Planning a pathway

Currently I’m in the early stages of learning how to make games. My goal is to get a job in the games industry. So, I need a plan to get from here to there.

I want to build a good foundation from the very first steps, so I’m thinking carefully about my choice of actions and their order.

Learning how to use GitHub/version control early

One major thing I’ve identified is that version control is important and I will definitely be using it in the future. So, I decided to learn about it early and use it going forward for all my course projects, and when I’m ready my portfolio projects.

Choosing an area of interest

My major learning resources for programming and Unity so far have been gamedev.tv courses. They also have a course about how to get a job in the games industry, which I’m working through at the moment. The first major task it sets is identifying the area you want to work in. I’ve written a post about this and identified gameplay programmer/AI programmer and gameplay designer/level designer as major interests for me. I’ll need to narrow it down though. I like to be sure how I feel about something first, and putting it to ideas to the test is the best way I know.

Exploring my main interests in course projects

Since I’m making example projects for each course I’m doing, I figure I might as well implement some aspect of my big interests in to each project. Just to go a bit beyond what the course asks for and explore a bit.

Focusing on my main interests in portfolio projects

I intend to focus the majority of my time when making portfolio projects on these areas of interest. Get the maximum relevant experience out of making them and have the most to show for it when applying for a job. It doesn’t make sense if I want to design levels to spend more time making a portfolio project’s music than designing the levels, for example.

Collaborative work

I want to make some portfolio work with other people so I can experience this and demonstrate it to potential employers. I don’t yet know what form that will take, but I’ll keep making connections and see what happens when the time is right.

Documenting work

Between this site and my youtube channel, I plan to document my learning and the things I create.