itt-tech game design program

haveing attended itt tech, i would not recomend the school to anyone. i transfered into and out of 3 different itt techs all for the same reason. the staff was incompedent, and the programs where very porley designed.

its a personal choice to go to a tech school or go to a university. but unless you have no other choice or prefer a tech shcool i recomend getting a general computer sience degree.

I have to agree with Fer. I am attending ITT currently, and I don't believe there could be another school that as bad as this and as expensive as this at the same time. But you already said you know this.

I am currently in the Multimedia 2-year, and I want to transfer out to another college (hopefully) after I am done. In other words, I cannot speak authoratively about the goodness of their game design program since I am not in it right now.

But, in simplest terms, it is what you make it. If you are willing to spend the time and the effort to apply what you learned and take it to the next level (this is like cutting your way through a 5-ton chunk of metal), then you will succeed. If you get lazy and only do as little as possible to get through your classes, you will have nowhere to go. ITT has Virtual Library, with lots of books on different subjects, so you don't always have to go out and buy hundred-dollar books. ITT has good teachers, that can teach you the basis of what you have to know, most of whom work in the industry they teach. Although occasionally, they will do retarded things like force a 3d modeling teacher teach a math class, and then change to a different syllabus in the middle of a course.

I see game design people a lot. What can I say? Most of them are fat, brain-dead kids with glasses half the size of their face, who openly play RPG games in computer labs, even though it is expressly prohibited. Most of them are high school dropouts with GEDs. Most of them are put in school by their rich parents just to keep them off the street (or out of the house). They are proud of pirating software and being a 3rd level wizard with 800 HP. I have to fight nausea when I am forced to hear their retarded conversations about dragonballZ and their latest "adventure" in some stupid online RPG. There are some good people there too - but they are harder to notice because they spend every day in the lab, quietly working on their projects.

I agree also. I just came out with my 2 year media degree and I am unsatisfied. The staff was terrible it seems like they hire these people right off the street. Don’t waste your money there.

If you don't mind relocating I would suggest looking into the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona. The programs offered are a mix between the curriculum of a traditional university and a tech school, and they’re fully accredited, which means you can transfer most of your classes to another college/university if you decide to change majors. I don’t believe most tech/trade schools such as the Art Institutes or ITT are accredited on either the state or national level, unless they’ve recently changed.

As an alumni of UAT, I can say that they definitely know industry relevant technology very well. My only complaint as a graduate of the Multimedia program is that there was greater emphasis on the technology than on the fine arts. If you’re not planning on becoming an artist specifically this may not concern you. However, if you are seeking to become an artist and simply need to know the tools of the trade I would recommend UAT. If you’re actually in need of developing your artistic abilities than I would suggest a fine art school instead.

I don’t have direct experience with the programming or game design programs at UAT, but I think that they’re comparable to the multimedia program. Another possibility is Digipen, located in Redmond, Washington. Digipen is rather expensive and fairly intense though, but they do have the highest placement rate for any school in the industry.

Just one final comment. Most studio hiring managers in the industry are reluctant to hire recent graduates of game design programs regardless of what school they attended. The most important step you can take if you want to become a designer (not an artist or a programmer) is to work on a small mod team and actually complete a project from start to finish with credit as a level designer, story writer, or game designer. I don't know of any studio that has directly hired a graduate of a game design school for a design position, save for entry-level level design positions.

game design degrees are essentially bogus across the board, and designed solely to leech money out of naive, ambitious youth who are eager to get into the game industry because they think it will be all fun-and-games.

When you think about it, how do you expect a 2 year tech-school course to turn you into a Miyamoto, Sakaguchi, or anyone else. While certain analytical skills can be taught, no one can teach you how to have good ideas.

When have you ever seen a job ad for "entry-level game designer"? They are exceedingly rare, if not non-existant, because nothing but experience will show them that you are competant. Game designers nearly always come up through the ranks as level designers who have consistantly chipped good ideas into the overall game, eventually earning the trust to take the reigns themselves. There are really only 2 other options... 1) Produce an independant game good enough for someone to take you seriously (This means the game should garner positive exposure in a public forum typically, such as an IGF finalist) or 2) Get ahold of enough money to start your own company and name yourself Lead Game Designer -- though I wouldn't advise this because, without experience, your designs will probably flop and tank the company.


I graduated from Digipen myself, which offers a 4 year program in game development, which is to say Game Programming, not design. There's a lot of controversy over whether "Game Schools" are better or worse than a University Education within the industry, but one common sentiment is that "trade schools" such as BRown, ITT and Devry are worthless. Essentially for two years of your life and 80 grand, you get one large square of emergency toilet paper. I have never heard anything about ITT that leads me to believe that the program even approaches acceptable.


To make a long story short: No, do not attend ITT, Devry, Brown, "University" of pheonix, or any similar trade-school program.

On the topic of Game Development education, has anyone heard anything about the quality Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center? It offers a 2 pyear graduate program resulting in a Masters in Entertainment Technology.

