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Getting Into the Games Industry Isn't Easy
simoniker writes "Lots of people want to be game developers — but it's not as simple as it sounds, as the Game Career Guide website explains in a new feature on game schools. Game professor Peter Raad: 'The number of job seekers who are seriously pursuing this field is staggering. It used to be the case that studios had the liberty to take bright, fresh, new employees with no specific game education background and train them in the methods, tools, and style that are required to make games. This is no longer true.'"
I see these advertisements on television all the time at obscure hours of the morning. I sure would like to program games, that sounds like an interesting career. But I'd imagine the industry isn't as huge as they make it out to be and that there has to be a lot of frustrations/complications when trying to deal with licensing and hardware.
Why are these 1 year game programming schools a bad idea? Because they're highly specific. Even a 2 year technical college would give you more options than a tech school.
I am currently a developer but I went through a four year liberal arts program at a state University. I would recommend at least that experience and I value those classes above everything else I have learned. My number one fear is that people sign up for these game academies and make the mistake of investing a lot of money (through loans probably) while coming away with only the potential for working on games. This isn't a good decision, the results can be quite devastating.
I think that game emphasis should be something only sought after a four year degree at a respected university. If you don't have at least a bachelor's degree, you're setting yourself up for some big time risk.
My work here is dung.
You just hjave to tighten up the graphics.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Film at 11!
So yes, there's "colleges" that teach people the game industry. And yes they have decent tools. But the problem with those schools is a lack of discipline. I'm not talking S&M but coding discipline. When I left my college after 4 years with a CS degree, I knew Java, C, C++, the differences between the two, Lisp, and Prolog, as well as SQL, and how to connect and admin a database, I also had a great understanding of Networking and some exposure to XML.
Out of all those things they all have helped me now that I'm in the industry, these "schools" are basically 16 month programs where if you really work you can learn a lot however there's not a huge drive to work hard, you can pass with a little work or you can excel if you push yourself.
That's not to say they are useless, one guy I work with went through these programs and he actually said that because he had a lot of drive he really went far, but that doesn't mean the school did anything other then give him people to learn from. It was his own personal push that got him through the school and got him a job at our company.
The only problem is that if he doesn't like the game industry it would be significantly harder for him to leave and get a job in IT or programming outside the game development world. The degree is so precise in what it teaches and so fast that with out experience it becomes null and void much faster then even basic CS degrees. But I guess you get what you pay for, my friend got the cannon which he loaded with the blasting powder which shot him up to our level (a decent sized studio making blockbuster sized games), while others in his class barely had enough to blow their own nose with.
It used to be the case that studios had the liberty to take bright, fresh, new employees with no specific game education background and train them in the methods, tools, and style that are required to make games. This is no longer true.'"
Yes, because he has no interest at all in saying this...
I still believe it's very much possible that, with a good portfolio to show, you can get a job in the game industry; Having done a gamedesign course for two years, I can tell you that the course did not learn me as much as I was able to learn myself from the Net/selfstudy.
"The number of job seekers who are seriously pursuing this field is staggering."
Right... It's called 'every teenage boy wants to do this with his life.' It's the next generation version of 'rock star.' It also means that not everyone who is 'seriously pursuing this field' is even remotely competent at it. They just want it really bad.
"It used to be the case that studios had the liberty to take bright, fresh, new employees with no specific game education background and train them in the methods, tools, and style that are required to make games. This is no longer true."
What? Sure it is. They are totally at liberty to take completely unknowledgeable people and try to expensively train them while ignoring semi- and mostly-trained people that also want that job. They'd be fools to do it (in most cases), but hey, that's their right.
I don't think there's any news here at all. Especially since there have been school entirely dedicated to this for quite some time. (I won't bother to advertise for them, as I feel they are all scam artists. "We promise to get you a job" etc etc. My sister's boyfriend just went through one... $80,000 later he's still looking for a job as a clerk.)
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
And how do you get into the game industry now without a fairly glowing resume that shows years of prior experience? I'm talking about now... not 2-5 years ago.
