Advice for breaking into the industry

Me and my friend are both 15 (going into 10th grade now) and we want to start programming/developing games as a career. I was wondering if you had any advice that could help us learn and get into the game industry. We've already bought some good C++ primers (Beginning C++ Through Game Programming, second edition) and are doing tic-tac-toe and such and even have a book in mind called Game Programming All in One, third edition that teaches how to use Allegro to program full 2D games.

Is there anything advice you can give us?

Take as much science and math as you can in hgih school, and get into a college with a good CS program, that focuses on programming and computer engineering.

I'll add to abachler's comment.

Keep making stuff on top of that, but don't let it get in the way of homework (for any class) as you want to get into a good college. Make 2D games until you think you've got a handle on that, and then move to 3D. There's a debate as to whether you should start learning with C++ or not, but that seems to be working out for you. You're on a pretty good track, once you start programming all you really need to do is keep programming.

If you feel like reading you can visit these threads.
http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?threadid=8833
http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthrea...threadid=20528
http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthrea...threadid=29168

A lot of that is aimed at people who want to be a game designer, but you can pick out what is relevant to you.

Thanks a lot! The people on this site are amazingly helpful. BTW, do you know about any specific colleges in Florida? Or maybe some tips on picking a good one because I have no idea whatsoever, I heard that there are tons of "Game Programming" classes that aren't very good at all. Also, do you know which classes it is we should take in college? e.g. Programming, Game Programming, Game Design, Math, Physics, Geometry, ect. We're both interested in programming and design, but I do some art too (maybe that helps?) and my friend voice acts.

[EDIT] Okay, I read the articles a bit more and the third one answers may questions quite well, in fact look at this part: "Much like Drama schools, location also matters. Many more opportunities arise for someone pursuing a Drama degree in New York or L.A. than there are in Dubuque or El Paso. There are more opportunities for networking in Austin, Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle or Orlando than there are in Billings or Columbus."

That's cool because I live in Orlando, I had no idea it was good for networking... cool, and thanks again

You're probably not going to find much in college by way of game programming in the curriculum, but many probably have gneral interest groups or clubs that have people that learn together and the like.

From what I've learned on my own of graphics programming, geometry, calculus, linear algebra, and physics are good for the fundamentals.

I think my biggest problem right now is finding a good college and the right courses to take there. It'll take some research and looking around, but it cant be too hard. I'm pretty sure I can get accepted even though my school's math program seems to award luck more than anything else. My middle school didnt offer Algebra while other's do and I couldn't attend the summer geometry course because there's no transportation and you're not allowed to miss any days (my family planned a vacation). So I'm two years behind some people because I have bad luck...

UCF is in orlando, one of the best schools in florida for technology.

I was thinking about UCF... I'll look into it, thanks

I woudl also add, take a foreign language and several writing classes. Communication is an important aspect of any job. You will do a lot of reports as a programmer, and foriegn language gives you valuable perspective on how your own language is used, making it easier to conceptualize abstract conversations. I took 2 years of Spanish, a year of French and a semester of Russian. You probably don't need that much.

I wouldn't worry about a certain under grad program not being geared towards games specifically. Any CS program worth anything will cover the fundamentals you will need not just for games, but for any sort of program you may need to write or have to write.