Essential Math for Games Programmers
I think many analytic-type of people (I am part of this group) live in a fantasy land in which the smarter you are, the better game you'll make. Wrong. It's cute that you know how to interpolate quaternions from memory, but that won't make you spit out a good game. First of all, lets look at the term "game programmer": this term is slightly odd -- often times, especially when just starting out, you'll be making games in an indie environment; in such a case, you'll need to be a good game <i>designer</i>. Making an amazing indie game is probably the best way to get in the game industry. Studying math is not.<p>I'd sum up the most important skill like this: "learn how to finish projects". You can know all the math (or design) in the world, but if you can't finish anything, no one will be impressed unless you want to be code monkey #3249 at EA (and who wants to be that?). This seems easy when read on paper, but in reality it's fucking hard a shit. I've probably abandoned about 95+% of game projects I started. Anyone that says they finish more than 50% of the projects they start is full of shit. This is a skill -- and it's by far the hardest one to hone.<p>Note that it's not that I don't approve of OP's hard work compiling the list, I just think it perpetuates the idea that good games == good technology. Carmack is a CS genius, sure. But more importantly, he's a damn good game designer.