Game design

Luke7777

Luke7777

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Quick question... Son is studying at UP and soon getting into game design. When designing for IOS, am I looking at purchasing a Macbook Air/Pro or something, or are there other options ?
 
In the event that I'll be purchasing, what do look I for ? Seen a lot of decent spec'd older Macbook Pro , but I have no idea whether they're worth it or not . On the newer ones (Air) , what is it with Apple and their 128GB SSD drives ?

Or do I wait for the 2020 model ? Or the Mac Mini ?
 
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Luke7777 said:
In the event that I'll be purchasing, what do look I for ? Seen a lot of decent spec'd older Macbook Pro , but I have no idea whether they're worth it or not . On the newer ones (Air) , what is it with Apple and their 128GB SSD drives ?

Or do I wait for the 2020 model ? Or the Mac Mini ?
Click to expand...
If money isn't a concern, then yes, buying a Mac would be the best option. Otherwise I suggest macincloud from the link I posted.
That said. A Macbook would be more practical than a Mac Mini.
The SSD is just storage like a hard drive. Except it's solid storage that has no moving parts inside. The storage medium is high performance and is similar to RAM, but the data does not get removed after a power cycle like RAM.
Edit: my mistake. I miss read the SSD part.
I have no idea why the SSD is so small. I see no reason for it to be honest.
 
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Thanks... money is always a concern :) Back to my question, are the older Macs worth it, for another 3 or 4 years, or do I look at more recent models from 2017 and on ?

/update
For instance something like this ?
 
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BTW, does your son want to work more on the programming side (CS/coding/maths/etc) or art (3D modeling, level design, etc.)?
 
Luke7777 said:
From what I gather, it will currently be a healthy mix of the 2 . Studying BIS Multimedia at Tuks, 3rd year now. Will definitely move towards the art side
Click to expand...

Ok cool. I suggest an external monitor if one is not being used already - coding or modeling on a laptop screen kills eyes and posture.

I was going to say that be should beware of the relatively low CS/Maths content if he was leaning toward the coding side of things, but it is likely more than sufficient otherwise.
 
cguy said:
Ok cool. I suggest an external monitor if one is not being used already - coding or modeling on a laptop screen kills eyes and posture.

I was going to say that be should beware of the relatively low CS/Maths content if he was leaning toward the coding side of things, but it is likely more than sufficient otherwise.
Click to expand...
He's runnning 2 externals already, a 27" and a 24" in portrait mode when coding :)
211d8fb0-0e21-4996-a685-e6862e2f7fc2.JPG
 
I am a windows fanboy, but if the target platform is iOS or OSX, just get an MBP, especially when studying.
 
So Game Design should be more theoretical than practical honestly, as a subject. Depending on the work that will done during his courses, a normal PC/Mac shouldnt make a huge difference, but I think the key is if you're going to prototype your stuff then ideally you dont want to run it on an emulator if you don't have to (especially if you're going to promote it to a store) - so I'd consider an iPad as well.
 
Markd said:
So Game Design should be more theoretical than practical honestly, as a subject. .
Click to expand...
"These include video editing software, animation software and visual authoring tools. Students will also be taught about the newest multimedia related trends and technologies and have the opportunity to use them. Finally the students will have to opportunity to combine their accrued multimedia knowledge through the development of a fully operational game"
 
Luke7777 said:
Thanks... money is always a concern :) Back to my question, are the older Macs worth it, for another 3 or 4 years, or do I look at more recent models from 2017 and on ?

/update
For instance something like this ?
Click to expand...
I suggest from 2017 and onwards.
Buying new is better. I wouldn't buy a refurbished or used product that is this expensive. You never know how reliable it would be.
 
Luke7777 said:
"These include video editing software, animation software and visual authoring tools. Students will also be taught about the newest multimedia related trends and technologies and have the opportunity to use them. Finally the students will have to opportunity to combine their accrued multimedia knowledge through the development of a fully operational game"
Click to expand...

Ok so game design as an all-encompassing thing then. I'm reading about Game Design at the moment, but specifically around game mechanics, events, fun etc. This is theoretical. It would be useful to try and understand from this course how the game will be built. I build on a PC using an engine that works on both PC and Mac, and then I build to my Android tablet and phones. I'm missing an iPad so thats the one thing I'd really like to get personally. Try to understand the tools that are going to be used. Hopefully it wont be too expensive.
 
|tera| said:
Seems good. Let your son check it with you so you can decide the best fit for him.
While he's studying check for other educational offers as well. I know Microsoft have specials on their software as well.
Click to expand...
He's already using the full Adobe suite (edu pricing) and MS is not an issue. Think the MBP 13-inch with Touch Bar | 1.4GHz | 8GB | 256GB will be a little bit future proof . He also has a decent Win laptop (XPS 15 9560) ,
 
Daruk said:
The one gotcha with a non-mac is you do need to compile on a mac to upload to the app store. For that, there's macincloud.com
Click to expand...
I'll post the link later in the morning, but I've found a site a while back that allows you to distribute Apps from Google and IOS privately without having developer credentials.

The App Store licensing for a developer account is insanely expensive.
 
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