Would I be eligible for this?!

MrRaspberryJam · 24-06-2014 1:27pm #1

I'm fifteen and have nothing to do for the summer but for a long time I've wanted to learn the technology behind gaming since I've been a huge gamer since I was a young child, I am emailing small gaming development companies in Dublin to ask for an internship, would I get one?!

I emailed one so far:

Dear --- Game Studios
I am writing to you to ask if I could acquire an internship or something similiar in your company/studio. I am a fifteen year old girl who is passionate about gaming and has been since I was a young child. I know nothing about I.T or programming but would like to learn because I aspire to build a career as a video game designer or a video game writer. I am on my summer holidays until late August and I'm going into third year. I would really appreciate if you could reply.

Sincerly,

Lauren Dowling.

----

They replied and said they aren't able to give me a paid nor an unpaid one but told me to email other companies and to take part in 'game jams'.

Kilgore__Trout · 24-06-2014 1:51pm

Hi MrRaspberryJam,

Welcome to the game development forum. There's certainly no harm in trying, but I think it would be unlikely that they would be able to do much more than show you around for a day. Most game development groups in Ireland are likely to be small teams, and if they take someone in as an intern, it likely means that a team member won't be able to do their own work, or at least as much of it.

But, if you're really interested in game development, the journey doesn't stop here. Whether you want to learn to program, make 3d models, design levels, create 2d artwork, sounds, music... there are tutorials out there to get you started. I'd suggest narrowing down what area interests you most about game development, and posting back, and someone here might be able to make some suggestions about how to advance in that area!

MrRaspberryJam · 24-06-2014 2:04pm

Kilgore__Trout wrote: »

Hi MrRaspberryJam,

Welcome to the game development forum. There's certainly no harm in trying, but I think it would be unlikely that they would be able to do much more than show you around for a day. Most game development groups in Ireland are likely to be small teams, and if they take someone in as an intern, it likely means that a team member won't be able to do their own work, or at least as much of it.

But, if you're really interested in game development, the journey doesn't stop here. Whether you want to learn to program, make 3d models, design levels, create 2d artwork, sounds, music... there are tutorials out there to get you started. I'd suggest narrowing down what area interests you most about game development, and posting back, and someone here might be able to make some suggestions about how to advance in that area!

I'd like to learn Something like programming or animation, where could I learn to programme?

Kilgore__Trout · 24-06-2014 2:17pm

You could try learning C#. It's used in Unity, Gamemaker (I think).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_9lfHjYtVg&list=PLE783AE5991B563FA

This is a little outdated, but that only means that you'll be using newer versions of the programs. If you can make it to the end, you'll probably know as much as a second year college student. This isn't going to be particularly easy at first, so you'll need to stick with it for a while until things start to make sense.

If you want to get into game development more directly, you could try something like scratch(free): http://scratch.mit.edu/, Gamemaker, or RPG Maker. I've never used them, but I understand they all allow simple games to be made with no, or minimal programming.

Can't really help with animation, but maybe someone else can help.

Torakx · 24-06-2014 3:45pm

http://coderdojodublin.com/
I had a search around for free courses in ireland. This was the best I could find with limited time.
I've heard of Coder dojos before though.
Seems like a nice initiative to help young people get started in game dev.

That C# tutorial series looks really good. From my own experience I found that following videos like that and doing it all for myself, made it much easier to learn, instead of taking in information during college classes.
But that's most likely just different modes of learning.
The college training helped me in other areas and with motivation in general.

The best thing to do overall, is enjoy what you do. This has always been the foundation of my sucess in any area. If you enjoy what you do or want todo and it is something you really want, you will naturally just do it when given the chance and will learn really fast.
Hopefully you have enough acess to a computer of some kind to be able to compile code.
Unity is good and has a lot of community support.
Game maker uses a different language(kind of like java) to Unitys C# or Javascript. Game maker is also easier to use for some people. Because you drag code functions into a list to run.
Unity at the basic level is an open book, not too many limits. So good for learning coding from scratch and quickly up to more advancd stuff without having to switch game engines and languages.

If that might seem too intimidating to start off with, there might be more simplified engines also that have most of the needed functions set up.
GameSalad, Construct2, Gamemaker allappear to be more or less at the same level. A beginners engine that can also be used to make games to publish.

Speaking of simplified engines.
http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/4241/what-is-a-good-starting-platform-for-a-teenage-game-programmer

Some interesting comments further down here.
Some people recoomending Starcraft editor and Warcraft III editor for learnign to code and game design.
I didn'y know these games would show you the raw code. I might have to check that out myself.

The animation , might have to depend on the type of pc or computer you can get access to.
But apart form that, it maybe fairly similar as going for programming.
It's becoming more and more popular in Ireland, so eventually more colleges and schools are starting to take these things seriously.
I am guessing training you pay for could get expensive.
And similar to the programming, if you enjoy it and really want it, all you really need is the hardware,software and time+energy.

Blender might be a great place tostart for animation. It's completey free, made by a community and updaed by the community. tutorials etc.
It does 3d modeling and animation like most other software that costs thousands.
Might not be the best at everything. But it is at some things.
So I reccomend that one as a great 3D starter.
I kind of wish we were forced to use it in college actually.
I started using it before college, switched to a large corperate 3D program for the course to learn 3D and now I have lost all my blender knowledge.
But it's quite easy to pick up with some youtube tutorials.

Best of luck and have fun

Let us know if you need any more info.

MrRaspberryJam · 24-06-2014 6:15pm

I really appreciate your research and advice man! Thank you

witnessmenow · 26-06-2014 9:31pm

Check this out

http://www.codinggrace.com

Irish-based not-for-profit organisation who organise female friendly coding workshops and events.

Would I be eligible for this?!

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