Hello,
Since this is really my (almost) first post, I'll also introduce myself. My name is Andy Anderson, I've moved to Australia a month ago. (in Adelaide more precisely, I'm mostly know on the internet as 'raicuandi')
I'd like to ask you guys of your opinion if I stand a chance to break into the game development 'industry'.
Here's something about me/skills:
* I've started programming early, I went to competitions and I even managed to get 4th or 5th a couple of times on the national level of the Programming Olympics (that was back in Romania, and that would mean a national-wide competition, which are held for most of the primary subjects). Good 'ol Pascal days... simple times.
* Now I'm experienced in C++, Java and C#, and I can code a game from bottom to top: 3D graphics using Direct3D (a little OpenGL too), 3D positioned sounds, input, physics, networking, but not much experience with scripting though.
* I believe I am experienced enough to get a job now. My last work: I joined the first serious-enough team without a programmer that I could find on the internet, and in 3 days I had a basic framework with the client settings loading from an xml file, and the window and input were up, in the next 2 days I came up with fully-functional sounds, with 3D positioning possibility, and they can follow nodes in the scene (so if a character moves, let's say, he's speech will also follow him in the 3D world), I've also made a playlist functionality class, that can load and play a list of sounds (for example for the background music) in sequential or random order. I'd say its pretty good given the amount of time. I've made some full-featured games before, but only for the fun, and with my own (sucky) 3D models and textures.
* Never had a job in game dev.
* My strongest point is definitely engine design!
* I understand a lot of technologies and how to use them, like rendering optimizations (such as portals and antiportals), data streaming engines for MMORPGs (like Guild Wars; instead of patching), HDR and many many others...
One disadvantage is no university degree. (no uni at ALL)
What do you guys think, do I stand a chance to get into the game dev industry?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
A strong portfolio can overcome a lack of a degree. The industry is still young enough that a degree isn't a necessity, as long as you can demonstrate the skills.
Not to say getting a degree is a waste of time, and you'll always find people swaying either way on the issue (especially should you ever want to career switch), though that wasn't your question. @:-)