   Since Im new to the business, I have one question..
  ...Which I didnt find someone actully asking anywhere, and I think it`s important.. for me atleast.How far can I reach entering this field regarding creating a video game?To be more specific just to get the answer I want.. Say that I`ve masterd languages like C++, C, C#, JAVA.. and then entered the field of the XNA, OpenGL and ofcourse API DirectX... even further more I decided to take those advanced courses in the Math and Physics of game develpoment......  The question is Will I be able to creat a game like those super fascinating ones.. and I mean by that something like "God of War" or "Call of Duty"... Or it`ll just end up with me stuggling (despite the all experiance that is supposed to be aquired) trying to creat something let`s say ""Limited, smaller and less exciting in comparcy"" like "Planets vs Zombies" or "Super Mario!" or something.. ?Im not aiming for a career nor making money (partly whatsoever).. I have an obsession of video games more than anyone Ive ever met or chat online, I have over than 400 video games for PC, PSone,2 and 3.. in my holidays I dont go to spend time on the beach.. I just lock myself in my room playing video games.. I think I have (had) nothing more important and more exciting in my life than video games.. SO... All Im trying to ask is.. with a guy who gets as much knowldge and experiance regarding game programming + having the ultimate passion towards the subject + having a wide imagination that if he gets it loose "it" could seriously hurt a hole nation! if not the all nations!! .. lets also add a not bad funding to buy an almost a not bad "super computer(s)"... so could it be NOT enough for this specfic guy to create a super game alone by himslef (evenif it`ll take him like 3-10 years) ???The question in a further much easier way "the Visual Basic way" : Does it just take more than: Knowldge + Experiance + funds + Passion + Wide Imagination + endless time .. to create a (one) game such as those huge companies`(Capcom, bethesda, EA, Konami) are creating every year ???(If you dont have the answer thanks for bothering to read and sorry for wasting your time).DeviousX   
  Given enough time and dedication you can go as far as you want. If you try to make a game like Call of Duty right off the bat you're just screwing yourself. Start simple and just keep turning up the difficulty as you go along and try new things. If you like gaming so much making a few dozen along the way to mastery won't be such a bad thing right?   ;Quote:Original post by DeviousX and I mean by that something like "God of War" or "Call of Duty"...No.Quote:Im not aiming for a career nor making money (partly whatsoever)..That will be a problem. The "super fascinating stuff" costs money. Double-digit million $ type of money. You might work for free, but the other 100 people required won't.Quote:so could it be NOT enough for this specfic guy to create a super game alone by himslef (evenif it`ll take him like 3-10 years) ???No. Doesn't God of War have 3 year production time? According to what people say, they have some of the best people available today and one of higher budgets.Yes, in 10 years it might be possible, if you start 9.5 years from now. By then, this type of projects will be as trivial as writing a Pacman or Tetris today. So the best way is to do something else in meantime.If something like this were possible, don't you think the multi-billion dollar studios would do it. Imagine the profits.   ;Quote:Original post by GaiidenGiven enough time and dedication you can go as far as you want. If you try to make a game like Call of Duty right off the bat you're just screwing yourself. Start simple and just keep turning up the difficulty as you go along and try new things. If you like gaming so much making a few dozen along the way to mastery won't be such a bad thing right?Yep! so damn right!! As for the step by step refernce of yours, I know that one should start with the small and simple hence the element of "experiance" Ive highlighted in my first post " Knowldge + Experiance + funds + Passion + Wide Imagination + endless time" .. Knowledge is almost usless without experiance.. and experiance means to try with less stuff, try and fail and try again and keep trying untill you actully die.So I guess for now the score is: ( Yes you can! - No you cannot!: 1  -  0  )Thanks for replying!EDIT: I think after Antheus`s reply it`s a draw now.. I alwyas thought that those studios are overrating the payment and funding announcments, but maybe you are right.Maybe it takes more than a super computer and a gaming programming genius to create a game like God of War in less than 10 years.So it`s: ( Yes you can! - No you cannot!: 1  -  1  ).. a draw so far.   ;  No, you won't make a game of current AAA standards. The volume of content in these games is simply too huge. Even if you could become a world class programmer, animator, modeller, texturer and everything else, you simply could not create the vast quantities of content that these games require.Now you might very well be able to create a game that people will *enjoy* just as much or even more than a game of current AAA standards. That's what independent games are all about: boxing clever. Finding clever ways to make fun, exciting, challenging games without needing the same volume of content. I'm thinking games like World of Goo, Aquaria and Braid. I'm pretty sure they were all 2/3 man projects, but it's theoretically possible someone might do something of that scale on their own.But no, if your soul purpose in learning to make games is to write your own God of War 3, save yourself a lot of frustration and do something else instead.   ;Quote:Original post by sybixsusNo, you won't make a game of current AAA standards. The volume of content in these games is simply too huge. Even if you could become a world class programmer, animator, modeller, texturer and everything else, you simply could not create the vast quantities of content that these games require.Now you might very well be able to create a game that people will *enjoy* just as much or even more than a game of current AAA standards. That's what independent games are all about: boxing clever. Finding clever ways to make fun, exciting, challenging games without needing the same volume of content. I'm thinking games like World of Goo, Aquaria and Braid. I'm pretty sure they were all 2/3 man projects, but it's theoretically possible someone might do something of that scale on their own.But no, if your soul purpose in learning to make games is to write your own God of War 3, save yourself a lot of frustration and do something else instead.It`s not a soul purpose, it`s not more than a hoppy.. soul purposes is basicly for living and aiming for a better life.. and I said Im not looking for money nor a career or a job!You make it look like a crime to even mention that one person can do what a all company work.Thanks for the opinion anyway..However Im still fascinating by something that the poster before you said:"Yes, in 10 years it might be possible, if you start 9.5 years from now. By then, this type of projects will be as trivial as writing a Pacman or Tetris today. So the best way is to do something else in meantime.In 10 years, there will be more advanced tools, it just keeps on going.. so the point is during that time and untill reaching the time of ""10 years"", if someone kept learning to be heading for professianlism in this field.. he`ll be able after 10 years (and during) to create a game like God of War (by standerds of this time) that will be as trivial as writing a Pacman (in standards of our main time).. maybe then (after 10 years) a game like God Of War3 would be such ancient and primitive.. but still he succeded in acheiving the goal.. I know many ppl who still enjoy games like Pacman or Tetris, and by that time too there will ppl who definitly still enjoy games like God of War and Call of Duty!So your theory isnt accuratly realistic.. after all there is a possibilty of someone to do it by Gaiiden`s logic.However.. the result now is Yes 1 - 2 No.   ( :( )   ;Quote:Original post by DeviousXIt`s not a soul purpose, it`s not more than a hoppy.. soul purposes is basicly for living and aiming for a better life.. and I said Im not looking for money nor a career or a job!Sorry, 4am typo in my reply. I meant sole purpose. Meaning, if the only reason you want to become a game developer is to make a AAA game on your own, then don't.Quote:Original post by DeviousXSo your theory isnt accuratly realistic.. after all there is a possibilty of someone to do it by Gaiiden`s logic.With all due respect to <EDIT>It was Antheus, wasn't it?<EDIT>, his reply speaks only of the technology involved, with no consideration given to the volume of content. Pacman has a very small amount of content. Leaving aside issues of quality, one person could create all the graphics for a game like that in a week. The same could not be said for God of War.Quote:Original post by DeviousXYou make it look like a crime to even mention that one person can do what a all company work.I don't make it look like anything of the kind. You're merely going on the defensive because I'm not telling you what you want to hear. The mere fact that you're agreeing with people who tell you what you want to hear and arguing with people who tell you what you don't want to hear tell me that you're going about this the wrong way, and leads me to believe you're going to go ahead regardless. That's certainly your choice, but if you don't want to hear the answer, it might give your confidence less of a knock not to ask the question.I'll tell you what *would* be a crime though. It would be a crime to hire huge development teams full of talented people to make Call of Duty 6 and God of War 3 if one person could do it all on his own. Or five people in two years, I guess, considering you're looking at a longer timeframe than they are.   ;Quote:Original post by DeviousXEDIT: I think after Antheus`s reply it`s a draw now.. Well I wasn't assuming you meant to go at a AAA game all by yourself. That's nonsensical. Even years down the road you'll find it's just not worth it. If you want to make a game like GoW or Assassin's Creed or something then join a team, even if it's a team of hobbyists.   ;  DeviousX, I don't see why you couldn't make a game similar to God of War, however that's not to say it would be a short term project.  Big companies can create games fast for several reasons, huge code bases, a lot of money, and talented workers.  Sadly, the amount of time it would take you to do all of the sound, graphics and design plus programming you could very well loose interest in your project.  It takes a lot of work as it is just to program without doing anything else, even art, sound, or anything else.I've spent a lot of time learning programming, music production along with graphics.  The amount of time I spend working on all of those things as opposed to just programming is insane.  I could make several games just being a programmer with all the resources being done by other people.So like Gaiiden suggested, join a team if you wish to work on any AAA title.  I'm not saying it's not possible, it's just going to require a load of work and motivation to keep at it for that long.  There are a lot of very fun non "AAA" titles out there, you don't need the most fancy graphics and sound to make a fun game.   ;Quote:Original post by sybixsusWith all due respect to <EDIT>It was Antheus, wasn't it?<EDIT>, his reply speaks only of the technology involved, with no consideration given to the volume of content. Pacman has a very small amount of content. Leaving aside issues of quality, one person could create all the graphics for a game like that in a week. The same could not be said for God of War.I spoke of the whole thing.Who is to say that in 10 years, the content tools will be as primitive as now. Look at Poser or Spore character creator, now imagine 10 years of development.Perhaps we will have voice controlled interface, that will use Google's content database cloud (make me a soldier, male, in thirties, 1.9m high, 90 kilos. Add a rifle, like AK-47, rotate ammo cartridge 45 degrees to the side, scale it by 30%, extend barrel to 1m, .....).10 years go, System Shock 2 was a hit. Go look at graphics, they will look like something out of a flash game today. SS2 could run in a &#106avascript plug-in today inside a browser.World is simple, mostly rectangular (it's built on top of square grid), with some angled corners. Textures are surprisingly low-poly (due to a mistake). Number of polygons on screen at any time is pitiful by today's standards. Models are trivial and basic.Yet at the time, it was ground-breaking.Also from that time, Unreal tournament, Half-life and Quake 3 arena. We have Q3 running in a browser, online now.Think of it this way. They say that some code takes 10 million years to crack today. Now let's assume that Moore's law were to hold universally. You can either start cracking today, and be done in 10 million years - or - you can wait 9.9 million years, and only spend 100,000 years since by then computation power will be so high. Exponential function.AAA of today is just Tetris 10 years from now on.   