There's no such thing as an entry level tech job any more. Even a tech support rep position requires 2 years of tech support experience (see: catch-22). A job in the gaming industry requires not only that but soon it'll require one other thing: fluency in Hindu and Chinese. Preferably both, according to a recent Gamasutra article.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
He's constantly trying to get me to switch jobs. Unfortunately, my current job is paying me quite ludicrously, so I'm not switching for now. But the games industry in general is desperate to hire right now. The problem is that most 'game dev' schools are churning out utter crap for candidates. They haven't really done much development, they can barely code at all, or their art skills are crud. The game school programs just don't produce the kind of candidates the industry wants. You're better off going to a real school, getting a real CS degree, and producing a game in your spare time. That's the kind of candidate the game industry will gobble up.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
If you want to break into the gaming industry, sign up for the Guildhall at SMU. If memory serves, its an _intense_ 18 month program. I believe somewhere around 96% of the graduates end up with jobs in the gaming industry.
Being a game designer is not all fun and games. Works the same in many industries. A lot of people want to do it basing their desire on what they see at the end of rainbow. If you totally ignore that climb to the top it makes many any job look great.
:)
It really is part of the instant gratification, I deserve everything, entitlement attitude too many come out of schools with. Reality sucks and it hits many of them hard. Most who never had to do anything harder than whine to two parents to get what they wanted.
Game programming isn't simple and its not going to be exciting all the time if ever. Programming is programming. The same for doing the art that makes games look as good as they do. So you did a model, big deal. Now do X number of them, all to the same level of quality, and get it done by October. Now its work.
We all know people who do nothing than tell us and everyone else how they would do something better or different. Its a never ending story for many. "If I had done this it would have been with bazillion bit textures and optimized for octa-core machines" or whatnot.
Hell if any aspect of the game industry was easy many of us would be doing it. Instead the two easiest aspects of the industry to be part of are is the consumer end and the dreamer.
If anything schools catering to this crowd might actually make some real game designer, programmers, or artists out of the dreamers. Some need the structure to follow through on their dreams. With it all laid out before them, the steps to follow, maybe getting that dream to be reality will happen. Hell, turn the grade point system into points and layout the course like a game and tell them, X points and you win
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I mean no offense for anyone enrolled in such education and might be interested in hearing what exactly it entails, but...
I don't know whether to cry or laugh when I see mentions of these schools offering specific game programming courses and "degrees" that last for a year or two. Who are they kidding? Even colleges that offer 3-4 year programs with some kind of game programming specializations would, in my view, hardly prepare a person to actually develop games. Design, maybe, from the user's point of view, but "develop" in the programming sense? No.
Maybe I am out of the loop and game programming has indeed turned into some drag and drop excercise, but I am of the old skool where we used to optimize inner loops in assembly to get our pixels onto the screen as fast as possible when me and my friends were coding some crappy little games in high school. Nowadays I'm just about to complete my M.Sc. in CS, with studies both in fundamental algorithmics and all sorts of applied fields, AI, graphics, the works you'd find in a game engine. I STILL wouldn't dare actually seek employment in a game development company, as I don't feel like I am strong enough in the pragmatic aspects of coding (I'm mostly a bookworm, not a geek who codes into the night) and I'm sure I would have a lot to learn about the algorithms side of things, too.
There's this stupid idea floating around that just because most people in the world these days are involved with technology and even like it and an increasing number are even gamers, this inflation of geekness actually means that more people also have the capacity to master this technology so profoundly as to be able to actually create more of it. I am absolutely certain this is false, because people haven't all of a sudden got smarter, and because the offerings are becoming increasingly complex. The fact that a lot of the stuff is being moved into libraries and thus not all games are just written from scratch anymore probably doesn't compensate for this.
You can't just take Joe Random off the street and educate him into a game programmer. Likewise, if you want a career in game development, become a developer first. You need to be a really GOOD developer to actually get to develop games, as you will have to master a large set of complex theoretical ideas and apply them.
Here's a good test: grab any entry-level university textbook on linear algebra. If it makes your head spin, move on.
I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
I develop Neverwinter Nights modules for fun and have done so for the last few years. My modules have been included in gaming magazines and I've won several awards. For awhile, I was getting quite a few job offers.
Now, don't take me wrong. I love games and I love making games. The main problem is that I seem to love them when I can develop games on my own terms, something of a rarity in the gaming industry. The pressure in the game industry is intense, with crunch time and publisher demands and an uncertain career path. Plus, if you falter, there's a dozen other people ready to take your place.
I opted for a much more stable and lucrative position in the healthcare industry. The work is interesting (web application development) and I like the people I work with. In what seems like a rarity these days, I can easily see myself spending the bulk of my career where I am. Already I've been here for 10 years and another thirty sounds just fine with me.
