This is my current concentration education:

International Baccaulerate-ranked High School:

Academic Business Management
Academic Entrepreneurship
Advanced-Academic Computer Related Studies (binary, octal, hexadecimal, basic)
Open Communications Technology
Academic Economics

Future Studies (College):

Business Administration focus
Marketing
Computers in business
Accounting
Business math
Advertising
Fundamentals of business
Safety in the workforce

Self Studies:

C++
Game Design
Photoshop (could always learn more than I know now)

well, here is how I did it (let's say I'm in progress).

1. I've learned alot about game programming and game development process during my university (computer science) as a hobby and made a lot of friends.
2. I've studyied graphics at a local art school
3. I've tried to make some games on my own, but failed because of too ambitious projects for one person.
4. I've got a job in the programming industry (not gaming) where I still work as a team leader. I've learned alot about project management.
5. I've started my own company along with my friends, where I offer a lot of services in the fields of design, graphics, web development and software development, which is a good place for doing money and team building.
6. I've started our own game project, I work "with" my friends, in parallel with other jobs we got on the company, but I'm still the project leader and manager.

In this way, I can give the oportunity to my friends to have their jobs, to work for money on my company in their field of choice, and to work on the game project, but they don't get paid for this one. Also the profiles of my company gathered people in all the fields implicated in game development.

Now we are working very hard on our first game, but just in our free time, because we all need money for living.

Quote:

Original post by Anonymous Poster Your question really should be phrased "How do I start a business with no risk to myself and have other people work for me while I collect the profits?" Answer: You don't!! You are lying when you say you have nothing. You just don't want to assume any risk because deep inside you know there's a >90% chance you're gonna flop.

I tend to refrain from getting aggressive with my posts but to be quite sincere: READ THE THREAD BEFORE YOU POST. You didn't understand even one word and just jumped to the conclusion without reading as little as a sentence of what I or anyone else posted. Get a clue. I even clearly mentioned that I have no care about money and I'm more interested with working with teams and having them be the creative ones along with me. Your post was utter bull.

Now, as for you, meeshoo:

Thanks, that's some good advice. I appreciate your input.

okay, ill read.

What kind of genre are you looking at creating a game for?

I'm fairly surprised that nobody has really mentioned putting some time into creating a mod. That's what I did, and although it isn't released yet, it is very popular by typical unreleased mod standards!

My theory is that if you create a successful mod, you have a pretty good chance of getting into the industry somehow. Look at Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, both bought out by Valve. Charlie, the brain behind Natural Selection, is presently pursuing getting into the industry on his own (and with a partner I believe). The team behind Red Orchestra is just about to release their game.

The routes that these guys went were:

CS/DoD - Getting hired directly by a developer.
NS - Presently attempting to gain a break into the industry on their own.
RO - Definitely benefited from a free engine license and some pocket change winnings to get their first game complete and ready to distribute via Steam.

From what I've read, I'm not entirely sure what your goals are exactly. Is it to get yourself hired by a company? Is it to start up your own development studio?

In any case though, the end goal is being in the industry. Gaining prior experience when it comes to design and proof that you have the level of committment to a project, the best method (I believe) is by creating a relatively successful modification. The engine and tools are there for you, so you need to develop your design ideas, pitch it to other (free!) developers out there, and go from there. It's definitely not easy, as there is a very high rate of failure among start-up and even established mods.

So yeah... make a (good) mod! It will look great on your portfolio.

Quote:

Original post by meeshoo well, here is how I did it (let's say I'm in progress). 1. I've learned alot about game programming and game development process during my university (computer science) as a hobby and made a lot of friends. 2. I've studyied graphics at a local art school 3. I've tried to make some games on my own, but failed because of too ambitious projects for one person. 4. I've got a job in the programming industry (not gaming) where I still work as a team leader. I've learned alot about project management. 5. I've started my own company along with my friends, where I offer a lot of services in the fields of design, graphics, web development and software development, which is a good place for doing money and team building. 6. I've started our own game project, I work "with" my friends, in parallel with other jobs we got on the company, but I'm still the project leader and manager. In this way, I can give the oportunity to my friends to have their jobs, to work for money on my company in their field of choice, and to work on the game project, but they don't get paid for this one. Also the profiles of my company gathered people in all the fields implicated in game development. Now we are working very hard on our first game, but just in our free time, because we all need money for living.

I'm doing a MSc in computer Science. As the creator of this thread I want to create my own buisiness in video game, it's tough, difficult specially when we have no money. That's why I think the above approch of the problem is the best of all.