Ok so I'm 25 and I have always had a passion for video games ever since I beat Mario bros 1 for nintendo when I was 4. So I defininatly slacked off alot of time wasted instead of pursuing a career w video games. So now I have decided to go to school and officially start and do a degree for it.
But my question here is did I wait to long? I don't have much at all or any really in programming or script nothin, it will be a fresh start, but believe me I have the determination to finish w a degree if, I just hope i have not waited to long. I was not sure if in this field really you have to know a lil bit about programming and stuff pretty much b4 school. I know this dramatically helps, but I will have none. So will school put me at a good start or will I be far behind the rest of class and students? Also I was a foster kid a while back and got a waiver for tuition at any state supported school is free, so devry Westwood itt tech and those are out, which alot of schools I found that taught game design where those. So if you know any Texas university/colleges near Dallas or online I cod take to get a start and right direction that would be awesome!!! Thanks to all who reply

I have a friend who is currently a senior in college doing Computer Science. I'm still pretty sure he doesn't actually know anything about programming.

Take from that what you will.

I don't think you are ever too old for an education. I know some guys who are in their 60's who have just gotten their PhDs so age is not important. A 4-year college, at least in mines, is definitely good enough to learn how to build a 2D game. For 3D, a regular 4-year college is not enough, unless they have a game program like USC. Most colleges like mines offer pretty sorry or no game development courses at all. You're pretty much on your own for 3D. But college will give you an excellent foundation (if you pay attention in your data structures, algorithms, automata theory, and compiler courses).

Quote: Original post by amnesiasoft
I have a friend who is currently a senior in college doing Computer Science. I'm still pretty sure he doesn't actually know anything about programming.
Take from that what you will.

I totally agree with you. Only about 10% of the students truly get it. I know one person who got a phone job interview with Intel after she graduated. The first question was, "How do you create a file in Java?" After a bunch of uhms and ahs, the guy just hung up the phone on her. And this was a person who took almost every CS class and stuck around for I think 7 years before graduating.

This happens because the three main programming classes are all 200 level classes. And then when you go on to the 300 and 400 levels, all the courses that require extensive weekly programming, disappear. Programming is something that needs to be done daily while you are in college, and unfortunately, only about 10% (if not much less) of the students do that.

In the weenie classes that they let me teach, about 10% of the students even have trouble even understanding what markup is, no matter how many times I explain it.

You mention a few things worth discussing in your original post. First thing, no its not too late to start your career, in fact, its better you decide now than another 5 years down the line.

Secondly, the course that I done at university had a very low acceptance criteria. People with no programming skill and no maths/physics were accepted, unfortunately a great deal of them dropped out because they where overwhelmed by it all. I had no programming skills but my god did I have to work hard to get through! I dont mean to scare you, but you should accept the course will be hard with no programming skills - your journey starts here and now - go buy a programming book (I would advise C++ as thats what they use in the industry-mostly) and work through it from front to back.

Finally, you mention programming but you also mention Game Design. Now, if you're interested in becoming a game designer, creating levels and scripting behaviours, then you wont need to be an awesome programmer. However, if you want to be a Game Developer then coding will be your daily job. There is a clear divide between the two and there is a plethora of information online about both - I would say make it your first step to read about both and decide exactly what it is you want to do.

I hope this gave you some food for thought. :-)

Thanks to all who have replied I understand the journey will be a tough one, ESP having to work as well. But that hasn't scared me off. I will still gut it out tho. I plan to put in about 5 years for school I understand it will be long but I'm willing to put in the work. Should be starting school in spring and I'm planning to keep the education goin outside of school and be working on small projects to learn more. So till school starts I am actually lookin forward to school startin and learning. SO... till school starts what I am understanding is start getting in to c++ I'll have a book on it by today and I will start learning thanks again for everyones input. Any good advice on direction. I'm always up for it and willing to listen thanks again.