Hi everyone,

Is there a website out there where people meet and learn to make games together? I know there are tons of educational resources available online, but I lack discipline if I'm learning anything by myself. I was thinking if I joined some kind of a study group, it'd be a funnier experience.

A little about me: I'm a software programmer and I work mostly on websites, backend stuff (database, server, etc). Lately I've been playing with Unity and found it it's a good platform to start with. I met a few people off Reddit to learn reactjs together and it was a good experience, so I was hoping to do the same with game dev.

Thanks!

hey redblue

I don't know any study group but i would gladly help you know a little bit more about unity and code (C#)

i am also new to all of this and will be happy to study with you 

goldenfoot

Thanks Golden Foot, I replied to your PM.

This guy posted 3 hours ago:  

 and he seems to be in a similar place to you ... give him a shout out in his thread ...

Thank you, Xai, I really appreciate you stopping by here and letting me know. I replied to that thread  

RedBlue if you are looking for more of an academic experience I would recommend Coursera's Game Design and Development Specialization.  These courses provide structure and deadlines and they also have message boards where your cohort can interact.  The specializations uses Unity as a platform and the curriculum was developed by Michigan State University.  These courses run about 50 dollars  a class and there are 5 classes to complete the specialization.  I haven't taken this particular set of courses yet, but I did take the University of Colorado's XNA C# course on Coursera and found it to be quite good.  Here is a link to the specialization Click Here

Alternatively, if the cost or format of the MSU course doesn't seem like your flavor.  I would recommend using this board and unity3d beginners boards (or UDK depending on your preference).  There are many beginners here looking to make progress towards their Indy and professional game development dreams.  This is an ideal recruiting ground for other eager learners and all important mentors.  It maybe fully possible to get a group of 5 - 10 beginners together who are eager to learn.  You could setup your own Sharepoint or other collaborative space.  I recommend Asana for robust FREE collaborative project management tools.

Once you have your eager 5 - 10 active participants.  You will need a mentor to help you guys develop a curriculum.  This may involve contacting Unity maybe they have some guidance they can provide.  Maybe this can be be senior member of this board who is willing to take time to help you guys develop periodic tasks and milestones. 

I know this post paints the picture in broad strokes, but we can flesh this out as time goes.  I am currently working full time as a firmware developer and going to school full time, but if you can't tell I would love to participate. 

1 hour ago, Lucas_Cage said:

I am currently working full time as a firmware developer and going to school full time,

How do you manage that? I'd like to know - like how do you deal with overlapping times?

2 hours ago, Lucas_Cage said:

but if you can't tell I would love to participate

And yet still potentially have time to be in another study group

7 hours ago, grumpyOldDude said:

How do you manage that? I'd like to know - like how do you deal with overlapping times?

And yet still potentially have time to be in another study group

There is always room for one more. : ). I like to keep my time productive and game development is something I have wanted to pursue for a long time.   This sounds like the perfect opportunity to get involved with like minded individuals.

That's a lot of good info, Lucas, thanks a lot! I really liked the Coursera idea and I'm about to sign up for it. I never used that site before but heard it's pretty good. This is quite exciting because it'll be my first financial investment towards game dev excluding a WebGL book I bought awhile back but found it quite boring.

Hey Michael,

I was the same thing today. It would be great to have several people to talk/study/learn with about beginner gavedev + encourage. I am a beginner developer who just downloaded Unity today. You said you wanted to interact so it would be a fun experience -> I stream all of my learning + Unity + C++ learning on Twitch. twitch.tv/jacob_McG . Feel free to come on in (I stream daily) and hang and learn with me! I get some very advanced people in my channel who help me, maybe they can help you too!