hi all,

When i first started out programming, my first programs were not games. I didn't set out with the idea of writing games, it just became something i did at a later date, after i knew a fair bit of programming knowledge and after non-games started to bore me.

I am guessing i am strange in this respect as when i look into the tutorials here, recommendations, and what all the newcomers are saying, most people come here with no programming knowledge whatsoever, having woken up that morning deciding "i want to develop games".

Is this the case?

How many of you people came here with the same aspiration, starting from nothing to develop games, and how many others are like me, starting out with something unrelated? I'd be curious to find out...

Thanks!

I also started with non-games. My first programming experiences were during a "computer science" course (it was actually part of the normal math course and taught by a math teacher with no real CS experience) using Turbo Pascal. Later I found the Visual Studio Express Editions and started writing simple programs, first in Visual Basic, then in C#. After writing a couple of (more or less useless) applications and gaining experience with both C# and C++ somebody showed my the XNA framework and AntMe!, which were my first contacts to the world of game programming. When I finally registered here (I have visited the site from time to time before) I already some finished games (student projects) under my belt.

I didn't learn to program because I wanted to make games, specifically, I just thought computers in all forms were cool and an extremely flexible tool that could do anything.

And I just couldn't stay away from trying to learn as much as I could about them.

It turned out that doing stuff with immediate graphical feedback was what I enjoyed the most, and there are lots of interesting programming problems in games.

Of course I find good games fun, and have spend countless hours playing them. I early got some notion that this could be something I'd like to do for a living, but I was more into electronics at the start, and dreamed about building robots. I've always been interested in the interface between computer/machine and human, in all forms that could take, and the psychology involved, and games have a lot of room to explore that.

A lot of my early programming efforts were game related, but more about the tech, efficient sprite drawing and grayscale tilemaps in asm for TI calculators and things like that. Being perfectly happy with just the routine being done and optimised, with no game to go with it

Then I guess I slipped further and further into game development, with a hint of embedded systems.

I worked for a few years with UI tech for mobile phones, then had some Indie aspirations, tried it, ran out of money, and then I got myself a game dev employment.

Didn't join this site until after that, which probably make me unusual...

For me, if I wouldn't have been a total game nerd at the time when I had to choose what to do in my professional life in the future, I might not have chosen IT and programming in the end.

To be honest, I was not much of a computer nerd and not into programming or stuff like that... I was just a hardcore gamer. So naturally, when I got both an apprenticeship offer in IT and as a chemistry lab rat, I choose the former.

Going through my education in a place without any game industry to speak of, the Indie scene still being obscure at the time, and basically interests shifting away from gaming, My interest in making games (which was never REALLY that strong) disappeared, while my interest in programming intensified... so I ended up as a developer with a degree in Software engineering doing anything but game dev.

But over time I happened to become interested in games again, this time building them more than playing. So here I am, learning the ropes again as a hobby game dev. Joined this forum years after having started dabbling in game development, and with 10+ years of expierience as Business Software developer.

I decided to learn programming because rpgmaker and game maker where a pain in the ass unless I started to learn theyr custom script stuff. In my head, Id rather learn a real programming language then learn a custom stuff that can go out of existence. So I looked up on game companies what they where hiring for programming, and it was all c/c++. So I decided to check what this c++ programming stuff was about... I liked it.

I got into programming for games back when I was ~10, started making little things then and then working on MUDs and text games through my teens and then ended up in government and business software development for ~15 years. After deciding that that kind of work was soul-crushingly dull and boring as mud, I decided to go back to school, learn the graphics and physics and whatnot I never learned on my own, and then moved into the games industry. It's definitely not boredom that's soul-crushing, now.

I have always been interested how companies work, especially game development businesses. My dream job was to work in the financial department of some game development company.

As I was growing up, I played around with Delphi Pascal and 3d Studio Max, HTML, but I didn’t really make anything substantial, just really basic stuff... It was just something I did for fun after school/college.

So yeah, I studied Financial Economics in university (with the idea of being an accountant). After, I spent a summer learning C++ and then did Masters in Business Information Systems. During that time I found about this site. It really helped me with some of my projects even though they were not game related.

Afterwards, I realized that I want to make one game. However this “dream” game seemed something impossible for me. I had to become a much more productive and knowledgeable person to be able to make it. (Something between Castle Story and Stonehearth) So I joined my small family business. We needed a website, so I made one. Then I started to sell online (eBay, Amazon, my own site). From time to time, I make my own websites/tools to help me out.

All of this so that I can made my dream game someday. Well it’s been 4.5 years since having my idea. I failed to make my dream game 2 times now. However I did make a complete 2D space shooting game. Now trying to make it as a releasable product.

I would also say that my aspirations started out differently than most.

Back in the 80's when I was about 10, there was a program that our science teacher assigned another student to write that was essentially questions with y/n input to try to classify life. This student had the attention of a girl I had a crush on so naturally I had to learn how to program too. And of course, I had to one up him.

I found that I had a computer available to me (there were two in the school) and a book that could get me started. I set out with the intent to learn what I could and to figure out how to create things with what I have learned.

Games were on my mind and I certainly would've liked to create something like I had seen in arcades or the console systems of the day but I believe my thoughts were more those of a kid that was given something that he could build things with. Writing programs to fill some business need... well I don't imagine that kids think like that very often.

I think its just a matter of what inspires people to take that first step -- no one picks up an instrument with the goal of playing small shows at unknown bars, you pick up an instrument either for the personal satisfaction of it, or because you want to be a star. Programming is no different, and game developers are the rock-stars of the programming world (there are plenty of stars in other genres too).

Myself, I had always been interested in computers, games too, and the thought of making games was my impetus and motivation for taking those interests further.

I got into programming for games back when I was ~10, started making little things then and then working on MUDs and text games through my teens and then ended up in government and business software development for ~15 years.

This is pretty much me, except after 15 years, I've decided that I'm not really that interested in the kind of horrific hours and crap pay that most game programmers put up with and I'd much rather spend my free time doing things that don't involve programming anymore.

I still think game development is fascinating, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the rest of my life for it. If I could get a job in the games industry which paid well and didn't require tonnes of crunch time, I'd probably be motivated to do as Sean did and try to break into the industry, but I think it's probably too late for me.