Just Wondering...

[Maze]

Will B's and C's in American Schools still give you the ability to enroll in a gaming company career?

 

 

 

I was just wondering because my grades are slipping to that level (I used to get mostly A's, but now it's mostly B's). I really enjoy playing games and I was just wondering if I could get a decent,fun, and good paying job involved in gaming careers with those grades.

 

 

 

I'm kind of a person who worries about the future, so sorry I'm being so paranoid.

[Wisp]

Gaming careers can be hard to start, since most companies have requirements that include you working on atleast one succesful game, or something like that, which is hard to do, since most of the companies require you to do that. And you don't enroll into a career. You might enroll into a college that lets you major in something like that, but it will be harder with lower grades.

[Dizzle229]

Will B's and C's in American Schools still give you the ability to enroll in a gaming company career?

 

 

 

I was just wondering because my grades are slipping to that level (I used to get mostly A's, but now it's mostly B's). I really enjoy playing games and I was just wondering if I could get a decent,fun, and good paying job involved in gaming careers with those grades.

 

 

 

I'm kind of a person who worries about the future, so sorry I'm being so paranoid.

 

 

 

For programming, you'd need pretty high grades. As for testing, there are probably very few requirements, but it's not as fun as it sounds. You HAVE to play the games you're assigned whether you like them or not, and you have to play them over and over again testing every little detail. It would get boring really fast.

 

 

 

If you want to work with the good stuff, get those grades up!

[Maze]

EDITED!

 

 

 

I forgot to read Dizzle's post.

[Maze]

Well, what kind of gaming job could I get with these grades (besides the tester)?

[No_99_Melee]

Have you ever programmed?

 

 

 

It's boring as hell... :?

[Dizzle229]

Have you ever programmed?

 

 

 

It's boring as hell... :?

 

 

 

Mapping then? That can be kind of fun if you're allowed some creative license.

[Nadril]

Game design is almost completely based off of your portfolio and work, and not your grades. Sure, being able to say you had good grades can help, but the ultimate decider is your portfolio.

 

 

 

I am studying to become a 3D Designer for video games and even though my degree isn't exactly related to that or game design (it's a communication graphics degree) I still am getting experience and, in the end, all that will matter is how well I design.

 

 

 

 

 

If you're interested in game design there is a lot of options. Level design, programming, art (Both through concept sketches, website design, 3D Design [and all of the sub-studies of 3D]) , writing, concept design, Sound design, ect. Honestly the industry is pretty varied and it all depends on what you want to do. It also depends if you want to work at an actual company or create your own games from scratch (as an indie company).

 

 

 

 

 

So I would recommend finding something you really enjoy and do a lot of it. If you enjoy level design and mapping, pick up a copy of something like Half Life 2, Unreal Tournement 3 or another game known for its modding community and start making maps with it. Likewise, if you're interested in the concept design part of it, stuff like what should go in the game, what numbers to use (for example games like WoW have people dedicated to figuring out balance of classes and working with numbers and stats like their HP, bosses HP abilities, ect) then maybe try and team up with someone and work out an idea for a mod.

 

 

 

For my area of specialty I am interested in, 3D design, I am simply learning it from the ground up. It doesn't have to be related to game design although I do think it would be nice to make some 3D models for a game such as Half life 2, or at least start at reskins and such. If you're interested in concept art then have a portfolio full of drawings and concepts of characters, landscapes, enemies and such.

 

 

 

And of course if you're interested in sound then find out what area of it you are interested in and try and build up a portfolio from that. So if it's music, try and have a portfolio of various tracks. If it's more of ambiance stuff then do that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end though your grades aren't going to matter man.

[Lionheart_0]

High school marks aren't noticed by employers. If they are, it must be some pretty amazing cooperations. But I wouldn't go for those anyway. Your marks are mostly for gaining access to college/university in order to get the degree you need.

 

 

 

I would try to concentrate on your math and business courses (Software development/programming courses are great too) if you wish to get into the gaming industry. But as others have also said, it's pretty hard these days to get into them without having previous experience.

 

 

 

If you want to do programming, I would suggest starting to learn about (you don't need to know them yet) the different languages, and about how to think like a programmer.

[Lenticular_J]

I guess you could be one of the creative guys, for another job. That would be fun. Or work on the storyboard. Not a whole lot really pertains to gaming if you can't program.

[Faux]

if you're planning to go into coding, avoid those colleges that have cheesy game adverts for their specialized gaming program

 

 

 

go to a university program with computer science/software engineering and apply to a game developer once you graduate.