Making games as a hobby seemed to be the best choice for me. I enjoy the creative aspect of the work and the freedom to make the story I want to tell. It's fun to be able to give my work away for essentially free and bring a bit of joy to the world. There are occasional frustrations, such as debugging and post-release tension, but for the most part it's an enjoyable pastime that I hope to continue well into the future.
... and during the last 5 months, than at other times, because many companies are still ramping up for their next-gen teams. That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that it's easier for candidates with little experience and qualification. Long term, it pays for a company to be picky about who they hire; That means, that finding people with the right qualifications for a job opening is difficult from the hiring company's side as well. I can't even begin to tell how difficult it is to find a truly qualified engineering candidate. Needle in a hay stack kind of, sort of, describes the feeling.
I attended a Classic Gaming Expo recently, and heard an Activision employee talk about what he says to people asking for advice about how to get into the industry. He says, "don't." In his day, a single programmer could creata a game that sells millions. Today, a game that sells millions also costs millions, and that means lots of anonymous cogs and testers working slave hours.
It's never been like those commercials that run on G4, with those two guys in recliners looking at a big screen TV. "Which way do you think this guy should move?" "THIS way!"
One of the largest benefits of many of these programs is that they bring a student through the entire development process, from concept to polishing.
Take De Blob, created by nine Dutch students for (I believe) the city government of Utrecht, in The Netherlands. I think it's a fine game; not perfect, but well-polished and (most importantly) complete. This means that the team has seen both the great and nasty aspects:
* "Let's create a great concept! This is going to be so rad!"
* "Prototype's done. Let's kick the tires."
* "I know we have the same machine. I'm saying it's not working on my machine."
* "That prototype sucked. We need to re-design our core game mechanic."
* "What do you mean we created our art assets too early and have to discard them?"
* "Time for the alpha. Our programming lead just left to become a nun?"
* "This game is so much fun that we play it for hours on end instead of working."
* "We have a bug where the game crashes if you move the mouse too much."
* "Why does everyone outside the dev team not like our game? We love it."
* "I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. Rrrrr!"
* "Okay, now more artwork. Someone tell the artist to stop using 4096x4096 textures."
* "Everything's running smoothly. Beta time! This should be cake."
* "What do you mean, 'nobody can run the beta'?"
* "It's finally done! Hahaha!"
* "Wait, what do you mean it's not done?"
* "I'm so freakin' tired. Damnit, if I quit, I'll fail the course. Can't quit. Gotta keep going."
* "Finishing the final 10% should only take us 10% of our total dev time, right?"
* "Our playtesters are smashing their controllers against the walls."
* "Okay, our playtesters are finally happy."
* "Time to ship. That wasn't so bad. What's that yellow thing in the sky called, again?"
* "I need a drink."
Presumably, folks who have been through a project of any reasonable size have some idea of how development goes, and can recognize some not-so-obvious mistakes. And the ability to stick with it through a grungy project (and they're all grungy at one point or another) is a plus.
While that's not enough to recommend these programs outright (and there many be many other points that make them not worthwhile), I view it as a big benefit.
________________________________________
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Indie Superstar - Indie games news in an exciting video webcast. Woo!
We're indie. We're working on our 14th game.
Take a page from software developers...
There was a time when it was impossible to get a job working on a kernel until open source came along. Open source has enabled alot of developers to cut their teeth and prove their skills to be able to get a job.
You can always develop for Linux (even a paid for project) using openGL and should your project go well, you will get the attention you deserve. It may even be possible that you could start your own company should it get popular enough.
It's a great wayto cut your teeth and eventually get whatever project you are looking to start off the ground.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
Right... It's called 'every teenage boy wants to do this with his life.' It's the next generation version of 'rock star.' It also means that not everyone who is 'seriously pursuing this field' is even remotely competent at it. They just want it really bad.
All these fly by night gaming schools are tapping into this market, but there is another way. A few really competent developers could clean up by grabbing one of the open source gaming engines out there, getting some venture capital and building it out into an open source gaming virtual console. Here's the basic idea. You build an open source, cross-platform gaming engine that takes modules, just like neverwinter nights, but a bit more versatile. You build into this a service that allows people to sell and/or give away modules they develop, supported by advertisements. At the same time you build freeware and more comprehensive payware development tools for this engine. You build one game, or maybe half a game including art and the whole shebang as your hook and you give the engine, game and freeware tools away for free. Get it bundled by Windows OEMs and in Linux distros and heck on Apple machines if you can. If you can't, make sure it is a free download everyone knows about.
