TIL: is not normal for Filipino who is Under 18 to make games?

[Jomarcenter]

Ok so, I just recently got an interview from my Dean/My future professor in my own college before college start And since it a Game development course that I will attending. I was surprise on what my future professor said to me.

"Here in the Philippines, is not NORMAL for a guy/gal who is under 18 to make video games even using a game engine (like RPG maker VX Ace) or even think about making game. Except for children outside of the country." And he said I am the only case of this situation on the college that I will going to attend in the future.

Like to the above note. I would like to know any Filipino around here who is under the age of 18 below and who is also making video games on RPG maker or any other game engine.

I am very surprised on what he said, and since I am very active in this community I would like to know about it.

To admin or mod: If this isn't allowed just delete this thread.

But anyways I got a college to attend in a few month yay...

 

[Jeneeus Guruman]

I'm already 22 but I'm already making games since as early as 15 years old but that 1st 2 1/2 years are just simply made via DOS style using Pascal and C++ as pastime, mostly just a different variations of simple guess a number. When I reached 17 during the 2nd semester in my 1st year in college, I made a simple rock-paper-scissors game using Java as my final project.

Then when I reached the 2nd year of my college life, there was a game making contest (I started making it right before I turned 18 but I'm already 18 when the contest was held) in our school that time and somehow manage to win the 1st prize. But unfortunately only got 2nd prize last year because of my weakness to graphics.

I also discovered RPG Maker a few weeks before the 1st school game making contest.

For me, I think it's not normal to make games in our country (maybe except in near-NCR areas) but that doesn't mean that it's not okay to do it. In fact, my teachers are happy to have a student who loves game dev which is not very normal/common in my hometown at that time.

 

[kerbonklin]

Eh, Filipinos have a rough cultural issue with video games as far as I know (which is barely anything), especially internet cafes, and on MOBAs or anything competitive. I don't know if what i'm about to say holds true for games outside the MOBA genre at internet cafes, but in those places they can get quite barbaric and rage-inducing into actual fistfights with other people. Lot's of Filipino people on Dota2 can attest to that, and those not involved hate it too.

Definitely continue game-deving and learning programming (Ruby in this case) as young as you can, and also playing tons of different games as well.

 

[sabao]

The problem with starting out young before was there was a severe lack of resources available to people who wanted to learn: beginner-friendly tools like RM2k/2k3 were relatively obscure things at the time, primary to secondary education in the country offered no real introductory courses to programming and a lack of a strong local network of peers to promote the craft were major barriers to getting started.

I got into game dev at 12, I suppose? That was fifteen years ago. RPG Maker for the PS1's (and then shortly after, RPG Maker 2000) menu-based creation process removed the intimidation of having to learn a programming language first and instead taught you to understand and work with the commands at your disposal. This was my first exposure to stuff like if statements, variables, loops and stuff that turned out to be close to the same way you'd work with on code. My high school offered very basic classes on ActionScript, Java, and BASIC. We made pretty simple stuff-- buttons that did stuff and web-related stuff. Nothing too sophisticated. Making games might've still been a long shot at this point without doing research of your own, and I suppose at that age most people are more interested in playing games than making them.

 

[Archeia]

I started at 13 and still going. My bro is the same.
It is majorly uncommon but we do have Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP).

 

[sabao]

Sorry I was in a hurry so I couldn't put my entire thought process down a while ago, but here we go:


As far as education went, the very basic programming classes I had delved very little into what might have been required for game dev. That said, most of my school mates were likely left still mystified by what really goes into making a game. I found that showing them RM or Game Maker at the time helped pique interest, if only a little. Give them tools they're likely to understand and can play with and see what happens from there. Some stuck around. Others just didn't stay interested. Game dev is a pretty huge time commitment if you want something done (and done well) and the multidisciplinary nature (code, art, writing and sound) of the craft... Well, it's a lot of work. It's just not going to be for everyone.


Still, I see an uptick in interest. RM's legal now and gets way more exposure now than it used to. Colleges are starting to offer game development courses: the College of Saint Benilde I believe has the first CHED accredited game dev course ever. I THINK iAcademy has one as well, but I'm not sure. Ateneo de Manila will be offering one soon. Having actual game development courses listed as potential majors for incoming freshmen would almost certainly guarantee more kids trying to get into it.

For me, I think it's not normal to make games in our country (maybe except in near-NCR areas) but that doesn't mean that it's not okay to do it. In fact, my teachers are happy to have a student who loves game dev which is not very normal/common in my hometown at that time.

 
I don't think it's the game development that teachers are happy about as it might be you getting into programming. The local game development industry's pretty small and unless you're working for the two or three big studios here, it doesn't really pay well (Actually, no, sometimes the big ones don't pay well either. ). Knowledge in programming is highly sought after in general though, so it's not the worst thing to be really good at.

Eh, Filipinos have a rough cultural issue with video games as far as I know (which is barely anything), especially internet cafes, and on MOBAs or anything competitive. I don't know if what i'm about to say holds true for games outside the MOBA genre at internet cafes, but in those places they can get quite barbaric and rage-inducing into actual fistfights with other people. Lot's of Filipino people on Dota2 can attest to that, and those not involved hate it too.

 
That's the general culture of gaming though and not game development. Big difference there. The local dev community's actually full of really nice people.

I started at 13 and still going. My bro is the same.


It is majorly uncommon but we do have Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP).

I love the GDAP. They're probably the only reason why local game development is in the news at all. I'm a member of the PGDC (formerly IGDA), a smaller group under the GDAP and have participated in a couple of their events and they're good people. The community's supportive of one another, and yes, there are folks in there that make games with RPG Maker as well. Senshi Labs comes to mind.

 

[Jomarcenter]

@sabao Yeah it true College of Saint Benilde is currently the only school that handled the game developement course that is CHED accredited, Heck you could guys already guess which college I am attending right now.

But I think 2015 is going to be the starter up for the game development industry since during a lot of people wanted to join the game developement course but they also said that a lot of drop-outs and people Changing course happened and only a few graduated because it's too hard for them to stay at that course. So I don't think the industry will be growing as fast.

@Archeia I am very aware of GDAP but I don't really see any activity from them a lot most of the time.

 

[sabao]

But I think 2015 is going to be the starter up for the game development industry since during a lot of people wanted to join the game development course but they also said that a lot of drop-outs and people Changing course happened and only a few graduated because it's too hard for them to stay at that course. So I don't think the industry will be growing as fast.

The local industry is actually very large, just not very visible. The larger studios mostly only handled outsourced work from bigger studios abroad (two studios here worked on 3D assets for companies like EA and Naughty Dog, for example). This kind of work naturally doesn't put these studios in the news, but they're the biggest and best paid teams currently out. Some of these studios have recently started doing original IPs though so that may be due for change soon. The financial straits a lot of AAA studios abroad have been going trough in the past year has meant a bunch of layoffs and stuff on their end, so given the risk of partnerships abroad being terminated anytime they've decided that it would be prudent to work on their own stuff as well. On the independent side, we have small studios like Kontrabida which had one of the first all Filipino teams to succeed in Kickstarter. There's a local dev team that I can't remember the name of receiving a mentorship from Square via the Square Collective program. White Widget was in last year's Tokyo Game Show. GDAP was in this year's GDC in the US.