Journey to become a Game Designer- introduction

05:58 David O No comments

My name is David Oso and I'm currently studying for a Game Design course under Train2Game.

When I was a kid I've always dreamt about becoming a game maker, the more I grow up the more I thought it was just impossible. Over the years I sought other interest and gaming was still part of my hobby. Age 22 I was stuck in the midst of life, I didn't know what to do with my life.

You know the the saying by relatives or parents to you "go to school, college and university then you can find a job and own your house+car" etc. This old saying as we've all heard before and countless times is really bad! It informs people/kids that going to University is complusory and that's the only way to get rich, good job, house car etc.

I never bought any of the bull as I just didn't believe that once you finish University you can get a good job+cars+house. I skipped university and thought about just working and getting promoted. One of the keys reasons why I didn't attend University were:

*The price was too expensive, such you get a degree though you are making a contract, the degree you get is an exchange for a loan paid for the degree:/
*House/family problem, I needed to work so I can support my family and pay for bills
*I was tired of education and studying!
*ALWAYS Being negative- recession, no jobs, takes months to get a job after Uni etc

These was all way back so moving on to present or at the age of 22 as I was stuck and didn't know what to do. I spoke to many people about their thoughts on University, they all said yes "go university because it is important" however I never found a good reason why to attend, no one gave me a selling point! A good friend I usually visit occasionally who owns a shop, he's a philosopher...well sort off. Because he talks like someone you can look up to and can give you great inspiration. He advised me not to only go University but to keep studying, studying is good. Even he did not convinced me to go University. And the last person I spoke to was my cousin.

She hit the nail in the head! She did say going to University was important though did not worded it like everyone else I spoke to which was "you have to go university". What she told me was "living my potential", "doing what you love doing". She gave me a Success magazine to read and an audio tape to listen to. I read the magazine and listened to the tape and there it was, it changed my mind!

You see it's not about going to University, studying or what so ever. It's about doing what you love doing and getting paid for it!
I thought really hard that what do I love doing the most? I love playing games so I might as well work in the gaming industry.
I searched for ways to study game courses; first I had 2 options.
1. go to university and study computer science or game course depending on chosen university
2. sign up to Train2Game.

Now let me recap on Train2Game. I usually see Train2Game advertised online in Facebook and EuroGamerExpo shows. I did my research and found out that people were calling Train2Game a scam; this was a problem as I wasn't willing to take a risk with courses like this. Mind you a friend of my told me a tragedy story about a course  he signed up for and was ripped off.  I can't remember the course provider name, I think it's Skills4Train I'm not sure. I did some research on it and found out many people were scammed on that course. Anyway the lady from Train2Game customer support spoke to me about talking to an advisor and deciding on the course and the funny thing was I went to collect a College prospectors for University and she tried to convience me to at least speak to the adviosr before going to visit a University/College.

Fast Forward, I spoke to the Advisor and he gave me 3 options to chose from the set of courses which are Art &Animation Course, Game Design Course and Game Development Course.
The thing about me is that I used to be an artist back when I was a kid, I used to make cool drawings of heroes and male characters (though looking back now my skills were not that good or needed to improve). While growing up I drifted away from art and drawing so I thought to myself that Art & Animation will not be my course.

Game Development, I looked at it and it was about coding and programming. I never made a mod or a map before, nor an expertise in C++ so definitely this is not the course for me.

Game Design, now this was about coming up with ideas for a game and designing it. Will this be for me? I realised that over the years I've thought of ideas that could make games better and what breaks a game and to my peak. I recently created this blog www.blackxino.blogspot.com which is made entirely of Ninja Gaiden 3 wishlist, accumulate of so many ideas for the next NG game. I could say that website with all the ideas is like 12% Game Design Document provided! From this proof I knew this would be my idea course.

In the end I went for Train2Game instead of going University. Why did I make this decision?
*Degree for Game Designer will not guarantee you a job in the Gaming Industry, you need passion, experience and skills to get a job!
*only cost £5,000. University prices will now increase by 2011 from £3000 to £5000 a year! And Going Uni you'd have to spend 3-4 years there. With T2G £5000 is only for the course and you can spend has many years as you can there!
*Train2Game is backed up back T.I.G.A of UK branch who backs up the gaming industry in the UK so this is a plus! NO Scam here!
*Train2Game's tagline is "For the industry by the industry". Meaning the best and veterans in gaming industry helped make the courses and the information you  read in the course is what the industry needs.

Now I'm currently studying Game Design course, so far so good it's going well! I don't have to go university or college, it's just a self study course meaning you can study at home any time you want!

So now I decided to create this personal blog to keep track of my progression and goal in life to become a game designer.
One of the reasons why I'm making this blog is so that I can use this blog for reference with my portfolio.

I will be writing thoughts on games and how they were designed, good and bad. I have game ideas in my head and I will not talk about them or give any slightest hint to them!

Posted in: Game Design Progression