At this point you have dropped a pile of money on this game/engine and don't have any real return on your investment. This is where the aforementioned market comes in. All the people who want to be game developers will mess around with your free tools and a few will make something worthwhile. A number more will shell out for your professional dev tools. At this point you have a fairly widespread service and will be getting a lot of good press. You have a lot of the work of making a game done for people, so the investment to bring one to market is small. This means companies might consider releasing cheap titles. They will want your dev tools. They may well want improvements to the engine which will benefit you or which they will pay you to make. And who better to hire to do development than the makers and maintainers of the engine?
Throughout all of this you'll be able to undercut other companies developing engines because you are leveraging free work from the open source community. Heck, there are a number of engines now you can leverage. If nothing else you can make and sell more modules, providing low cost games and building brands. If it takes off enough you'll be able to clean up simply on the advertisements on the site and the dev costs will be incidental.
I seriously think this would work, but am way too busy/comfortable to go for it myself. Someone, steal my idea.
PS I got back out of games a year later...
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
All this talk about game design schools, etc. reminded me of this funny commercial:
http://tightgraphs.ytmnd.com/
Reality is that it is not what you know, but who you know. Not only do you need skill to be successful in the industry but know those that are already in that can help you get in, but only if you're worthy enough.
My buddy got his job as a level designer without going to school whatsoever. I mean he's a highschool graduate, went to Devry, dropped out of there cuz he didn't like it - then attended a local community college. All while doing that he's been teaching himself level editing with the unreal engine and got a job with an indie company and now they are working on a 360videogame. He's been with them for over 2 years now and at first he worked for free because it was an independent company with no money coming in, and now he makes $50K/year salary thru the same company. His skill, determination, and talking to people in the unrealEd scene got him this gig and look where he's at now.
Previewing comments are for sissies!
I get these monthly emails of job openings from SIGGRAPH and they run into the hundreds. They include other types of graphics too, but a fair number of games stuff. Some are more artistic and others are more software, but a decent games person should know some of the other side.
It's the next generation version of 'rock star.'
Yay! That means that wanna-be rock stars like myself will have more chance because everyone else'll want to be games programmers. Wait! I want to be a games programmer too... Which means i now have less chance of getting in the field... Life is rough!
...straight out of college - I studied CS with an emphasis in graphics & networks - I landed the job more out of luck than anything else, one my friends was tester in college and helped me get an interview - Initially wrote exporters for 3D studio max, memory card management stuff and bug fixing - I finally worked my way up to producer, managing our external development teams in Italy, Russia & Japan
/rant over
;) If I can only get a budget of a conservative $5,000,000 to develop it!
It was a great job while it lasted - long long hours, passion to make fun games, learned so so much, worked with great developers, E3 back in all its glory...but in the end it was not worth it (I have since started a web services company about 1.5 yrs back)
With all the good, there is a ton of bullshit to deal with - my introduction to the dark arts of the marketing teams really turned me sour - The balance of development and marketing was heavily skewed towards the end of my tenure, forcing me to quit - when marketing begins to dictate release schedules, time allowed for bug fixing, cutting features to meet 'faster times to market' etc. etc., it can really stifle your desire to make quality games...
I still hope to someday develop 'my' game - the design doc is still there, just needs to be dusted off
I didn't think about the option of making mods. Well said. I can't even say I've never heard of modders getting jobs from their work - if that were the case, where would the makers of Counterstrike be? I believe Cliffy "UT2004/Pwnage" B went that route, too...
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I have a love/hate relationship with Herzing college. They have some of the best instructors imaginable that have helped shape my life and the direction of my career, and they have some of the worst instructors imaginable that make you wonder whether the tuition payment was worth it. But they do have a Video Game degree that Is not nearly so limiting.
First off (last I heard) their gamers degree was a bachelor's level degree, and the way their education is set up, it is much easier to complete a technical associates first, then work on the bach. So in order to go this route you would at least have a BS and likely an AS in Comp Sci, Networking, CAD, Digital Graphics, or the like.
Second up, from what I've seen of the course load it contains a lot of management related education (like all of Herzing's bach degrees). Public relations, team building, decision making, IT Resource Management, project management, etc, so even if the gaming market is full, you still have a huge marketable skill in technical management.
