I tried searching and didn’t see any threads relating to this topic and also I couldn’t think of any other better place to post this. I wanted to ask any of the members on this forum if they are going, or have gone, to school for a game design degree. I know there are a few schools throughout the country that offer this and I was wondering if it’s worth the time and money, and if it was easy to get a job in the field after graduating. I don’t know if this matters but I’d want my primary focus to be the art side of developing. I will be transferring to a new school in the Fall semester of next year and I need to choose a degree. Any information I get can would be great.
The internet is the only school I needed, I also doubt any developers went to a school for game design at all. If you want to go into art and development then start by modding games yourself. Learn stuff like texture art, modeling, unwrapping and animation etc. Start to work with popular game engines such as Source and UDK and work with their (level design) tools. Start working on a portfolio.
Interesting, and thanks for the reply. I’ve made attempts with modeling, I really like the idea of doing organic modeling. The only problem is it’s so hard to tell how to make your topology look clean, and how to spot and fix areas. I generally watch videos and try to study what other people do for their work. Do you have any advice, or recommend any sites for more information?
Well luckily by now there are huge amounts of tutorials and courses you can find on the internet. Sites like CG Tuts plus, 3dBuzz and GameDev. You also have entire video courses about certain popular software such as 3d Studio Max and Maya, unfortunately these are not always available for free (Digital Tutors). There are plenty of tutorials and courses on how to start working with organic modeling and how to unwrap them for texturing, rig them and animate them. Each of these things probably have their own course, it might be a bit overwhelming at first but just keep in mind that you have to start with simple stuff. People are often tempted to start with more complex stuff, I advise you not to do this.
Keep in mind that competition (especially in film modeling and animation) is very high, most people that end up in the major studios are the ones that dedicate pretty much every minute they have to their job. Not the ones with the best education, but the ones with a portfolio that would even make Stan Winston say “HOLY SHIT” will get it.
IMO you’d be better off teaching yourself, getting a complementary degree in another subject that you’re interested in (or that relates to software development, like CompSci), and building up your own portfolio in your spare (and maybe not-so-spare!) time while completing your degree.
Every university/college that has programs geared towards game development, at least the ones that I looked at, seem to split up the entire degree program so that you get a basic understanding of everything (programming, art, design) but you don’t really get education which allows you to excel or specialize in one particular discipline if you don’t already have experience to do so. IMO this is useless for getting a career in the games industry if you already know what part of development you’re interested in; it’s more of a primer when you need to just be improving your skills.
In the future, as the games industry continues to grow and as more schools open up, I expect to see specialized degree programs which tailor to specific aspects of development. At the moment, though, I think you would gain more experience from continuing to teach yourself, and working with a mod team to get practice developing games with a team of other people.
Thanks a lot guys this really helps. I am sort of in limbo right now with choosing a degree, but if the case is just teaching myself. Well, that saves me a lot of money. Have either of you come across any training DVD’s or something similar which you would absolutely recommend to anyone? I usually check out the tutorials on cgcookie. I’m using blender just as a basis to become accustomed to modeling in general. From everything that I’ve seen so far the tools are basically the same between other modeling programs. I’m not sure if it’s still open but I posted a thread some time ago of some stuff I was working on. I may start posting in there again, so if you have some spare time maybe you can take a look once I get started up again.
Well for advanced modeling / animation / unwrapping UVW’s and texturing for film I’m following several video courses from CG Academy. They are not for free but there are free tutorials so you can check those out to see if you like them or not. Then you can decide whether you want to buy an entire course.
If you do some Googling you’ll probably find some discussions about which courses are the best for certain areas.
As for organic modeling and animation, people would probably tell you to use Maya. Even though I’m using 3ds Max for creating all my (game) models and unwrapping them, if you really want to get into advanced animation (especially for characters and creatures etc.) then you definitely want to chose Maya. Most special effects film studios use Autodesk Maya (game studios too).
Keep in mind both Max and Maya are very expensive, so it’s best to know what you want to create.
edit:
3ds Max is perfect for creating architectural models and non-organic models such as weapons, furniture etc.
