I am interested in learning how to program games. When I finally finish my game can I realistically live off of the income produced by the sales of my game.
I am not sure how to market my game either… A friend of mine told me that I can put a shareware version of my game on http://www.download.com to promote and sell full versions of my game. Is this true??
I already know C++ and I am learning OpenGL and DirectX, Is there anything else I need to know before I start programming games??
Hey there…knowledge of the general software engineering/design processes are essential if you’re serious…believe it or not, a good design can be more important (and time consuming) than any coding…
Additionally, games today are more than just graphics…remotely good games have some aspect of AI, story/script etc…
There are plenty of talented coders/artist/story writers out there, but they are pretty much in limbo unless they somehow collaborate with each other…
I just read an interesting, albiet a bit pessemistic, 2 part article on this very subject over at gamasutra. It talks about how to get started in the games industry, including developmant and production.
Here is another interesting article I read, an interview with Tim Sweeney. He basically talks about how he started out with a little shareware application called Jill of the Jungle about 9 years ago at Epic. Well I’m sure you know how successful he is now. Just wanted to offset the harsh tone of the previous article links I provided, though I think both articles are an important read.