Hi Ari, Well, as you pointed out earlier that is a bit of a tricky question. Though, I think I can offer a pretty good answer for most of your questions. First, an Information Systems degree usually deals with working with databases and managing web sites. When I was in college our B.I.S. degree involved studying SQL, the structured query language, which is specifically used for building large scale commercial and government database systems using Mysql, Postgresql, or Orical. In addition we did have some education in designing database front ends in Visual Basic and Java. We finished with html, jscript, and some other web stuff. In terms of designing games with that degree the education would not be well suited for gaming since the focus of the B.I.S. degrees at my college were designed for designing databases, spreadsheets, web sites, and reporting type applications. However, while I think a .B.C.S. degree would help your friend a lot in creating games it isn't necessary to make games as a hobby. Most colleges allow for electives, courses you take with your required course work, so that you can expand your knowledge in other areas without having to get a secondary degree. Which is one possible way to come at this. Alternatively if your friend can sign up for a service such as safari.oreilly.com he can simply read all the programming material for writing games online, experiment with it, and do it on his own. Safari has documentation on A.I., 3D graphics, game physics, etc. In summary while college level physics, math, and programming skills are not necessary it would certainly help. If you can't get that knowledge through a college or university it is possible to learn that sort of thing on the internet on your own, and I am someone who can speak for being a self-taught game programmer. Actually, when I was in college I started out in the B.C.S. degree program myself, but switched tracks later on and went B.I.S. because math and physics were not my strong suit either. However, after I left college, I got on Safari, and began teaching myself game programming as a hobby. One last comment I'd like to make is that how much you need to know depends on what kind of game your friend wants to make. If it is a card game it doesn't need a lot of programming know-how and math. If it is a 3d first person game complete with 3d graphics and sound then that physics, calculous, etc for the B.C.S. degree would be very very helpful as it is needed for 3d graphics and sound. The programming skills needed also is much more advanced for 3d first person games.
ari wrote: > Hi all, > This is quite a tricky question, I suppose this goes to our developers > like Thomas. I have a friend who, his situation is a bit tricky, in that > he's not sure what to do, he wants to develop Information Systems for > businesses, but he would also like to try his hand at games developing. Now, > his problem is this, to get into the bsc of computer science, you need maths > and science, but he didn't do science at school, so he can't get into the > BSC. Some people say that you need physics to be able to program games, to > like understand speeds and distances and things, but is this really > necessary? Instead of doing a BSC, he can do a diploma in IT at a college, > or, at the uni, he can do a BCom in Information Systems. If he were to do > the Information Systems BCom, would the programming which he would pick up, > where he would learn to make Information Systems, be OK for him to develop, > even maybe some basic games? I know he'd like to do the BCOM, as his main > goal is to develop business systems, but do you think he'd be able to also > develop games and programs with it? I'm unfortunately not sure what the > diploma in IT teaches, but is a BSC really necessary to understand things > like Artificial Intelligence or to program computer games? Sorry, I know > this sounds a bit confused, but, basically, I think what I want to know is, > do you really need a top-of-the-range BSC in computer science to be a good > games developer. He has enough maths to do a diploma in IT, or a BCom > Information Systems, but his physics and science is really not good. > Ari > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
