Do these course look good or not? (UK courses)
Author
Hi there, I'm new here and been looking around the forums for the last 2 days and i see there are lots of good and experienced people on here :D So I really am just asking for your guys advice on these two Uni courses that I am looking to go on and which is the best one to choose from. And any pros and cons you can see from the course layouts.
Course are:
BSc(Hons) Games Design - Leeds Met Uni (UK)
MComp Computer Games - Sheffield Hal Uni (UK)
Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve, I would recommend that you go for a BSc in Computer Science. This degree is more encompassing on all aspects of programming, data structures, databases, etc. in other words the perfect degree if you want to be a game developer. I'm doing this degree, having just finished it and continuing with my studies, and it has given me a great deal of knowledge which I have implemented in my game designs.
There'll be a lot of posts in this thread about choosing between Computer Games courses and general Computer Science, so I'll say something that may not get mentioned in the fray - Sandwich courses are good. They give you good experience, let you know what to expect in the industry, allow you to gain a lot of free relevant knowledge before your final year, you get contacts and an understanding of relationships within teams and MOST IMPORTANTLY you get your foot in the door. A large proportion of placement students get offered jobs on graduation, and even if you don't, it looks fantastic on a CV.
edit: oh look, while I was typing this post someone recommended Computer Science ;)
edit: oh look, while I was typing this post someone recommended Computer Science ;)
From what I read of those snippets on the front page, the BSc one looks more technically oriented, and MComp looks more like a game management school. MComp also looks more challenging from the snippet, so I would be more inclined to lean towards MComp than the other. You should read more in-depth about both of them, get more opinions, and arguably more importantly, look at some regular CS programs, as well, even if it is just to look at them.
A regular CS program will usually have graphics/AI/whatever elective classes that you take later on that give you a great background for going into the games industry.
A regular CS program will usually have graphics/AI/whatever elective classes that you take later on that give you a great background for going into the games industry.
Author
Quote:Original post by m0nkfish
There'll be a lot of posts in this thread about choosing between Computer Games courses and general Computer Science, so I'll say something that may not get mentioned in the fray - Sandwich courses are good. They give you good experience, let you know what to expect in the industry, allow you to gain a lot of free relevant knowledge before your final year, and MOST IMPORTANTLY you get your foot in the door. A large proportion of placement students get offered jobs on graduation, and even if you don't, it looks fantastic on a CV.
edit: oh look, while I was typing this post someone recommended Computer Science ;)
Thats what i was thinking, I have looked at the game design course the most as it has a good sandwich section on it and the experience like you say will be priceless :)
I applied for Computer Games Programming at the University of Derby and Staffordshire University among others. Those seemed to have the best course structure. Focusing on the technical and mathematical aspects of game development rather than "design" and things like that. They share some modules with other Computer courses like Computer Science and Computing and the rest are game oriented.
It is really hard for anyone to make any useful suggestions without you stating what it is you're actually wanting to get out it. What do you intend on specializing in? What career are you wanting to shoot for?
Something that also needs to be looked at with the games courses is what links does the uni have with the games industry. I know that Sheffield Hallam have links to both Codemasters and Sony to name two.
Find out what modules the courses offer and compare them to the Computer Science courses. I took BSc Computer Games Software Engineering at Northumbria - I have to say it wasn't fantastic, but I was lucky enough to meet some good people, and land myself a decent placement which pushed me to learn more - plus I'm quite passionate about programming so that helped too [smile]
Author
Thanks for all the replys that you have given back, I think that i might go towards the games design course as i think i can learn the programming part myself but i feel that learning how the games are designed and being able to do that myself will be a big help to me. As i do have a interest in this part of the works.
I have a personal meeting with one of the guys at leeds met on monday so ill be asking all the questions there about the course. Got to be quick tho application needs to be done and paid for by the 15th Jan :| damn UCAS! lol.
But ill see where it goes from there.
Any more thoughts on the courses are welcome.
I have a personal meeting with one of the guys at leeds met on monday so ill be asking all the questions there about the course. Got to be quick tho application needs to be done and paid for by the 15th Jan :| damn UCAS! lol.
But ill see where it goes from there.
Any more thoughts on the courses are welcome.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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