Third up, Herzing's tech teaching is practical based. One of the best and worst things about the school. You miss out of a lot of the abstract theory (eg How to write your own compiler, understanding assembly, micro processor functionality), but you make up for it in practical knowledge (understanding advanced tools, standards, and multiple languages/environments). For the gaming degree at Herzing that means there are modeling classes, 2-d art classes, programing classes, networking classes, etc. You really get to know a lot about the practical use of the different functions in the development process. That means that even if you can't get into a game dev studio, you can always fall back on a graphics job in marketing, or network support, of software development in another field.
All round, Herzing is a pretty decent (and expensive!) private school. The administration is god awful, but they usually allow the good teachers to really shine.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
Yes, in order to be a graphics engine designer you need to have a substantial amount of knowledge in advanced technical fields of software development. But look at what game development is turning into, scripting and high level coding. Most game studios aren't building their own engines from scratch, they are buying existing systems and building their games on top of them. So yeah, they'll need a small team that can work on expanding the engine, but there are significantly fewer jobs in engine development than say, content creation, interface design, AI scripting, 2d and 3d graphics, game design, testing, etc...
Not every employee at every studio has to have a Ph.D in CS and Physics. Have you played through some of the NWN modules designed by fans? Some of them are top notch. And they were built be "the VB programmers of the industry".
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
The ad's for the game programming schools make the jobs look cool but fail to tell you about how much time that you spend at work working 80+ hours a week is not fun even more so when you don't get overtime for it.
Not trolling, but what's the status of directx on wine these days? In my experience/hardware, games run faster on directx than opengl. I'd also assume more companies would be interested in directx skills for the microsoft market than opengl skills.
Lots of people want to be game developers -- but it's not as simple as it sounds
In other news, lots of people want to be top models, famous singers and actors - but it's not as simple as it sounds
You just got troll'd!
I'm posting anonymously, because I'm not out to make enemies, here.
In general, most folks in the industry are leery of many of the game development schools out there. There are a few good programs, but there are also many places where your certificate won't be worth the paper it is printed on. My advice, across the board is this: Do not go to any school that will take any old loser who hands them a wad of cash. Even if you've got what it takes, that doesn't mean your classmates will. You will both have to suffer through lowest-common-denominator teaching, and the poor reputation of the students who have come before you in the job marketplace.
If you really want to go through a game development program, do your research first. Do they have industry internships? What do past students have to say about the program? What is their job placement rate? Do past graduates keep in touch and maintain a social network in the industry?
Also, I highly recommend getting a 4-year university degree before embarking on anything like this. Programmers should have computer science degrees. Designers should have... well, a designer can choose from many options (psychology, liberal arts, etc.). Artists should get an art degree, and should have strong traditional art fundamentals, even if they specialize in digital art. Producers might consider something business or media related, though I've seen producers with all manner of backgrounds.
The important thing to remember is: Nobody has a silver bullet that is going to get you into the industry. You can't just throw money at the problem. You need to build a strong portfolio, no matter which career track you're aiming for. You need to show you can carry a real game-related project from beginning to the bitter end. You need to be able to demonstrate real work skills, instead of just dreams. Whether you get that at a school, or working on an independent project, that is what is going to sell you -- not a game dev school certificate.
I also got into the industry right out of college. I was actually a summer intern, passed the full-time interviews at the end, and then spent the last year of my CS Master's program knowing I had a nice job waiting for me by May. :)
... not to mention adding more features, etc.
:)
I agree there is a ton of BS to deal with, mostly dealing with business and marketing. I don't think gamers realize how hard it is to balance quality with all of the money and time aspects of the business. I'm the believer that almost anything can be solved with technology, ingenuity, and time. Unfortunately, you don't a lot of that last item, which can cause a lot of people to burnout really quickly.
True, almost every industry has that "not enough time" problem, but I definately think games has it pretty bad. It's so competitive, and there's just so much that can be done at any given moment: more time on game quality, or maybe improvements to the platform, or better coverage in testing, or just fixing bugs
I often wish gamers knew how much blood, sweat, and tears went into any given product. For example, reading a lot of the comments in the WoW forums is just crazy, how many assumptions are made. "Oh Blizz can just do X and fix everything, its soooo easy!"
I guess I can't complain too much. Before I got into the business, I was much the same way.
