How to be game programmer?

I am not very familiar with this field, however I do know the school I graduated from has a bachelor's program in video game design. I would recommend looking into those programs. Some of the courses they have are --- Foundations to 3D graphics Programming, Multi-user Media Spaces, Fundamentals of Game Design and Develop 1, Game Software Dev. 1, and Introduction to Interactive Media.

I know there are many schools that offer this. ITT-tech is one, Rochester Institute of Technology, Full Sail, The Art Institute, and many more. The Princeton Review would be a good place to find top ranked schools for this degree.

Hi! Glad you asked! I worked in the mobile industry for the past few years and it definitely is fun and exciting. There are multiple ways you can approach this goal. You can continue taking classes through a University or online classes. There are multiple online websites that offer free courses for this. I would recommend searching for "iOS development tutorials" to get started. I hope this helps and best of luck.

Being a game programmer is pretty much the same as being pretty much any other type of programmer. To get into the field you will most likely need a Computer Science degree or something in a similar field (Electrical Engineering, Software Systems, possibly Mathematics).

One thing to keep in mind is that software engineering (aka programming) jobs for well known/established companies are pretty competitive. There are hundreds of resumes submitted and only a small percent of those even get a callback for an interview. Unfortunately, while you might be a very good independent learner and pick things up on your own through online tutorials, free courses and textbooks, few companies would seriously look at your resume unless it shows that you have a degree in a computer science related field or a large amount of prior experience. Even taking a large amount of CS courses in your degree would likely not help if the degree is for a field that is in no way connected to CS.

The harsh truth is that these companies need to sift through the hundreds of applications they have as quickly as possible and get a dozen that they feel would be worth their time to pursue. If your resume is missing an important requirement for the job such as a CS degree they are not going to spend time looking over it and trying to figure out if you would e a good fit. As far as they're concerned if they miss out on one good applicant they still have a dozen others that are just as good to go through.

One way of getting past this is to work in a small independent game start-up, since there are less applicants for those jobs you might be able to leverage your knowledge and the courses that you took to convince them that you could do the work. If the game becomes a success you would have enough projects in your resume and have enough name recognition that a large game company might consider your application. Or the indy game studio might be bought out by a larger company with would also give you a direct shot of keeping your same job but now working for a larger company.

A Computer Science degree is the easiest way to be considered for the opportunities in this field, but the best way to succeed at landing a job is to have actual experience.

You could look at less competitive fields (software engineering outside the games industry) to get your first couple of years experience, but they will still be looking for a degree.

Alternatively, if you are passionate and driven then you can pursue making games on your own. There are plenty of free packages out there (like Unity) and lots of resources for getting started. The most important thing though is to FINISH. No matter how bad or small your projects are, go through the whole cycle and deliver something at the end. The more times you go around that whole loop, the better you're going to get at planning, executing and finishing making a title, and the more comprehensive the portfolio you can demonstrate.

As far as a typical day, usually you (as a team) are working towards some grand objective over the next couple of weeks, and you will own a bunch of smaller features/steps on that path. Your day to day will be working with the rest of the team (Art, Design etc.) on finishing those off, combining them with everyone else's work, and getting sign-off from Designers/Producers that the work has been completed. As you have responsibility for those features, any problems with them (bugs, crashes etc.) are also primarily your responsibility, and tracking down why things don't work in the way you think they should and fixing them is another large part of your job.

There are a few specialist games programming degrees that are genuinely useful (I got mine at Abertay Dundee), but a computing science one is probably going to be more valuable in the long run, especially if you specialise in rendering, physics or AI at some point. Getting a job involves standing out from the crowd and if you have talent in a specific area it can pay dividends.

One thing I found utterly invaluable about the degree I did was that I was doing team projects and talking to industry professionals fairly early on. Experience and networking are two things you'll be able to get a lot of while studying a degree, so don't waste the chance to corner some poor guy and talk his ear off if you get the chance.

My typical day revolves around drinking vast amounts of coffee and turning the ideas of a game designer into actual, playable features. A lot of my time is spent breaking problems down into little sub-problems that I can solve easier, looking up solutions online (you never stop learning as a programmer), and actually programming things. I spend a lot of time communicating with the design and programming team around me; the stereotypical "loner programmer" is someone who isn't going to get a job, so make sure you learn to talk clearly and confidently with your colleagues.