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You’d get to use the very latest techniques available – and in computer game development, as in other areas of computer animation and design, new ideas and techniques are becoming available all the time. When Andrew Adamson directed the 2005 movie of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he said he was using techniques simply not available just a few years before. The same is true of computer game design. Every year, games are more realistic, more innovative, more gripping to play.

You might love to play computer games but never imagined you could design them. After all, playing games takes no special skills, but developing them surely takes many skills and lots of know-how, right? True; but you can acquire those skills through distance learning.

With distance learning, you can take game courses from the comfort of your own home. That’s a lot easier, and a lot cheaper, than attending a college to study computer game development.

It’s also likely to be more use to you. Because it is such a fast-moving industry, conventional college courses can be at a real disadvantage. They can be effectively out of date before they’ve even been introduced to the syllabus. A home-based study, on the other hand, can be updated far more easily, keeping you abreast of developments as they happen.

Another big advantage of home-based game courses is, if you choose the right one, it will be put together by games developers for future games developers. In other words, it will have been designed by people who have been trained up in the industry and know exactly what games companies are looking for.

Good course providers, again, will be fully recognised and accredited by the key games industry bodies. They will give you access to trained professional tutors, who will guide you, assess you and help you at every stage as you progress to an industry-recognised exam in computer game development.

And there are no formal entry requirements; you don’t have to have qualifications in maths, science or computer design, for instance. All you need is a real love of your subject, a willingness to learn – and that sense of wonder.

That’s what makes playing computer games lots of fun – and makes being games developers even more fun!

Wide format printers, also known as plotters, are a special type of printer that have the capability of delivering prints larger then the standard 8-1/2″ x 11″. Their initial high cost makes them an economical investment only to select firms performing specific functionality. Companies that make a lot of custom signs or posters, or that often need to print copies of blue prints will find wide format printers to be cost effective and of great use.

There is some variation among all wide format printers performance and capabilities, like all standard printers. For example, if you are an architect it might serve you to invest in a multifunction wide format printer. Like any other multifunction printer, these printers can not only print but make copies and scans at a larger scale. If image and color quality are of high importance to your firm, investing in a printer that performs highly in delivering color consistency, accuracy, and balance as well as clarity in the entire image may be of value.

Because wide format printers produce prints larger then your standard 8-1/2″ x 11″ paper, for the most part special paper will need to be purchased. It is important to note that most wide format printer paper is produced in rolls (and not sheets like most regular printer paper) in order to create a higher degree of size compatibility. And again, like all other printer paper, wide format printer paper (also widely known as plotter paper) comes in a large variety of options. Depending on your usage, your paper preference will vary. HP is one of the leading producers in wide format printers and their supplementary papers, so the following is a brief run down of the available options in photo paper. These option names and their functions should be easily translatable to other brands of papers compatible with different brands of printers.

HP Universal Bond Paper and Bright White Paper are two of the most commonly used papers for low cost every day prints. Both papers are designed for black and color line drawings and deliver crisp line resolution and high color contrast.

HP Coated Paper has a bright white base that produces vivid accurate colors and dense blacks that work to create fine detailed images. Heavyweight Coated Paper is great for use for long term signs or posters. This matte inkjet paper is affordable yet creates bright, colorful, medium ink density images. If you plan on replacing your signs or posters frequently, Universal Coated Paper is a great alternative to its heavyweight brother. Still delivering quality colors and images, this paper is lower in cost and has faster drying times.

HP High Gloss Photo Paper is a low cost high gloss photo paper that is great for appealing to audiences in visual presentations using graphic or colored displays. Universal Instant-Dry Photo Gloss Paper is another economical photo paper that also looks great in presentations using images; however this paper’s porous medium makes the prints quick to dry, yet still glossy in appearance.
 
HP Clear Film is great for creating large scale graphical overlays. The excellent ink adhesion ensures there will be no ink transfer or bleeding between overlays.

HP Banners with Tyvek is the perfect material to make large scale banners for indoors or outdoors. Tyvek is a patented material that makes the banners lightweight, durable, tear, water, and fade resistant, and exceptionally strong. These banners are very professional looking and are easy to grommet and stitch to create a more finished look.

So if you’re looking to make in-house large scale prints, know that the functionality of wide format printers can come from not only the printer itself, but also from the plotter paper selected. So, when researching which wide format printer to purchase, also look into the different type of compatible papers and their performance and usage ratings.