying to help your patients hold off decay at the gates for as long as possible.

>>262422218
How long until vidya designing is automated?

>>262422916
Good to know that more than one person from SFSU goes on /v/.

>>262405084
pascal is C with kid wheels

>>262425448
Aww yeah nigga. What's your major?

If a man were to cover all chapters on this site, how decent would you be at coding in C++?

http://www.learncpp.com/

>>262400859
>"medicine"
I like it when people here think they know absolutely what they're talking about.

>>262426625
Undeclared at the moment, but leaning towards CS.

>>262427682
that's a pretty specific question

>>262427682
if its a good tutorial, it should give you very decent results.
it's not just about following the tutorial either, its about constantly applying those skills in a game development setting.

>>262423663
I'm ok with what he said.
We have many projects in my school and one of them was a board game. At the end of the year, when you see people playing your game is such a delight that the whole shit you have crossed for making that game disappears. Your battery is recharged, and you just want to make an other game.

Isn't programming a well payed job nowadays?
Doesn't matter if it's vidya, but can't programming in general get you a job anywhere?

>>262424661
Soon. 15 years tops. I mean, in the end, it's all about AI understanding the context its in and applying common behaviors as needed. How many times do we have to program player input by hand before you can just say, "I want a 2D game with a character that jumps 5 units when the x button is hit," and have it happen? UE4 is already halfway there from writing an engine from scratch.

>>262428004
Do it, it's a pretty good program. Not as good as SJSU, but still good.

OP here, codecademy.com is great. whoever it was that reccomended it, you're fucking awesome. they simplify everything to the point you'd have to be brain-dead to not understand it

>>262429240
not a cent. free as can be

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>>262403427

how do you balance work coding with part time coding. aren't you burned out?

>>262398170
>complaining about babby shit class
>not even a month in

>>262429605
the class is full of sophmores, they're all fucking mental snails. it took us a week and a half to write the fucking hello world code