Want to program games?

Want in on the ground floor — learning alongside a team of like minded programmers?

Photo by Farzad Nazifi on Unsplash

I am hatching a two year plan during which I build the skills necessary to launch a game development company. If you would like to begin the journey with me, feel free to message me and we can discuss.

I will make available 29 seats (myself being the 30th) to ensure that there are enough participants to form teams and have vibrant discussions, but not so many that some voices can’t be heard for all the chaos. Selection will be based on:

• your genuine desire to participate for the entire duration
• your commitment to meeting goals
• your ability to conduct yourself in a inclusive, welcoming, helpful manner (to everyone, regardless of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, physical or mental ability, veteran status, military obligations, or marital status) — yes I copy and pasted that, basically it means that NONE of that is going to be a factor. If you’re the best programmer on the team and have worked your ass off for a year and you’re treating someone like shit because they are “not like you” in some way — I’ll boot your ass from the program so fast your head will spin.
• your disinclination to be a giant egocentric, bullying jackass

The first year:

Courses:

• Single Variable Calculus
• Mathematics for Computer Science
• Linear Algebra
• Introduction to Algorithms
• Independent study course in an area of interest related to game development, game design, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mathematics, science, asset generation, team management, or any other pertinent topic — share findings with team in a two hour presentation, via extensive blog posts, or via an illustrative project.
• Independent study course in an area of interest related to game development, game design, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mathematics, science, asset generation, team management, or any other pertinent topic — share findings with team in a two hour presentation, via extensive blog posts, or via an illustrative project.

Projects:

• 6 solo projects in Phaser/TypeScript (can be game clone, or new game development)
• 6 solo projects in C++ with Unreal Engine (can be game clone, or new game development)

The second year:

Courses:

• Multivariable Calculus
• Differential Equations
• Design and Analysis of Algorithms
• Classical Mechanics
• Independent study course in an area of interest related to game development, game design, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mathematics, science, asset generation, team management, or any other pertinent topic — share findings with team in a two hour presentation, via extensive blog posts, or via an illustrative project.
• Independent study course in an area of interest related to game development, game design, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mathematics, science, asset generation, team management, or any other pertinent topic — share findings with team in a two hour presentation, via extensive blog posts, or via an illustrative project.

Projects:

• 2 solo projects in Phaser/TypeScript (can be game clone, or new game development)
• 2 solo projects in C++ with Unreal Engine (can be game clone, or new game development)
• 4 team projects in C++ with Unreal Engine (one per quarter)

Commitments throughout both years:

Weekly:

• participation on slack
• completion of the course assignments for the current week

Monthly:

• project plans consistently updated in Waffle.io, Taiga.io, Github Projects, or Trello
• Consistent progress on that month’s project(s) as demonstrated by routine git commits
• Read “industry news” for a minimum of four hours
• participate in two code reviews of other people’s code
• participate in two code reviews of your code
• demo a minimum of 5 projects developed by others

Quarterly:

• submit at least one PR to an open source project

Twice a Year:

• Deliver a talk, tutorial, project, or comprehensive series of blog posts to the group on your “personal interest” study
• participate in a game jam, code jam, or hackathon type competition (alone or with others)

I will provide:

• a dedicated slack so everyone involved can get to know one another, mentor others as needed, collaborate, discuss, schedule twitch streams, participate in code reviews, share industry news, demo games, etc.
• a GitHub organization with starter repos for a variety of game clone projects
• checklists for (well everything you can imagine, I’m a rockstar with check lists)

I will:

• ensure that everyone involved has the resources they need to succeed
• commit to participate fully, for the entire two years
• commit to meeting weekly, monthly, quarterly and semi-annual goals
• foster a team environment that empowers the entire team to greatness over the course of two years

I expect you will:

• commit to participate fully, for the entire two years
• commit to meeting weekly, monthly, quarterly and semi-annual goals
• foster a team environment that empowers the entire team to greatness over the course of two years

The End Game

March 31, 2020 — collectively, in true democratic fashion, everyone who fully participated and worked their butt off to get to the point that they’re a fantastic games developer, as I expect we all will be by then will participate in a month of discussions concerning our collective next steps. Options include — beginning original games development for sale on various platforms, continuing to refine our skills, all parting ways and hopping on board with other games development shops, or anything else the team comes up with. Everyone’s voice will be heard, and we’ll make the decision together.

This will begin at the end of March, 2018

If you are interested, and want to begin preparing for what is sure to be a wild, exciting, and incredibly fun ride — Here are some resources to get started:

In order to participate, you must have already finished, or be currently working on: CS50, YDKJS, Functional Light JavaScript and TypeScript. If you have yet to begin any of these, now is the time to start. You can join without having finished them, but you must have at least started and be willing to play a bit of catch up at the start.

To sign up:

Create an issue on this repo explaining why you would make a good member of the team.

If you are far more interested in design than development:

Lets talk. You’ll need to take all the same courses as everyone else, but if you’re seriously into the art side, arrangements can be made for you to delight the team as a roving artist, collaborating on existing projects in areas you most want to grow.