Hey everyone. I know I ask the dumbest questions in the world, but I''m only 14. Throw me some slack. This time, I wanna know about sources of income. I''m just a little 14-year-old guy. Can''t drive for another 5 months, a little too young to send in applications or resumes for jobs, can''t do much of anything besides mowing the lawn and raking leaves. My parents haven''t realized the beauty in game programming and therefore refuse to give me an allowance as long as they know I''ll just save it up and buy a (much-needed) new computer. (They think games are the devil) So what am I to do? What advice do you have for us young gamers/programmers on getting some cash? I can''t go on using this pitiful 486 8MB RAM 100MHz piece of crap. Ronald Forbes Download Complete. "YESSSSSS! The DirectX 7 SDK is finally MINE!! After 3 days of waiting, I have finally successfully downloaded this huge file. Now, I'll just fire up Winzip and... Illegal Fault. CURSES, MICROSOFT, CURSES!"

I feel your pain. When I was your age, I couldn''t get my parents to get me a computer, period. I knew that I wanted to do game programming, but it wasn''t until I started college in CS, that they finally bought me one. Then I had the fun of a four year cram to catch up with all of my programming brethren. Sorry, I''m ranting.

My dad used to jump all over me for wasting my life playing "Nintendo" but I am happy to say that now I have a degree and a job, he apoligized and told me he was wrong.

You may mention to you parents that programmers are in EXTREME demand and are going to be for years. Also, a CS major coming out of college can start as high as 50k a year. Then you can tell them that you need a new computer so you can learn PIII assembly.

I wish I had the answer for you, but I''m afraid I don''t. Don''t give up though. I didn''t.

Thanx for the help. I''m gonna get my mom and dad to read this. Maybe they''ll then see the light.

Thanx again!

Download Complete. "YESSSSSS! The DirectX 7 SDK is finally MINE!! After 3 days of waiting, I have finally successfully downloaded this huge file. Now, I'll just fire up Winzip and... Illegal Fault. CURSES, MICROSOFT, CURSES!"

Mcdonalds(at least where I live) will hire 14 year olds.

I traded my bike for a TRS-80 and of course that drove my parents nuts. I had to give the computer back, MINUS THE BIKE MIND YOU, and there I was stuck again.

After saving my lunch money for an entire year and a half before my mom caught on to what I was doing, she finally came over to my side of the fence. Convincing my dad to get me a computer as I wouldn''t treat it as another "game machine" like the atari, intelivision, etc. till the novelty wore off, they bought me a Commodore64. After learning to peek and poke I was up to latching on to retrace interrupts to get an extra 8 sprites for a whopping total of 16 for the games I was making. Showing my parents the technical achievements I made got me no where and it was up and down the whole way as far as support from my parents.

My point is, now after 15 years and many many computers pieced together from here and there, I stuck with it even when the hardware wasn''t. Now I make double what my dad makes at his age and I''m half as old, and surprise, surprise! I''m doing it with the very thing that my parents thought would get me nowhere. Now he literally begs me to teach him how to move around in windows just to maintain his current employment. (Now about that bike...)

It''s not always easy to get what you want, but if you have your mind set on it, believe it, and make conscious goals to achieve it, IT WILL HAPPEN. Even when the entire world seems against you doing it...

Sorry this doesn''t help with your cash issue though

My father thinks that it is good for me to have a good computer, so I don''t have that problem.

About the cash, save, save, save....it is all that i can say. I wish I had more to say...

Martin Hjalmarsson
programming@swipnet.se
ICQ# 22869599

There onr thing you need to understand: a computer is expensive, it is not a thing you ask like this!

The best thing t do is to get a job (at Mcdonald for exemple) and try to save money for a part of the computer, this should sjow to your parents than you are ready to work fo your computer. Then make a deal with them so they will also pay a part of the computer!

Try to find a second hand computer, some pepoles seem to change their computer each years to have the best machine, if you can find a 1 years old computer t will still be a good one, but at a fraction of the price!

If you don''t want to flip burgers, take heart in the fact that you can still learn game programming on a 486 (gasp!)

You don''t have to start with OpenGL and DirectX... you''ll learn the same core concepts by making a good ol'' DOS game, maybe in 320x200x256.

Remember, a 486 ran Quake just fine. If you really want 3D, grab the Quake source code and start learning about BSP trees, software rendering, etc... that way, when you get that new GeForce, you''ll know exactly what it''s doing.



Mason McCuskey
Spin Studios - home of Quaternion, 2000 GDC Indie Games Fest Finalist!
www.spin-studios.com

I was reading all the replies (thanx for all the advice) when I remembered that I got Everquest for Xmas. I opened it up and, after deleting most of the stuff on my hard drive, installed it. I was thinkin'' "alright! maybe this computer is good for something!" when I double clicked the tutorial icon. Up comes a message box saying "No 3D Device Found!"

I guess I''d better go start flippin some burgers!

Download Complete. "YESSSSSS! The DirectX 7 SDK is finally MINE!! After 3 days of waiting, I have finally successfully downloaded this huge file. Now, I'll just fire up Winzip and... Illegal Fault. CURSES, MICROSOFT, CURSES!"

I feel sorry for you, my parents love it that I program, they think it''s cool...

Any game I make is inherently cool.