-- jchenx
Just like being a game developer, in theory it sounds easy and simple. In practice, it's tedious and complex.
But... look at Crystalspace - it's maybe the closest thing to what you're talking about that I'm aware of: http://www.crystalspace3d.org/
Just like being a game developer, in theory it sounds easy and simple. In practice, it's tedious and complex.
It doesn't sound easy or simple, but it is doable and something of the sort has been done before. Look at the easy to use editing tools in Neverwinter nights or Warcraft 3, or any number of other games. Something with that level of sophistication and ease of use, but integrated with a delivery service and open source.
But... look at Crystalspace...
Cystalspace is an engine and one that has some traction, but it is not a set of easy, GUI dev tools. In fact, crystalspace may be a good candidate for adoption for someone looking to start a commercial venture like the one I'm describing. Build some closed source dev tools, standardize the module format, and provide a reference game including public domain textures and models (but trademarked characters and settings). It is a lot of work, but with a pile of venture capital and handful of really good developers it has a lot of potential for being a good and stable source of ROI for a long time. The free game will pull in the eyes and the community will pay via ads, dev tool licensing, and by buying modules.
You watch to much TV at night and hang out on slashdot all afternoon.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I wish I knew what my chances are when I'm an animator/modeler as opposed to a programmer. I keep seeing articles like this, but they're never about what I'm trying to do. Curses.
Wait a minute... game DESIGNERS shouldn't be programmers, in fact, I'd say that knowing a programming language would just get in the way of the creative concepts that go into making games. Shouldn't game designers have more of a background in human psychology, literature, problem solving, drama, cinematography/videography, and the arts?
I think the worlds of the developer and the designer, at least in terms of the larger, mainstream markets, should be kept completely separate. Designing and developing are both creative endevours, but from very different perspectives. Designers come up with the fundimental ideas, and developers create ingenous solutions to bring those ideas to fruition. Knowing just the mear basics of how computers work is probably a good thing for designers, but any more, and they may be hindered by the ideas of what "can" and "can't" be done from a development perspective... and that should be up to the developers to worry about that.
Games are works of creativity... call it art, call it craft, whatever, there's a lot of both that goes into them. From my observations, pure IT people generally know very little about "what makes people tick", which is what is required to produce an engaging video game. I say this out of a bit of spite for my current engineering staff (I'm a TV producer), who think they know everything about what I need, and deliver software with increadibly unfriendly interfaces.
The only thing I'd trust a programmer to design would be to come up with some of the brain bending puzzles in games like Zelda... which are along the same lines of thought as problem solving in code. And even then, only under the supervision of an artistic director.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
Game programming is what you might call a "sexy" field, and it's not the only one. It's not that there is anything special or different about coding games that makes it so difficult to get into--you just have to be good at it. Companies want to hire you because you have what it takes; it's not like you have to be "in" or anything.
The biggest problem is that a lot of people have delusions about what they need to do or what they can do--they are infatuated with the concept of creating games because they love to play them, but when it actually comes down really doing it, they don't like it much at all! After all, how many teenages do you know want to be game programmers? By contrast, how many teenagers do you know write C programs for their own enjoyment (or any other reason, for that matter)?
Another example of this would be playing an instrument (such as the guitar). Lots of people wished they play the guitar because they think it's a cool idea. However, do they truly love music so much that rather than do other things with their time they would sit down and practice?
The thing is, only people who have the desire to be real programmers will put in the effort.
Like everything out there, some of these programs are good, and some aren't. I was a member of the first graduating class from The Guildhall @ SMU, and managed to get a job right out of the program coding at NCsoft. I left there and went to Sigil Games to work on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, just over a year ago. For me, the program really worked, and got me on track to work on exactly what I wanted.
Does not have to mean working for EA or any of the other major players. I teach a game programming class and I think the #1 misconception that students have is that to be in the industry they must get a job with a major player. To be in the industry you need to write a game and sell it. Then you *are* the industry. The only way you will have the freedom to develop the games you want to develop is to do it on your own. Look at the number of recent /. articles about major game designers going indie! Why are the doing it? Because they can! And, they can now have more creative freedom and keep a bigger percentage of the money.
The game industry is growing at a huge rate. There is enough growth every year to support a new major studio or hundreds of small ones. Create games and try to sell them. If nothing else it will give you the skills and experience that the majors are looking for. Being hired is nice, but selling your game studio is a lot nicer.
Stonewolf