This doesn’t mean you can’t do character (organic) modeling in 3ds Max, Maya simply has far more and advanced features when it comes to animation.
I doubt anybody who has replied to you in this thread has ever worked in the videogame industry… so don’t put too much faith in them. I’m currently attending the video game development program at Algonquin college. Most of my teachers have worked or are working in the game industry, so you are being taught from people who actually know what they are talking about. I highly suggest you think about getting an education from professionals rather then try and learn everything on your own, they will teach you from the ground up a bunch of different programing languages like C++, Java, OpenGL, DirectX, Action Script and Lingo. They teach you animation, modeling, sound design and much much more. And the best part about them being in the industry is that they know all the little tricks and are current in the most recent technology. Our final project of the year will be to design and produce a video game for a next gen console like the 360 or ps3. so seriously… get an education, peopled who graduate in game development are in high demand for their specialized education. Its worth the money and your practically guaranteed a job after
Wow, that actually sounds like a lot of fun Obsidian haha. I recently attended an orientation at the Illinois Art Institute of Schaumburg. It’s a for-profit school. They gave some brief biographies on the professors teaching there. Most of which have worked on movies, and work for or had worked for game companies. It was a month or two ago so I’m having a hard time recalling everything. I clearly remember them mentioning that for modeling they would show you how to model a high poly model and sort of break it down to a low poly model from there. I’m going to have to make a decision by the spring semester of this year on what I’m going to do, so I’m feeling a little stressed.
I’d go down the education route. With such troubled economic times, employers are looking more now than ever for people in specialist fields, be it Texture Artists, Modelers or anything else. It’s a very competitive world and the more educated you are and the more official degrees you have under your belt, the better off you will be.
Yes, quite a lot of developers don’t actually have any previous formal training in their fields but you’re still more likely to succeed in doing exactly what you want if you aim for it.
I to am very interested in the game design field, though I don’t have a particular part of game design set in my mind yet. So far I’m intermediate at mapping and VERY beginner at C# coding. Does anyone know how good Berkeley is for game design? That’s my dream college. I haven’t looked much into it but googling didn’t seem to find anything.
I would tell you of some databases but unfortunately they’re only for Illinois. Just google for a little bit I’m sure you can find some college databases that should have everything organized by their programs.
That’s not at all what I expect. I’d get a degree in game design not only because it’d look good on a job application, but more so because it would help me learn game design.
Garth, out of curiosity. I know you said before you didn’t have a particular part of what you’d like to focus on for game design. But what part are you most interested in? Like for example, I said before I really want to do the art side. Are you thinking more of like level design, project management, etc.
+1.
I’m attending a game college at the moment and I would definitely recommend getting a formal education instead of trying to learn it all yourself and working on mods which will probably never see daylight. I mean sure, the courses are expensive as anything, but the advantage of having a structured environment and knowledgeable teachers sure sounds better than clicking through endless tutorials. My current teacher was a recent developer on L.A. Noire and having him around to ask questions about how to do something beats having to post on a forum to ask questions any day. In our 2nd year, we collaborate with the programmers in small teams to make an actual working game, complete with milestones, deadlines and team communication. And obviously a potential employer is looking for outstanding showreels, they don’t give two shits about a certificate or degree. So I would recommend doing the course over learning it yourself.
All the software developers I really look up to and respect took university courses that had nothing to do with software development. They learned the stuff on their own time, and preferred learning it that way. There’s good reason, too. In this field, there’s a lot of learning by doing, and you don’t stop learning when you leave school. Sure, there’s the initial curve (F*cking Threads, How Do They Work?), but after that you can expect to be gradually accumulating knowledge for eternity.
(Or your death; whichever comes first. If you’re younger than me, expect the former. Sorry about that).
Humanities, physics, math, cellular biology, geology… all good fields. The important thing is they’ll inspire you, making anything you do with game development (or software in general) much richer.
Having a degree is pretty important, though. It says that you can stick with something, which the people doing hiring really love to see. A good school can help you get your foot in the door.
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.
