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Self Taught Programmers?

by dboxvr on Jun 19th, 2014 15:54 PM

Is anyone here self taught, with no college or University training in programming or game design? I'm just wondering if it's really possible or if I'm being unrealistic thinking that I can do this with tutorials and things like khanacademy.com or even gameinstitute.com. And if it is possible, what would people recommend that I learn first? I'm already learning javascript, which seems like a good thing to know when using Unity. Then I thought I would move on to C#, because it is also used in Unity. Is that a good idea though? I've heard C languages can be pretty unforgiving and you can do serious harm to your computer if you don't know what you are doing. I've noticed that boo is an option when creating a new script. What is it for?

I hope this isn't an inappropriate question for these boards.

dboxvr

Posts: 116

Joined: 17.06.2014

Re: Self Taught Programmers?

by devien on Jul 2nd, 2014 10:23 AM

Hi, self taught programmer here..
When your first goal is to develop for the Dive, unity is the right way to start.
If you know Javascript already i would indeed recomend to move to C#. Most snippeds and tutorials for Unity use C#.
Its really not that complicated! C# is not as hard to master as C and C++. Its much more like Java and since you only use it in Unity for small scripts, attached to Game objects, you wont need the
"full" blast syntax and paradigma knowledge.

Boo is a script language similar to Python. Its quite neat, specially for programmer newbies.
But its not very often used in Unity.

You could start trying to implement your actions in C# and fall back to JavaScript on the "harder" tasks if you want. You can mix the Script languages used in your project as far as i know.

Its not unrealistic to teach your self to develop Games for Mobile.
Programming is a wide field and has very different levels of complexity.
For simple Games and Demos the engines today take away a lot of the hardcore stuff.
Actually i found it much more complicated to get into the "Modeling and Texturing" area, which are way more time consuming in programming a game than the coding itself.
If you want to start developing in general, i would recommend to read one or two books about java and then take a look at the official Android SDK.
As long as you dont want to implement an own game engine or do hardcore "low level native stuff" like NDK and system manipulation you can learn it all on your own.
Its the internet ^^ we got plenty of free knowledge here

Hope i can help. Sorry for my englich, i am german.
Let me know if you need any further advice.

PS: Regarding khanacademy and learning techniques:
After you have a simple amount of syntax knowledge (Variables, Control scemes like if and loops, litte bit of object orientation):
I think its often better and more rewarding to just learn it by doing cool stuff.
Just google for your tasks:
-How to make a first person control sceme in Unity.
-How do i implement simple KI
-How to make my Character jump
etc.

If you run into a syntax you dont know. Just google it up until the Code is clear.
Reading massive Books about C# is just frustrating in the long term..

devien

Posts: 6

Joined: 27.06.2014

Re: Self Taught Programmers?

by dboxvr on Jul 2nd, 2014 22:28 PM

Awesome! Thank you for such a detailed reply. And your English is good enough that I didn't even suspect it wasn't your native language until you told me. That is very encouraging for me. How long did it take you to be able to do something worthwhile in programming?

dboxvr

Posts: 116

Joined: 17.06.2014

Re: Self Taught Programmers?

by devien on Jul 3rd, 2014 10:05 AM

I started in a time without massive tutorial collections and free game engines.
But one evening i sat down and read a tutorial about QBasic. Three hours later i was programming my first Text adventure.
After that i discovered free Game Engines for Point and Click, Jump and Run and more open stuff.

What you can archive in terms of quality really depends on the Tools you use.

The RPG Maker is for example since many years the standard for programming SNES style RPGs.
It can be used with very little knowledge and you can get around it in about two hours. But you cant do anything other than RPGs with it.

An Engine like Unity is a little more open and can be used to design very different genres of games. Because of that its a little bit more complicated ^^.
But its no comparison to e.g. programming in OpenGLES natively, (which comes of course with even more freedom).

Its always artistic freedom vs. easy to use.

Unity might be a little more complicated, but with plenty of tutorials you can develop your personal Holodeck for the Rift in about 2 evenings.
Modelling the Levels is a whole other game..

devien

Posts: 6

Joined: 27.06.2014

Re: Self Taught Programmers?

by dboxvr on Jul 3rd, 2014 14:33 PM

I used Qbasic for a while too a long time ago when I was very young. It was actually thinking about it that got me to think about trying to learn programming again. I never got really good at it, but I figure that was because I was too young so I tried to find it again but I couldn't. Which is too bad because Gorilla was an awesome game. Also, when I was in high school, I took a course called Digital Media and the teacher managed to get 8 SGI computers for us to learn on. I chose to learn power animator which I think is helping me understand blender a little bit easier than I might have otherwise. So I'm not starting from completely nothing, just almost nothing.

I do eventually want to learn how to make everything myself, but until then I think there is lots I could do with Unity. I do have a side scroller in my mind that I'm not sure I want to use Unity for though. Plus, I really love code. I just wish I had figured that out earlier. Oh well. Better late than never.

dboxvr

Posts: 116

Joined: 17.06.2014

Re: Self Taught Programmers?

by steffen01 on Mar 19th, 2021 10:09 AM

Self-taught is one of the best way to learn something permanently. You can hire home tutors to lean any subject like science, math, English etc from the comfort of your house.

steffen01

Posts: 1

Joined: 19.03.2021

Re: Home tutors Help

by robertwilson on May 3rd, 2021 11:45 AM

Self-learning is one of the best habits that every student must have, Self-learning helps you learn and understand the concept better and for a longer duration. You can take help from online tutors who will help you in clearing your subject doubts.

robertwilson

Posts: 1

Joined: 03.05.2021

Re: Self Taught Programmers?

by Gbbernnet on May 20th, 2021 07:06 AM

Self-taught programmers? If you start to make your own working that time this working is better for everyone. I never start to make any of the information because all the college papers to buy instructions which you follow are only for you because you start to get help and make your own future

Gbbernnet

Posts: 8

Joined: 20.05.2021