MSc. games course in UK
Author
Hi fellow game devs.
Can anyone recommend an MSc. in the uk which is good for game developers? Ive applied to:
Uni of Hull - MSc Games programming
Sheffield Hallum Uni - MSc. Entertainment Software Development
Uni of Abertay-Dundee - MSc. Computer Games Technology
Uni of Staffordshire - MSc. Computer Games
Has anyone already done any of the above or know which one out of the four is a good or best course?
Any feedback or suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
[K]
Well, the only names I recognise are the Abertay and Hallam ones.
Would suspect the others are glorified Polytechnics bribed by Maggie Thatcher into pretending something more than they really are.
Being Scottish, my recommendation goes without saying, of course.
However, Games Dev does seem rather too narrow a subject for future employment and would politely suggest a Software Dev course might broaden your prospects.
From my point of view, then, it''s Sheffield or Abertay.
Good luck.
Stevie
Don''t follow me, I''m lost.
Would suspect the others are glorified Polytechnics bribed by Maggie Thatcher into pretending something more than they really are.
Being Scottish, my recommendation goes without saying, of course.
However, Games Dev does seem rather too narrow a subject for future employment and would politely suggest a Software Dev course might broaden your prospects.
From my point of view, then, it''s Sheffield or Abertay.
Good luck.
Stevie
Don''t follow me, I''m lost.
Hi there.
I personally wouldn''t bother with schools in the UK that teach "games design". My advice is to teach yourself...there is plenty of books and resources avaliable.
What I can recommend is to take a small programming course. Try the "programming foundation" course by Computeach in Dudley. The paper at the end is worth s***, but the course itself is very well done and you can learn the solid basics of computing - except when you go for the final examination which is like a primary school get-together!
Good luck!
I personally wouldn''t bother with schools in the UK that teach "games design". My advice is to teach yourself...there is plenty of books and resources avaliable.
What I can recommend is to take a small programming course. Try the "programming foundation" course by Computeach in Dudley. The paper at the end is worth s***, but the course itself is very well done and you can learn the solid basics of computing - except when you go for the final examination which is like a primary school get-together!
Good luck!
Author
Thanks for your advice guys. Appreciated.
Stevie thanks for the insight and your ''non-biased'' review
Anri, I already have a BSc. in Computer Science and was looking to pursue a MSc. directed at games. So if you could redirect your advice away from trying to learn programming as I already know how to code in Java, C/C++ and Assembly then I would appreciate that!
Thanks again guys.
Stevie thanks for the insight and your ''non-biased'' review
Anri, I already have a BSc. in Computer Science and was looking to pursue a MSc. directed at games. So if you could redirect your advice away from trying to learn programming as I already know how to code in Java, C/C++ and Assembly then I would appreciate that!
Thanks again guys.
Oh, right - sorry, my mistake. I Should have taken not of the "M"...
If you know Assembly then you''re on a winning run! Games design begins with playing games themselves. With your education you should already know about good programming design etc so don''t waste money doing the same thing again! In the end - programming is programming...
The best way to learn games design is to just make a basic game. Then show it to other people and let them speak their minds about it.
I made a single-level shoot-em-up over a year or two ago, and recently showed it to a group of CG professionals. To me it was a complete mess, but because I had studied alot of other shoot-em-ups and how they worked - they were saying things like "oh, wow! Look at those 3D backgrounds( a simple cube and a flat polygon...), the massive mechs( a single non-animated sprite...), and the player''s face at the bottom of the screen( snatched from UN-Squadron...)!"
This kind of design isn''t taught on a course as of yet...
Good luck.
If you know Assembly then you''re on a winning run! Games design begins with playing games themselves. With your education you should already know about good programming design etc so don''t waste money doing the same thing again! In the end - programming is programming...
The best way to learn games design is to just make a basic game. Then show it to other people and let them speak their minds about it.
I made a single-level shoot-em-up over a year or two ago, and recently showed it to a group of CG professionals. To me it was a complete mess, but because I had studied alot of other shoot-em-ups and how they worked - they were saying things like "oh, wow! Look at those 3D backgrounds( a simple cube and a flat polygon...), the massive mechs( a single non-animated sprite...), and the player''s face at the bottom of the screen( snatched from UN-Squadron...)!"
This kind of design isn''t taught on a course as of yet...
Good luck.
quote:Original post by Anri
Hi there.
I personally wouldn't bother with schools in the UK that teach "games design". My advice is to teach yourself...there is plenty of books and resources avaliable.
What I can recommend is to take a small programming course. Try the "programming foundation" course by Computeach in Dudley. The paper at the end is worth s***, but the course itself is very well done and you can learn the solid basics of computing - except when you go for the final examination which is like a primary school get-together!
Good luck!
I'm currently working towards an MCSD with Computeach, and so far, the material has been shit (some programs didn't even compile!), the support has been awful and to top it off, the Microsoft supplied MCSD, "Training Kit", is about as useful as a kick in the balls.
If I see, "Another benefit of MFC is...", one more time, I'll personally go after Bill Gates with a big axe, and cut a piece from him for every single pointless buzz word I've found in that study guide!
(sorry, but it's been winding me up for a while now).
-hellz
Edit: Oh and they teach iostream.h as well... sigh.
[edited by - hellz on September 21, 2003 7:42:47 PM]
If you already have a CS degree, then thats all companies look for (thoses that take into account your education, anyway). Geting a masters wont really increase your empolyability in the game dev field, a kick ass demo or two will do that. But if oyu are doing a masters, id go for one that could be applied to may fields, like AI (companies would love that), or graphics etc. Doing a game dev specific course wont do you any good when you realise the games industry is fucked, and want to get out of it.
Re: Hellz.
Yeah - I did the foundation course. The one where you go through the PASCAL and computer basics? The bits that you do at home are a good basis for entering the programming/computer world - but when I had to go for the examination - my balls nearly dropped off with laughter!!!
I had already taught myself C/C++/DirectX etc and they put me in a primary-school enviroment??? WTF???!!!
If we ever have the fortune of meeting up in a pub - I''ll tell you all about the fun I had!
Yeah - I did the foundation course. The one where you go through the PASCAL and computer basics? The bits that you do at home are a good basis for entering the programming/computer world - but when I had to go for the examination - my balls nearly dropped off with laughter!!!
I had already taught myself C/C++/DirectX etc and they put me in a primary-school enviroment??? WTF???!!!
If we ever have the fortune of meeting up in a pub - I''ll tell you all about the fun I had!
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