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Original post by ravyne2001 game design degrees are essentially bogus across the board, and designed solely to leech money out of naive, ambitious youth who are eager to get into the game industry because they think it will be all fun-and-games. When you think about it, how do you expect a 2 year tech-school course to turn you into a Miyamoto, Sakaguchi, or anyone else. While certain analytical skills can be taught, no one can teach you how to have good ideas. When have you ever seen a job ad for "entry-level game designer"? They are exceedingly rare, if not non-existant, because nothing but experience will show them that you are competant. Game designers nearly always come up through the ranks as level designers who have consistantly chipped good ideas into the overall game, eventually earning the trust to take the reigns themselves. There are really only 2 other options... 1) Produce an independant game good enough for someone to take you seriously (This means the game should garner positive exposure in a public forum typically, such as an IGF finalist) or 2) Get ahold of enough money to start your own company and name yourself Lead Game Designer -- though I wouldn't advise this because, without experience, your designs will probably flop and tank the company. I graduated from Digipen myself, which offers a 4 year program in game development, which is to say Game Programming, not design. There's a lot of controversy over whether "Game Schools" are better or worse than a University Education within the industry, but one common sentiment is that "trade schools" such as BRown, ITT and Devry are worthless. Essentially for two years of your life and 80 grand, you get one large square of emergency toilet paper. I have never heard anything about ITT that leads me to believe that the program even approaches acceptable. To make a long story short: No, do not attend ITT, Devry, Brown, "University" of pheonix, or any similar trade-school program.

In general I would agree. However, game programs can be of use if you specialize in a practical displipline such as art or programming, which I probably should have been more clear about in my OP. I also wouldn't suggest a two year degree from ITT or Devry though.

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Original post by ravyne2001

I had a quick comment on your post. When I was reading it, I was under the impression that when you said Brown you meant www.brown.edu, but I think you meant www.browncollege.edu. Is that correct? The former is a very well established university, while I have not really heard of the latter.

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Original post by MagikalGoat On the topic of Game Development education, has anyone heard anything about the quality Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center? It offers a 2 pyear graduate program resulting in a Masters in Entertainment Technology.

I don't really know too much about their program. However looking at the curriculum at http://www.etc.cmu.edu/Global/curriculum/currentcurriculum.html, it seems to be more focused on design related areas than technical areas. The current projects (http://www.etc.cmu.edu/Global/projects/currentprojects.php) also seem to back up that opinion. However, I would assume you have a pretty good technical background before entering the program, so it might not be too much of an issue.

To answer the original question, I would never recommend a "game design" degree to anyone. As others have said, the two most likely ways towards becoming a game designer is (a) get hired as a game programmer / level designer and move up or (b) get hired as an artist in the game industry and move up. Now, how to accomplish (a) or (b) generally involves getting a college degree in a related area and creating an impressive portfolio for yourself.

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Original post by wyrzy Quote: Original post by ravyne2001 I had a quick comment on your post. When I was reading it, I was under the impression that when you said Brown you meant www.brown.edu, but I think you meant www.browncollege.edu. Is that correct? The former is a very well established university, while I have not really heard of the latter.

Correct, I mean the one that advertises on television [wink] As a general rule, never buy into an as-seen-on-TV education, particularly if that ad runs during episodes of Jerry Springer. Any school that has money for a national television ad campaign isn't spending enough money on making their program better, IMO.

School is school. =)

Moving this to Breaking In. Josue, please check out the school articles in the Breaking In FAQs (scroll up, click, read).

On the topic of Game Development education, has anyone heard anything about the quality Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center? It offers a 2 pyear graduate program resulting in a Masters in Entertainment Technology.

I have only heard good things about it.

The internet is advanced right now, it's called Google. You can become a game artist or programmer in under a few months depending on YOU. Big tip, go to udk.com and go to their community. Most, if not all are like here. They don't use Google, they don't search. They pretend that school and books are what they need, when all they need is to simply LEARN AND APPLY. Done!

If you want to involved in games...

1. Attend a reputable campus/school and learn Computer Science (for programmers); or undertake a Media Arts course (designers). Naturally, you will need to complete the course.

2. Work on projects in your own time. I can't stress that enough. If you are unable to pursue such activities on your own time due to lack of motivation, then this career will never suit you. Code simple games, or mod existing ones; design beautiful levels and 3D models. Get involved with communities, group projects, and release stuff for the public to see. There are very good opportunities for publishing your own work. Take a look at iOS, Android, Facebook, etc.

3. Put your best selection of works on your portfolio. Put it on a website.

4. Use your qualification in #1 to get a job. You may not get a game related job right away, unless you are very lucky. Such roles can build practical skills which may be valuable for game related work. Having said that, your chances of scoring a game job is much better these days. Quite a lot of start-ups are getting into the mobile gaming platform at the moment. Their budget is small and more willing to hire juniors.

5. Use all of the above to show off and score your dream job.

I just realized this is a four-year-old thread. Closing.