Does anyone know where I could find a job as a game programmer?
I’m currently in 3th year of Software Engineering bachelors. At the moment I got a temp job as a PHP API programmer, but that’s boring as hell.
Since the moment I started learning myself to program (when I was 11), I wanted to make games. At that time, I made games with Flash AS2.
Currently, I’ve been programming Java for like 3 years nonstop now. My teachers say I’m the best in class, but that’s probably because the others don’t program in their free time, plus they probably started programming when they entered collage, which is about 6 years after I started programming.
I can program/script Java, PHP, SQL and can understand HTML/CSS. I don’t know any C languages, but I don’t know if that’s even needed these days, and besides that, I can learn it pretty fast.
Anyway, I’m 19 years old, and I live in the Netherlands (in Gouda).
Any chance I’ll ever find a job as a game programmer? Or is it better if I start making games on my own, and slowly creating my own company?
I think you should create some smaller game and really put effort into them so you have something to show when applying for a game developer position. I don’t really know, but I think there are more developers willing to make games than there are positions so a strong portfolio would be start 
Hmmm, I’m currently working on a MMORPG idea that I got, altho I never made a multiplayer game, or 3D game, before.
Should I start with easy projects (like singleplayer 2D/3D games), or immediately go for multiplayer games?
certainly go step by step. there are so many problematic topics that you need learn one by one.
@patrickvane1993 said:
Hmmm, I'm currently working on a MMORPG idea that I got, altho I never made a multiplayer game, or 3D game, before.
Should I start with easy projects (like singleplayer 2D/3D games), or immediately go for multiplayer games?
Start simpler. Finish something. You will learn more in the last 10% of getting a game done than anything else.
I say write a simple complete single player game and then either write a more complicated different single player game or see if there is some way to rewrite the first one as multiplayer.
MMORPG is the single hardest game to write in time, content, design, everything.
That’s true yeah, me finishing an MMO as my first 3D multiplayer game ever is kinda unlikely, lol.
But singleplayer games are so easy to make with jME.
Maybe I’ll just make one simple game before trying something harder, something with multiplayer.
Ehm, I’m facing 1 problem.
How do you get your 3D models? Do you make them yourself, do you use free-to-use models, or do you know someone that makes them for you?
@patrickvane1993 said:
But singleplayer games are so easy to make with jME.
Perhaps said before ever completing one? Write a complete (I stress the complete part) single player game if you haven't already. If you can get through the start, middle, and end of that then you know what it takes. If you can't then you know what to work on... and will learn a few useful things either way, I bet.
I’ve made games before, just not with jME, and they were all 2D. At that time I kinda sucked in Java, didn’t knew anything about threads or opengl, still I found it rather easy.
But yeah, I should make a singleplayer game first, this time in 3D, as multi-threaded as possible.
Games companies do recruit. Just write up a CV, look out for opportunities, and send in your application.
There is a LOT of competition for the slots though so don’t expect it to be easy.
My info is quite a few years old now but one way people certainly used to try and which worked for some (although not all) is to go for a QA type job first. Do a good job as a QA guy and then look out for internal opportunities to apply for to head towards the programming one.
@patrickvane1993 said:
But yeah, I should make a singleplayer game first, this time in 3D, as multi-threaded as possible.
This is a path to danger. You'd be surprised how much a single thread can do, just go on that for the time being and when performance problems begin to develop start to think about offloading work from the render thread.
Is it also possible to create your own game company (that exists out of a programmer and a designer)?
Any entity that released products or services can be considered a company. You can even be a company on your own
I formed and owned my own company. It’s just a matter of having a bit of money and doing (quite a lot) of paperwork.
I’d definitivally go for a simple single-player game. I’m doing exactly this, trying to finish my very first single-player game. I don’t plan even putting AI, just pathfinding, the rest is user input. The hardest part I’m facing is the gui atm. Found out that it’s trickier than I thought.
I also highly recommend taking part in game jams like Ludum Dare, Game Prototyping Challenge, Experimental Gameplay Project - because of the very short deadlines you NEED to get stuff done. The learning experience is incredibly high.
@zarch said:
I formed and owned my own company. It's just a matter of having a bit of money and doing (quite a lot) of paperwork.
Nice!
But where do you need money for? And howmuch? Currently, I'm looking for 2D/3D designers that will get a percentage of the net profit of the game, but are there any other costs than employees?
@patrickvane1993 said:
Nice!
But where do you need money for? And howmuch? Currently, I'm looking for 2D/3D designers that will get a percentage of the net profit of the game, but are there any other costs than employees?
In the USA, there are setup fees and other costs just to file the paperwork... but in Virginia it's easy to do with a web site that walks you through the whole process.
If you are going to be sharing the company then most of your startup money will go to a lawyer to make sure all of that paperwork is in order. A sole proprietorship is the easiest kind of company to setup. The more people you add the more complicated it gets.
As @pspeed alludes to, the related fees are different based on country, municipality, etc. The one thing likely in common for all places, however, is that you’ll want to speak to a lawyer and an accountant before doing anything
Especially with sole proprietorship you want to make sure that you’re minimizing your personal exposure as there are many different options that are all “companies”
Ah thanks, I see I have to do more research on this 