Web Design is great atm, HTML 5 is beautiful with many defining features that as web dev, I am very happy for. Yea C++ is great for games programming, C# is useful for the Unity Engine. Of course Javascript can be used for that aswell!

Yep. I've been doing some environment fly-throughs for a Psych company and did some of the custom camera work in Javascript. (Created it all in the Unity Engine)

Ah nice. Yea the game industry is pretty locked up with C++, so its great that Unity offers an alternative.

Indeed. Dunno if I like Unity better than Unreal.

Never tried my hand at Unreal or UnrealScript; got any tips? What's it like?

Unrealscript isn't terribly efficient. And up until the most recent builds, the debug flagger was a piece of crap. I realize it's common in all coding, but I spent more hours than I can count trying to figure out where I'd accidently gone wrong. That said, Unreal has the most potential of any of the available engines. Especially for Action/Adventure games in the realm of Halo or Uncharted. I especially appreciate it's easy material and mesh tools. I can usually get a level BSP'd, meshed, and textured within two hours depending on scope.

That's fantastic. Did you learn 3D Modelling, or anything in order to use those tools, or is fairly easy to pick up? EDIT: Have used map creation tools before, love creating epic landscapes, but have always been an ass using textures.

The 3D modelling only comes in if you're looking to make custom meshes. So if you're going for something specific BEYOND a test level or just a mock-up with placeholders, yes. You will need someone with 3D modelling experience to make your meshes. That said, most 3D meshes (at least for environment) are pretty simple and not hard to learn. I've been using Blender to build my basic meshes (althought I prefer 3DS max) and a school copy of mudbox to build the high-poly mesh. (Although I prefer Zbrush) Texturing has all been done with unwraps in Photoshop. (I generally put my basic texture, UV, and shader files together when possible) Unreal actually features a modelling/animation/texturing suite in-editor, but the tools are bit subpar as opposed to even the free versions of other programs. I sometimes use the animation tools to tweak meshes for cinematics if I don't feel like rebuilding my animations out of the editor and then re-importing. All the skills are fairly easy to pick up, but difficult to master. Lighting and vidareas can become a pain, especially on larger outdoor levels where your caching info into your vidbuffers to decrease performance strain. That's all optimization though. :)

You sound like a boss. Ever considered going into game dev? Yea I tried texturing once using the wrap, ended up with the models face on his ear. Bad times.

Game Dev is actually my eventual goal. I attended UAT for 2 years back in 2008 before some family issues made me come home. I do work as an Web Designer to pay the bills right now, but I've set a plan in motion that'll hopefully put me at Digipen up in Redmond, Washington before the end of 2014. I'd like to finish up my BA in Game Design up there. But that's just a piece of paper. I've got to find some free time to hammer out my skills, but I'm also looking into doing some mod projects (Including a Marathon conversion to the Unreal) and serving as a Environmental Artist/Level Designer. That's actually my eventual goal, though I'm also considering Concept Artist, Character Artist, Multiplayer Designer, or World Designer as well. I'm excited to find a dev group on B.net though. I've had issues connecting with people interested in Game Dev, especially on the programming side of things. My strength is actually in visual and conceptual design more than coding, though I dabble as much as possible. It'd be nice to find a few partners on here who's strengths lie in other areas.

That sounds awesome dude, I also plan to end up in game design, hopefully one day work for a studio as awesome as Bungies, but that is a long way away. My plan is get a development job, (to as you say, pay the bills) and then on the side, start learning more complex C++ and Unity (can take advantage of C#) and build a variety of basic games, and when I have enough experience and confidence, go up a notch. I will continue doing this until I have a nice portfolio of games that I can use to get me to higher places... Yea dude, that's the thing, I am looking for other like minded folks. Hey who knows ,I am sure we can all help each other out. I sure as hell know I am going to be needing help when I start developing games in 2 months!

If you dont' mind me asking, what's going on in 2 months that serves as the impetus to help you start making games?

I have one assignment in tomorrow, and a 4 week period of revision, which is followed by 2 weeks of exams! As soon as exams are over, I will start developing noob games to get myself a feel for it. I was foolish, and didn't build up a portfolio of anything game related now... But I will start now, and work twice as hard.

Better late than never mate. :) Most of my portfolio is a bunch of gobbledegoop right now too. I have some impressive levels, but I'm lacking in the tech/programming field for some of the more advanced functions. Let's keep this group alive and going and see if we can drum up any talent to collaborate with.