new programmer

i want to be a computer game programmer, but i don't want to go to university because it's too expensive and won't teach me anything anyway.

what's the best way to become a professional game programmer without actually getting a university education?  is it even possible?

>>1
1. Make an awesome game.
2. Sell it.

>>1


>>2 is right. Unless you can somehow come up with a game that somehow sells alot you're going to have a hard time getting into an already overcrowded, highly competitive, frequently outsourced, job.

>>1

1. Learn C++
2. Learn OpenGL and/or directx
3. See you in 30 years
4. ?????
5. Profit

you're an idiot for asking /prog/ and you're an idiot for poo-pooing university when you say you want to make it your career. Grow up.

>>5 Exactly. University will teach you most of what you need to know about programming, and more.

>>6
but universiyt is so hard.  isnt there just a book or something i can read and learn everthing?

Life is hard, unless you were born to billionaire parents. Get over it.

Looks like I need to adjust my sarcasm'o'meter. :(

>>7
Yes, there is, all written by university professors!

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University will teach you most of what you need to know about programming, and more.
lol

Read http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

>>13
Yes, because you can be one of those amazing self-taught people that learned everything with just a library card. Anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it right?

Spoiler: you don't have that kind of will power. That is your one ability that you can't "will" yourself to get better at. You'll try to learn C++ for 5 minutes and then give up and jerk off to /d/ for the rest of your life. Then you'll die face down in a pool of your own jizz.

Hint: Self taught is easy, actually having the necessary depth and understanding the hard topics is not. IMHO in industry some of y worst experiences are with dealing with self-taughts. Many are arrogant prickes who act like MENSA cases (FYI mensa is for people who didn't go to university yet have to prove they are smart @_@), yet I can't communicate to them the reason why their code runs slow even though they did all the optimizations on game faqs (complexity).

>>15
The self taughts I've known are the best. Certainly much better than the cocky new grads who couldn't tell the difference between a system bus, an anonymous function and a carburetor. Of course, there's always the self taught who self taught himself how to write a Visual Basic program that ejects your CD tray, and the self taught who scripts and hacks the fuck out of everything. I'm talking about the second.

>>14
Everybody have that power. If you don't believe it, you'll never do anything good.

>>1
There are lots of ways to learn. I'm both self-taugh and uni. Learned C and Basic for fun before college. Went to college, learned Java, C#.NET, asm, LISP (Lost In Superflous Parenthesis), VB.NET, VBA (Visual Basic Archaic). Got a job, needed to learn PHP, taught myself that, needed to learn some shell scripting, started teaching myself that.

>>18

Way to go, you're like everyone else on /prog/. Doesnt that make you proud?

>>19
Yes, I want a cookie now.

>>19

Really just wanted to convey that >>1 will most likely end up learning a lot of stuff, a lot of different ways, for a lot of different reasons.

I went through university to get the goddamned title. Before, during and after that, I studied programming and software engineering on my own.

Any good professional in this industry is self taught. By "good" I don't mean certified consultant, BTW.

I'm looking to do what you're doing >>1 :]

I've started by looking at some pygame (python that can create small-time games), then when i'm confident with python I'll move onto C++/OpenGL/DirectX

It will take a lot of years but it's my passion !

>>1
nehe.gamedev.net <--i learn opengl from there, although i already learn C++ before, so i dont have trouble learning that.

and if you want 3d programming, just prepare to use something like 3DSMax, a Camera for texture, Scanner character faces that u draw

>>17
I've yet to see you do anything good.

>>1

You should just buy an $80 book on certification, read it, get certified in something, and then you'll be an instant success.

>>24
nehe.gamedev.net <--i learn opengl from there
You haven't learnt OpenGL. You only learned ``deprecated bullshit''.

>>1

There's a lot that can be self taught, but things will be much easier if you go to uni. Although, I remember seeing course lectures on the internet from MIT.

You may want to look up lectures on common data structures and algorithms and implement them in your favorite language. Even if they seem unrelated to gaming, it's this sort of thing that makes games possible at playable speeds and with readable code.

Also, all of the best kids in class in uni are self-taught, but you still learn things you'll need to know there. If you have real passion, I suppose you might be able to do it, but a CS or SE degree will help. Not that uni makes any dumb fuck into programmers. There are some really bad programmers that get CS degrees...

Bringing /prog/ back to its people
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I only go to uni so i don't have to pay taxes. I don't need these stupid ass dumb shit teachers to teach me anything. Why should I? I have a certified IQ of 110 and these losers fucked up their whole life so bad they're stuck as teachers. They don't even know shit about the subject they're teaching. If they knew anything about it, they'd be getting paid hundreds of thousands to do it right.

>>1
It's been six years. Did you become a games programmer or not?

>>32
lol nice trooling

>>32 just imagine how clever you'd be if you never went to school....

>>? I only teach, so i too don't have to pay taxes. I Taught the best and brightest how to read, that they might learn to do anything. I don't need these stupid ass dumb shit politicians to pay me anything. Why should I? I have a certified IQ of 115 and these losers fucked up their whole life so bad they're stuck forever hording and chasing money. They don't even know shit about teaching. If they knew anything about it, they'd know getting paid hundreds of thousands to do it, means you'd have a bunch of teachers who care more about getting paid than teaching.

fix'd ^^

>>1
It's all part of the game.