which university courses should i take?
I am currently studying Computer Science at Uni and wondering, which courses i should take / on which ones i should concentrate (and how much!), if my goal is to be a game programmer after graduating.
I've read this article from Ian Parberry: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article792.asp
and the part "which courses should i take?" from it.
But basicly what the author does is list ALL the possible subjects which one normally could take. I think he's just trying to make a little propaganda to get people who are interested in game deveploment to go and study CS (being a professor of Computer Science himself...)
So I'd like to ask you guys - who are currently in the business and have studied Computer Science - which of the courses you took have actually been useful to you?
Do you guys ever need something like integral calculation? What about the artificial intelligence courses you once took, has that information been useful to you when developing game AI? Or courses like Computer Architecture, Theory of Algorithms, etc.?
Don't get me wrong - i understand that getting a BS in Computer Science really is the way to go if you want to be a game programmer these days. But should i really concentrate and give everything i've got for these courses - or should i just do what i must, concentrate on my own game projects in my spare time, try to graduate as fast as i can - to get into the real game developement business?
I would appreciate any advice you can give me!
He's not pulling your leg. Integrals are pretty essential to any sort of physical or economic modeling. CS courses teach you CS. Games aren't anything special compared to 'normal' programs. If anything their diversity and heavy requirements just means you'll touch more of your training rather than less.
well you should pretty much do your CS requirements with more math.
When given options go for the harder and lower level courses for the most part. For example a compiler class will generally be more useful than a web programming class, though a balance is good too. Just make sure to take at least once class in assembly.
Take as much math as you can. You need to take every linear algebra class that your school offers, as those are very directly connected to game programming. Calculus, probability, and pretty much every other kind of math will be useful to a game programmer so make sure to get your fill.
When given options go for the harder and lower level courses for the most part. For example a compiler class will generally be more useful than a web programming class, though a balance is good too. Just make sure to take at least once class in assembly.
Take as much math as you can. You need to take every linear algebra class that your school offers, as those are very directly connected to game programming. Calculus, probability, and pretty much every other kind of math will be useful to a game programmer so make sure to get your fill.
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