How I Became A Game Designer - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 5th Dec 2007, 15:01

http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2007...ame_designer/1

As part of a new series of columns by prominent indie and professional developers, James Silva talks about how he moved from being a dishwasher in an Italian resturant to being a game designer. Beware, the story contains ninjas, zombies and dishwashery!

Bauul · 5th Dec 2007, 15:53

Wow, cool column! I remember spending many a good hour on Zombie Smashers X. I even found a mod later that allowed you to play as a Zombie and kill all the humans, even more fun! I'll admit my only experience of ZSC was watching Joe drive down a street, armed with the lightning of God, in a shopping trolly, killing thousands upon thousands of zombies. And that brief introduction was all I needed to know that this was a good game.

Out of interest, how much background do you have as a coder, or did the idea for the game come and then you learned how to program the engines?

CardJoe · 5th Dec 2007, 16:37

God, those Zombie games helped the hours pass when I should have been doing my dissertation - and were the main reason I James was one of the first names which sprang to mind when we decided to launch these developer columns. FYI, we'll be having a few new developers revealing themselves and doing weekly columns over the next month or so. Stay tuned!

Jordan Wise · 6th Dec 2007, 13:00

Thank you Bit-Tech, this is the best thing you could have possibly published for me right now. I'm currently applying to go to Newcastle University to do Computer Science - Games and Virtual Environments and I've really been looking for an insight to how the wheels start moving when games are developed independantly. I can't wait for the next entry and I hope that first bit is true and more designers will be writing columns.

Tim S · 6th Dec 2007, 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordan Wise

Thank you Bit-Tech, this is the best thing you could have possibly published for me right now. I'm currently applying to go to Newcastle University to do Computer Science - Games and Virtual Environments and I've really been looking for an insight to how the wheels start moving when games are developed independantly. I can't wait for the next entry and I hope that first bit is true and more designers will be writing columns.

The second is already in hand, third is on the way too - short answer: yes there will be more!

Hiren · 10th Dec 2007, 09:27

A very insightful read!

5th Dec 2007, 15:01	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	How I Became A Game Designer http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2007...ame_designer/1 As part of a new series of columns by prominent indie and professional developers, James Silva talks about how he moved from being a dishwasher in an Italian resturant to being a game designer. Beware, the story contains ninjas, zombies and dishwashery! __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

5th Dec 2007, 15:53	#2
Bauul Sir Bongaminge Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Godalming, near Guildford Posts: 1,553	Wow, cool column! I remember spending many a good hour on Zombie Smashers X. I even found a mod later that allowed you to play as a Zombie and kill all the humans, even more fun! I'll admit my only experience of ZSC was watching Joe drive down a street, armed with the lightning of God, in a shopping trolly, killing thousands upon thousands of zombies. And that brief introduction was all I needed to know that this was a good game. Out of interest, how much background do you have as a coder, or did the idea for the game come and then you learned how to program the engines? __________________ Pentium 4 CPU 3.4 Ghz \| 1Gb + 2x512Mb Corsair DDR2 667 Mhz Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 512Mb\| WD Raptor 36Gb, Seagate 300Gb \| Asus P5LD2 SE Ibanez RG 470 Japanese Edition \| 1991 Japanese Lo-TRS Tremolo \| V7 S1 Custom V8 HSH Pickups

5th Dec 2007, 16:37	#3
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 8,010	God, those Zombie games helped the hours pass when I should have been doing my dissertation - and were the main reason I James was one of the first names which sprang to mind when we decided to launch these developer columns. FYI, we'll be having a few new developers revealing themselves and doing weekly columns over the next month or so. Stay tuned! __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

6th Dec 2007, 13:00	#4
Jordan Wise Baby called to see the boss... Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Newcastle Uni Posts: 597	Thank you Bit-Tech, this is the best thing you could have possibly published for me right now. I'm currently applying to go to Newcastle University to do Computer Science - Games and Virtual Environments and I've really been looking for an insight to how the wheels start moving when games are developed independantly. I can't wait for the next entry and I hope that first bit is true and more designers will be writing columns. __________________ Favourite Max Payne quote: "He was trying to buy sand for his hour glass, and I wasn't selling any" Steam ID:jordanwise

10th Dec 2007, 09:27	#6
Hiren The Real Pacman bit-tech Staff Join Date: May 2002 Location: England Posts: 5,810	A very insightful read! __________________ XBL : Shogun Hiren Homepage \| HD Tach \| Last.fm \| DeviantArt bit-tech newsletter \| bit-tech Blog