console developer background

[BloodNess]

i was thinking about what to study when i reach a collegiate level, and i always wanted to know what do video game console/handheld console developers' background is, is it electronics, mechanical engineering or what?

[Gump-in-space]

OOOoooo!!! I happen to be an expert on the subject of SEGA. Have a listen if you want to here an excessivly dedicated fan describe the roots of the buiseness chalenged company.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Computer Science is uaually one of them but a lot of people have this.

Depending where u are down here we actually have atfe's (college) specificlly for videogames from art to graphics to programming from various things to 3d models etc etc

[ganonbanned]

OOOoooo!!! I happen to be an expert on the subject of SEGA. Have a listen if you want to here an excessivly dedicated fan describe the roots of the buiseness chalenged company.

I do!

[BloodNess]

@gump: thanks but i do not like sega's early consoles, the only one i ike is the dreamcast and i think it's the best game console ever, alongside the snes and the wii...

@nin: thanks, i sorta new that. but what i am asking is the actual console development, fromm the design stages to the electronic stages and manufacturing, mainly the electronics

[daguuy]

Electrical engineering or something like that

[Reaperman@home]

background? all the game programmers I've come across were college dropouts. I don't know how long all of them stayed in, but one made it through a whole year for sure.
but generally the background is in software rather than hardware. hardware is the console manufacturer's job.

[Sparkfist]

System Architecture, Computer Programing (C, C++, hexadecimal, ect.), PCB design, Soldering skills, and experience.

System Architecture, tells you all about how a computer works. Not just about how the chips interact but digital logic, the basic understanding that goes into electronic devices.

Programming it, particularly in hex, is key. Hex is best because you can squeeze more performance out of the machine then with any other language.

PCB design, so you can fit the chips and other components as close together as possible. An example would be that with BlackBox iam7805 is using a Propeller DIP style, however there are two other configurations and knowing how to modify the PCB to accommodate the change is important.

Soldering isn't necessary, but it can help as chances are you'll be either in a small group or working on your own so being able to solder surface mounted components is a useful skill.

I only include experience as it's something that makes everything easier. But its often a double edged sword, you have to work to get experience and if you don't work you can't get that experience.

Hope this help, and good luck.

[hcmtnbiker]

@nin: thanks, i sorta new that. but what i am asking is the actual console development, fromm the design stages to the electronic stages and manufacturing, mainly the electronics

As for being part of a build team for a console you'd need to know a lot about system architecture, and hardware engineering. Software engineering is a very good thing to know to or you end up making systems like Sony that everyone B*tches about programming for because you made a powerful system but its terrible for developers.

Programming it, particularly in hex, is key. Hex is best because you can squeeze more performance out of the machine then with any other language.

I assume you actually mean assembler, Hex is nothing more then a base 16 number system. But any entery level computer engineering class should go through at least the basics of psuedocode and some assemblers(hopefully a RISC base because x86 is terrible).

PCB design isnt extreamly important because there are applications that can do most of this for you.

Soldering is a useful skill, although prolly never used untill you run into some crazy Murphy's Law situation where you want to develop a quick fix for your failed mobo or something like that.

[Sparkfist]

I say hex or hexadecimal for the simple fact that that's all that's used for assembler coding. I find it much more descriptive as to what it is then just "assembler" to which no real mental illustration can be made without going into further detail.

I should also add that if you're going to do something like what BlackBox is doing, low level programing is fine. You don't have large sizes as a requirement and you can have months or years to work on it. If you're talking something more like current or last generation consoles... C++, VB, or whatever language they use in their dev kits. I couldn't even image someone trying to program a game like FFVII in hex, way to much code for the person to type. You'd have something like ten thousand to over a hundred thousand lines for just character renderings. And some computer applications don't even have that many lines.

And so you guys know, here's an example of a commodore can do when the game code is all done in hex.. and it's 20MHz.

[sammy]

If you actually want to help in the development of consoles you should go for Inudstrial Designer. Nintendo has a lot of Industrial Designers on their team.