I want to learn more about game design and programming.
I basically know nothing, so I want comprehensive overviews to build a foundation. All I have is your standard background of growing up playing games, but no study, vocabulary or experience creating a game. I messed around with actionscript in flash once upon a time, but I was mostly copy-pasting code out of tutorials - so I learned almost nothing. The scripts did what I wanted them to, but I didn't understand why they worked, or I wouldn't be able to tweak them if I wanted something to work a little differently (at least not without fumbling trial and error). "Why"s and "how"s are very important to me - I don't just want something that will work in most situations, I want to know when something will work in which situations and why. I've tried sort of limp-wristedly to 'teach myself programming' once or twice, but perhaps I chose some poor resources - the principles weren't getting through to me at all. I guess maybe I'm saying I don't have a natural knack for it, I may need something that breaks the concepts down pretty simply (but preferably without over-simplifying a concept into an inaccurate analogy, if you know what I mean). And if possible, I'm interested in something that isn't specific to one programming language - although perhaps I can be convinced otherwise, since I've heard once you learn one there are few differences between them all.
If you would be so kind, I would like to know if any particular books, schools or other resources were most pivotal at your earliest stages of breaking into these subjects. Or if you're ridiculously generous, I'd be interested in picking some one's brain via messaging. I'd even give a gander to review blogs or youtube channels, if you think they're good.
Also in case it has any bearing on what one would suggest to me: I'm typically most interested in narratives, strategy, and puzzles - but I've certainly enjoyed some platformers, beat 'em ups and FPSs.
Some more specific topics that interest me are:
Game production workflow - what stages it goes through and all the positions that have a hand in it (both small indie games and AAA titles)
The evolution of gaming genres with technologies and their place in the modern society
What unique advantages story telling through gaming has (interactivity) and what challenges to writing that comes with
The future of interactivity with open betas, patches, feedback forums, online play, etc.
↧